Just days after a truly memorable Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the F1 paddock assembled for the first time at a brand new venue in Madrid called the Madring, and it proved to be Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who claimed his eighth victory of the season, winning the first Spanish Grand Prix to be held in the nation’s capital for 45 years.

Antonelli had arrived with a 66-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship standings after his outstanding victory at Monza in front of his home fans, an outcome which left second-placed George Russell somewhat dejected after failing to reduce the deficit to his young teammate, who had started only 19th on the grid in Italy. A better outcome for Russell was not to follow on Spanish soil, though.

Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar had to miss a third consecutive Grand Prix following his wrist fracture during the summer break, with Liam Lawson again stepping up from Racing Bulls to deputise for him and with Yuki Tsunoda likewise continuing to fill the former’s seat at the Red Bull sister outfit.

A totally new circuit is always a welcome addition to the Formula 1 calendar as well as being a fresh challenge for the teams and drivers. However, safety was a concern for some ahead of the Madrid round. F1 drivers are well aware that they risk serious injury or worse whenever they climb into a car, but fortunately such events have now become rare compared to decades ago when they were anything but. However, on Friday, ahead of the opening practice hour, Russell expressed his concerns that the track had less margin for safety than the slower, if slightly narrower Monaco, labelling it “very high risk”.

Nevertheless, he didn’t hold back in that first free practice session as he topped the timing screens ahead of his teammate, Antonelli. The latter subsequently went fastest in the same afternoon’s second practice period, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc the best of the rest, during an hour interrupted by red flags after Arvid Lindblad had slid his Racing Bulls car into the Turn 13 barriers. Lewis Hamilton then faced a significant backlash from his rivals as they accused him of multiple examples of dangerous and unsportsmanlike driving, but the 41-year-old seven-time champion merely brushed aside their complaints.

Worse was to follow, though, for Hamilton after he crashed his car at the final corner part way through Saturday’s final practice session and tried unsuccessfully to drive his damaged Ferrari back to the pits under red flag conditions, repeatedly ignoring team instructions to simply park the car on track and await a recovery vehicle. After a lengthy delay for barrier repairs, Haas’ Oliver Bearman then caused another red flag stoppage, while Antonelli and Leclerc were again the two quickest drivers. A crucial qualifying hour to set the grid for the Grand Prix followed, and McLaren’s Lando Norris put in a superb final effort to claim a surprise pole position from Antonelli by just one hundredth of a second, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Hamilton set to occupy the second row.

Lando Norris was unlucky with the timing of a Virtual Safety Car period

On race day, I paused to reflect on just how close the margins can so often be in Formula 1. The new Madring track is 5.4 kilometres (3.3 miles) long, which is fairly typical, but it’s still incredible that the two cars on the front row of the grid, designed and manufactured by differing teams, if sharing a Mercedes power unit, were separated by just 0.01s after covering the distance of a single lap in qualifying.

The support races ahead of the Grand Prix featured plenty of incidents and contact, which left a real sense of excitement, anticipation and perhaps degree of trepidation about what might follow in the main event, although it actually proved not to follow the pattern set earlier in the day. In front of packed grandstands, the formation lap began at precisely three pm on a hot and sunny afternoon, and the opening race lap featured a short sprint from the grid to the first corner. As usual, the early racing was very close before a pattern started to emerge.

A feisty Antonelli twice left the track as he sought to avoid contact with Norris, and the latter soon started to edge clear. Meanwhile, Verstappen was obliged to let Antonelli and Hamilton past after off-track excursions of his own, and the leading quartet at this early stage was Norris ahead of Antonelli, Hamilton and Verstappen. Soon, though, the Red Bull team leader passed Hamilton, who was starting to suffer from brake issues that led to his retirement after only seven laps.

Norris was driving beautifully as he extended his lead over Antonelli, but the British reigning champion suffered from the timing of a Virtual Safety Car intervention after Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had gone off at Turn 20 on lap 15. Unlike many others to his rear, Norris just missed out on a “cheap” pitstop, and the VSC period ended just before he was able to pit. His cause was also hindered by a slow stop following a pit crew error with the front right wheel, and he rejoined the race in fifth position behind Russell.

Ferrari opted not to pit Leclerc and kept him out on his original rubber, leading the Grand Prix, but still needing to head down the pitlane at some stage. The team’s hopes of a further VSC or full Safety Car period failed to happen, and so the Monégasque driver was brought in on lap 49 of 57, which led to a fourth-place finish ahead of Russell and Lawson. With Leclerc out of the way, Antonelli became the new leader and subsequent race winner, with Verstappen and Norris joining him for the podium celebrations. Norris had done his utmost to find a way past Verstappen in the closing laps but had to settle for third.

So, Antonelli again extended his lead over Russell in the Drivers’ Championship rankings, and Mercedes did likewise on the Constructors’ front.

Next up in a fortnight’s time comes this year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, held on a temporary circuit around the streets of the capital city, Baku, and it will be fascinating to see what follows in this remarkable season to date and particularly for an extraordinary young Italian called Antonelli.



2026 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix
1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1hr34m23.754s
2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +4.451s
3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +5.089s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +29.116s
5 George Russell (Mercedes) +29.829s
6 Liam Lawson (Red Bull) +1m26.746s
7 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1m34.281s
8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1m35.839s
9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) Lapped
10 Nico Hülkenberg (Audi) Lapped
11 Esteban Ocon (Haas) Lapped
12 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) Lapped
13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) Lapped
14 Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) Lapped
15 Alex Albon (Williams) Lapped
16 Oliver Bearman (Haas) Lapped
17 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) Lapped
18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) Lapped
19 Carlos Sainz (Williams) Retired
20 Sergio Pérez (Cadillac) Retired
21 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) Retired
22 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) Retired




2026 Drivers’ Championship
1 Kimi Antonelli 292
2 George Russell 211
3 Lewis Hamilton 191

2026 Constructors’ Championship
1 Mercedes 503
2 Ferrari 358
3 McLaren 306