Kimi Antonelli won the first Spanish Grand Prix at Madring

Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring circuit in Madrid on Sunday, September 13, 2026, beating Max Verstappen by 4.351 seconds after a perfectly timed Virtual Safety Car handed him the lead from pole-sitter Lando Norris. The Mercedes driver’s eighth win of the season stretched his championship lead to 81 points, but even he admitted afterwards that Norris, who finished third, had deserved the victory. It was Formula 1’s first race in Madrid for 45 years, and the track that had been branded a “car killer” before the weekend produced a Grand Prix with no red flags, no Safety Car and just one brief caution.

Key Takeaways

• Kimi Antonelli won the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring, his eighth victory of 2026, finishing 4.351 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen with Lando Norris third.
• Norris took pole by 0.011 seconds and led until a Virtual Safety Car for Lance Stroll’s stopped Aston Martin caught him just past the pit entry, letting Antonelli, Verstappen and George Russell stop cheaply.
• Lewis Hamilton retired after seven laps with a brake failure, his first non-finish of the season, and Stroll’s brakes failed too.
• The feared carnage never came: the Grand Prix ran without a red flag or full Safety Car, but drivers criticised the layout for making overtaking almost impossible.
• Antonelli leads Russell by 81 points, 292 to 211, with nine rounds remaining, starting with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on September 24-26.

The Spanish Grand Prix, round 14 of 23, was the first Formula 1 race held in the Madrid area since the 1981 event at Jarama, and the first ever at the Madring, a 5.414km hybrid street circuit built around the IFEMA exhibition centre near Barajas airport. The race ran over 57 laps and 308km of a layout with 22 corners, two tunnel sections and the banked La Monumental curve at Turn 12, the longest banked corner in Formula 1. Organisers expected close to 350,000 spectators across the three days, King Felipe VI was among them on Sunday, and the venue has a contract to host the race until 2035.

What happened in qualifying at the Madring?

Norris became the first driver to take pole at the Madring with a lap of 1:31.824, beating Antonelli by just 0.011 seconds in a thrilling Q3 finale. It was his third pole in the last four rounds, and the reigning champion called it “probably one of the best laps I’ve done ever in my career” after sitting only seventh in Q2. Verstappen was third, 0.140 seconds off pole, and Hamilton recovered from a crash in final practice to take fourth, outqualifying Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc by 0.006 seconds. Russell, Oscar Piastri, Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto and rookie Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10.

The bottom of the grid was reshuffled by penalties. Carlos Sainz, eliminated in Q1 at his home race, took a three-place grid penalty for impeding Valtteri Bottas and started 20th. Stroll set no time after a water-pressure problem on a fresh engine and started 21st with a penalty for exceeding his power-unit allocation. Oliver Bearman crashed at Turn 10 on the final lap of FP3, and the damage was too severe to repair in time for qualifying, so Haas rebuilt the car around a new chassis and he started from the pit lane. Fernando Alonso missed Q2 by 0.081 seconds as both Aston Martins struggled for straight-line speed.

How did Kimi Antonelli win the Spanish Grand Prix?

Norris made a clean getaway from pole on medium tyres, but Antonelli attacked him immediately and twice ended up ahead by cutting the first chicane, handing the lead back both times. Verstappen, who had gambled on soft tyres alongside Hamilton, used the extra grip to pass both Antonelli and Hamilton on the opening lap and slot into second. He later gained another place by missing the first chicane while avoiding Hamilton’s Ferrari, and Red Bull ordered him to give the position back, prompting an angry radio message. Behind them, Leclerc, Russell, Piastri and Lawson had all started on hard tyres to play the long game.

The race turned on lap 15. Stroll’s Aston Martin stopped in the run-off area at Turn 20 with brake problems, and race control called a Virtual Safety Car. Norris had already passed the pit entry when the VSC was declared, but Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell were all able to dive in for a cheap stop at reduced speed. Norris pitted one lap later under normal racing conditions, and a slow seven-second tyre change compounded the damage. He rejoined fifth, behind Leclerc, who had not stopped, and the three cars that had pitted under the caution.

