Antonelli wins inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at Madring as Norris loses out in Virtual Safety Car timing

The result at the new Madring

Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix, the first Formula 1 race at the new Madring circuit in Madrid, crossing the line in 1:34:23.754 after 57 laps at an average speed of 196.024 km/h. Max Verstappen finished second for Red Bull, 4.351 seconds behind, with McLaren's Lando Norris a further 0.738 seconds back in third, according to the FIA's final race classification published on the evening of September 13. Charles Leclerc took fourth for Ferrari ahead of George Russell in the second Mercedes, while Liam Lawson was sixth in the second Red Bull. ⁵⁶

The FIA's race report noted the race was swayed by the timing of a Virtual Safety Car, which worked in Antonelli's favour and cost polesitter Norris dearly. Formula1.com's own race report credited Antonelli with an eighth Grand Prix win of the 2026 season, with Oscar Piastri recovering to eighth for McLaren after first-lap front-wing damage, and Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg completing the points-paying positions. ⁶¹⁰

Four drivers failed to finish. The FIA reported that Hamilton and Stroll retired with brake-related problems, Carlos Sainz's home race ended after 43 laps, and Sergio Perez stopped his Cadillac with a suspected water-system issue. Pierre Gasly received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane, noted in the final classification, and George Russell set the fastest lap of 1:35.587 on lap 49. ⁵⁶¹

Qualifying and the starting grid

Norris took pole position at the Madring with a lap of 1:31.824, edging Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds, with Verstappen third at 1:31.964. Formula1.com's race report described the McLaren driver's qualifying lap as one he considered among the best of his career, with Hamilton fourth ahead of Leclerc and Russell sixth. Piastri qualified seventh for McLaren, with Lawson, Franco Colapinto and Lindblad rounding out the top ten. ²¹⁰

The official starting grid differed from the qualifying order further back. Formula1.com's grid record shows Stroll received a 40-place penalty for the use of additional power unit elements, Sainz was demoted three places for impeding another driver in Q1, and Bearman was required to start from the pit lane after his car was modified under parc ferme conditions with additional power unit elements fitted. Both Stroll and Bearman were permitted to race after failing to set a qualifying time. The FIA's race report confirmed Bearman started from the pit lane following heavy FP3 crash damage, and that Stroll lined up 21st, just behind Sainz in 20th. ³⁶

How the race was decided

The FIA's race report recounts a chaotic opening. Norris held the lead from pole as Antonelli attacked into the opening chicane and cut the corner, then repeated the error on a second attempt, allowing Verstappen to move into second. Lewis Hamilton pressed Red Bull to return the position, and Verstappen was instructed to hand the place back to avoid a possible penalty, moving Antonelli and Hamilton ahead on lap 4. Hamilton's race then unravelled: after reporting a brake problem and running wide on lap 6, he retired a lap later. ⁶

The decisive moment came when Stroll stopped at Turn 20 with a suspected brake problem on lap 13, triggering the Virtual Safety Car. The FIA reported that Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell pitted immediately, while Norris stayed out; the VSC ended shortly afterwards and Norris stopped under green-flag conditions, with a seven-second stop dropping him to fifth behind Leclerc, Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell. Formula1.com's report noted Leclerc, who had not stopped, inherited the lead on a hard-tyre gamble before finally pitting for softs near the end, rejoining fourth and releasing the leading trio. ⁶¹⁰

The FIA reported that Piastri sustained front-wing damage in first-lap contact with Russell, while Russell made a second stop on lap 28 and later passed Lawson around the outside on lap 35 on his way to fifth. Norris closed on Verstappen in the closing laps and drew alongside after Verstappen cut the Turn 5 chicane on the penultimate lap, but could not complete the pass. ⁶¹⁰

The midfield had its own flashpoint. Formula1.com's report records that the two Spaniards came to blows at Turn 5, with Alonso adamant that Sainz had squeezed him into the wall; the stewards agreed with his view and later handed the Williams driver a five-second penalty for the collision, capping a home race that had already started from 20th on the grid. ¹⁰

Third-placed Norris, speaking to Sky Sports, told the BBC's live coverage of the race that he had been the only driver on the grid to miss the Virtual Safety Car pit stop, saying he had lost roughly 20 seconds of race time as a result and arguing that a safety-car call should not define a whole race. ⁷

Standings after Madrid

The FIA's official championship points document (Stewards' Document 74, issued at 20:15 on September 13) records Antonelli leading the drivers' standings on 292 points, with Russell second on 211, Hamilton third on 191, Norris fourth on 186, Leclerc fifth on 167, Verstappen sixth on 145 and Piastri seventh on 120. Crash.net's post-race standings, published after the Spanish Grand Prix, matched the FIA's totals and framed the result as extending Antonelli's lead to 81 points, while noting Hamilton had failed to finish a race for the first time that season. ⁴⁸

In the constructors' championship, the FIA document records Mercedes-AMG Petronas leading on 503 points, ahead of Ferrari on 358, McLaren on 306, Oracle Red Bull Racing on 230, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls on 77, BWT Alpine on 68, TGR Haas on 21, Audi on 17, Atlassian Williams on 11, Aston Martin on 3 and Cadillac on 0. The document also notes the standings were subject to a notice of intention to appeal by Audi Revolut F1 Team against a stewards' decision from the Italian Grand Prix. GPblog published post-race standings the same afternoon that differed from the FIA's figures; the FIA's contemporaneous decision document is treated here as the authoritative record. ⁴⁹

Piastri's Madrid weekend and the McLaren picture

For Oscar Piastri, the Madrid weekend produced a seventh-place grid slot and an eighth-place finish. Sky Sports' team-mate head-to-head record shows Piastri trailed Norris 9-6 in Grand Prix qualifying head-to-heads and 186-120 on championship points after Spain, sitting seventh in the drivers' standings to Norris's fourth. ¹²⁴

The FIA's race report detailed Piastri's race: contact with Russell on the opening lap caused front-wing damage that knocked him down the order, and he recovered to take eighth, the final result recorded in the official classification. No Sprint session was held at Madrid; the official weekend schedule listed three practice sessions, qualifying and the Grand Prix only, so the race result above is the sole scoring session of the event. ⁶⁵¹¹