Antonelli wins first Madring Spanish Grand Prix to stretch title lead

Kimi Antonelli won the Spanish Grand Prix for Mercedes at the new Madring circuit, beating Max Verstappen into second with Lando Norris third. It was Antonelli’s eighth win in 14 races this season BBC Sport.

The result stretches his championship lead to 81 points over Mercedes team-mate George Russell and 101 points over Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. With the season moving fast, that is a large cushion to defend.

Norris had started from pole position for McLaren. He lapped in 1 minute 31.824 seconds in qualifying, just one hundredth of a second clear of Antonelli, with Verstappen third on the grid.

Tyre choice split the front runners at the start. Antonelli and Norris began on medium tyres, Verstappen on the faster but shorter-lived softs, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the durable hards.

Then luck intervened. On lap 15, Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin stopped at Turn 20 with brake failure, and race control called a virtual safety car, which forces every driver to slow down and bans overtaking.

Antonelli and Verstappen pitted under the virtual safety car, when the pit lane costs less time. Norris could not. He had already passed the pit exit when it was called, so he stayed out and pitted later.

His stop hurt. McLaren had trouble with both right-hand-side wheels and the stop took seven seconds. Norris rejoined in fifth place.

He recovered to third by the flag but could not catch Verstappen ahead. Leclerc, who ran long on his starting hard tyres, pitted on lap 48 and resumed fourth behind Antonelli, Verstappen and Norris.

Further back, Russell finished fifth for Mercedes. Hamilton retired with brake failure, the same problem that had stopped Stroll.

For fans, this means the maths is getting simple. Antonelli keeps turning poles he does not get into wins he does, while his closest rivals share the remaining points between them.