Ferrari kept Leclerc out for a remarkable 48 laps on his opening set of hards, hoping for a Safety Car or red flag that never came, while Antonelli sat around two seconds behind him and reported that his steering wheel “feels weird”. Norris fought his way past Russell, who made a second stop, and then spent the rest of the afternoon glued to Verstappen’s rear wing without ever finding a way past. His best chance came at Turn 5, when Verstappen ran wide and Norris drew alongside, but the Dutchman held on. Once Leclerc finally pitted on lap 48, Antonelli pulled clear at the front and crossed the line 4.351 seconds ahead. “It was very difficult race, not straightforward at all,” he said. “It’s good to win, but doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando deserved to win.”

Norris was diplomatic but clearly hurt. “I feel like I drove a perfect race today,” he said. “It’s just incredibly frustrating to lose in a way that has nothing to do with performance.” He later described the VSC pit-stop rules as unfair.

What were the key incidents and penalties?

Brakes were the story of the retirements. Hamilton, who had started fourth on soft tyres, was pulled into the garage after seven laps with a braking-system failure, his first retirement of 2026, and Ferrari left Madrid with only Leclerc’s 12 points. Stroll’s Aston Martin suffered a similar problem and was the car that triggered the decisive VSC. Sergio Perez retired the Cadillac with a suspected water-system issue after 31 laps, having run strongly in the midfield until then, and Sainz’s home race ended after 43 laps with floor damage from contact with Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 1 on the opening lap. Sainz was also handed a five-second penalty for squeezing Alonso into the wall at Turn 5.

Piastri’s race was compromised from the first corner, when he was squeezed by Russell and broke his front wing, leaving the McLaren driver to salvage eighth. Pierre Gasly, one week on from his maiden pole at Monza, started 14th after a bewildering seven-tenth deficit to team-mate Colapinto in Q2, gambled on a strategy that needed a caution to pay off, and collected a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane on his way to 12th. Bearman climbed from the pit lane to 16th. Lawson, still deputising for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull Racing, converted eighth on the grid into a strong sixth.

Was the Madring really a “car killer”?

The build-up had been dominated by safety talk. A two-day Formula 3 test in August produced 19 red flags and wrecked three chassis, Verstappen said on Thursday that the track “probably is a car killer from what I’ve seen so far”, and Russell called it “the most risky on the whole calendar”. The support paddock seemed to prove them right when Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak’s ART Formula 2 car crashed at Turn 19 in practice and burst into flames, with the Thai driver escaping unhurt. Formula 1 practice added crashes for Lindblad in FP2, Hamilton and Bearman in FP3 and barrier contact for Alexander Albon and Russell.

Then race day arrived and the walls stayed untouched. The Grand Prix ran its full 57 laps with no red flag, no Safety Car and a single Virtual Safety Car for a mechanical failure rather than a crash, and none of the four retirements involved contact with a barrier. The problem was the opposite one: the circuit that was supposed to be too dangerous turned out to be too hard to race on. Antonelli said the layout “definitely doesn’t create overtaking opportunities and it doesn’t push you to try and make a move because 80% of the time you might have contact”. Norris was blunter, saying “I don’t know how someone looks at this design and goes ‘mint'”, and suggested the circuit “should get rid of turns 18 and 19. Useless. Just have more of a straight into a hairpin.”

Alonso felt La Monumental, the 24 per cent banked corner sold as the track’s signature, had been “over-hyped” because “the driver input is just nothing”, while Sainz still questioned the safety standards, comparing the venue to Jeddah and Baku. Gabriel Bortoleto joked that he “almost fell asleep”. Verstappen was the rare positive voice, calling La Monumental “cool”. The consensus by Sunday evening was that the Madring is a safer circuit than feared, but one that needs layout changes before it delivers the racing Madrid was promised.

What was the full Spanish Grand Prix 2026 race result?

