Antonelli claims eighth win of season as VSC strategy blunder costs Norris in Spain

Kimi Antonelli claimed victory at the Spanish Grand Prix — Formula 1’s first race at the Madring — after polesitter Lando Norris was undone by a costly strategic miscalculation triggered by a virtual safety car on lap 13. The Mercedes driver’s eighth win of the season came despite a brief scare mid-race when a steering issue threatened to derail his own afternoon.

Norris had controlled the opening phase with authority, building a five-second lead over Antonelli by lap 10 and appearing well on course for victory. The race turned when Lance Stroll’s brake failure prompted a VSC period. Antonelli, Max Verstappen, and George Russell all pitted under the slower conditions — but Norris stayed out on his medium tyres, only to be called in by McLaren the moment the VSC window closed. The timing was disastrous: he rejoined in fifth place, 16 seconds behind Antonelli and 14 seconds adrift of Charles Leclerc, with a slow stop compounding the damage.

Antonelli caught Leclerc by lap 18 and moved through cleanly, but a sudden steering concern — “I didn’t touch the wall, but the steering feels weird,” he told his engineers — saw him drop more than three seconds behind by lap 25 before apparently stabilising.

The early laps had been eventful. Both Antonelli and Verstappen cut Turn 2 at the start, though Antonelli immediately handed the position back to Norris. Verstappen was less forthcoming, insisting Hamilton’s driving had forced him wide, but Red Bull instructed him to concede the place to avoid a penalty and he let Antonelli and Hamilton through on lap four.

Lewis Hamilton’s race lasted only a handful of laps longer. The seven-time world champion began reporting braking issues on lap five, went off the circuit on lap six, and was eventually retired from the race after repeated calls to pit — a deeply frustrating afternoon for the Ferrari driver on home soil for his new team.

Russell, who had started on hard tyres and switched to mediums at his first stop, made a second pitstop on lap 28 of 57 to return to the hard compound. He worked his way back through the order, passing Liam Lawson for fifth with an around-the-outside move on lap 35, though his pace on the second set of hards remained a concern.

Antonelli’s win extends his dominant run through the season and underlines Mercedes’ resurgence, while Norris and McLaren will be left to reflect on a race that was firmly in their grasp before strategy intervened.