Antonelli led home Verstappen and Norris, with the top three covered by just over five seconds. Leclerc’s one-stop gamble earned fourth, narrowly ahead of Russell, while Lawson, Colapinto, Piastri, Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg completed the points. The top 10 finishers are shown below.

Esteban Ocon finished 11th for Haas, ahead of Bortoleto, Gasly, Tsunoda, Albon, Bearman, Alonso and Bottas, all of whom were lapped. Four drivers failed to finish: Sainz, Perez, Stroll and Hamilton. Antonelli’s winning time was 1:34:23.754, and Russell set the fastest lap of the race, a 1:35.587 on lap 49, which stands as the first Formula 1 lap record at the Madring.

Who were the standout performers in Madrid?

Norris was the driver of the weekend even without the trophy. His pole lap, 0.011 seconds clear of Antonelli, was described by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella as “a masterpiece”, and he controlled the race until the VSC intervened. Verstappen’s weekend was a study in recovery: after a difficult Friday he qualified third, made the soft-tyre start work and then defended for more than 40 laps against a faster McLaren to secure second. “This double header has been a positive one,” he said after back-to-back podiums at Monza and Madrid.

Further back, Colapinto led the midfield all weekend, qualifying ninth and finishing seventh in what he called “probably my best race weekend in terms of execution this year”. Lawson’s sixth place was his best result since taking over the second Red Bull, and Lindblad bounced back from an FP2 crash to score again for Racing Bulls. Hulkenberg picked up Audi’s only point of the weekend in 10th.

What does the result mean for the 2026 championship?

Antonelli’s eighth win of the season lifted him to 292 points and pushed his lead over Russell out from 66 to 81. Russell’s fifth place moved him to 211, while Hamilton’s retirement left him stuck on 191 in third, now only five points ahead of Norris on 186. Leclerc’s fourth place took him to 167, Verstappen climbed to 145 with his second podium in a row, and Piastri sits seventh on 120. Hadjar remains eighth on 71 despite missing the last three races, with Lawson on 59 and Gasly on 41 completing the top 10.

Mercedes passed the 500-point mark in the constructors’ championship and now lead Ferrari by 145 points, 503 to 358. McLaren are third on 306, Red Bull fourth on 230, and Racing Bulls hold fifth on 77 ahead of Alpine on 68. With nine rounds left and a maximum of 25 points per race, Antonelli could wrap up the title before the end of October if the current pattern holds.

When is the next Formula 1 race?

Formula 1 has a weekend off before the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit on September 24-26, with the race on Saturday, September 26. Baku is another long-straight street circuit lined by walls, and several drivers compared the Madring to it during the weekend, so Mercedes’ straight-line advantage should make Antonelli the favourite again. Norris and McLaren will be looking to turn their recent qualifying pace into a win before the title race becomes a formality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid?

Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix for Mercedes, his eighth win of the season. He finished 4.351 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, with pole-sitter Lando Norris third.

Why did Lando Norris lose the lead at the Madring?

A Virtual Safety Car was called on lap 15 when Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin stopped with brake problems. Norris had just passed the pit entry, so he could not stop under the caution, while Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell pitted at reduced speed and jumped him.

Was there a crash or red flag in the Madrid Grand Prix?

No. Despite pre-race warnings that the Madring was a “car killer”, the Grand Prix ran without a red flag or full Safety Car. The only caution was a Virtual Safety Car for a mechanical failure, and all four retirements were caused by brake, water-system or floor-damage problems rather than wall contact.

What are the F1 championship standings after the Spanish Grand Prix?

Kimi Antonelli leads the drivers’ championship on 292 points, 81 ahead of George Russell on 211. Lewis Hamilton is third on 191, Lando Norris fourth on 186 and Charles Leclerc fifth on 167. Mercedes lead the constructors’ championship with 503 points to Ferrari’s 358.

When is the next F1 race after Madrid?

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix takes place at the Baku City Circuit on September 24-26, 2026, with the race on Saturday, September 26.