Kimi Antonelli further cemented his championship lead by winning the Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring in Madrid on Sunday (13/9/2026). The Mercedes driver started from second and finished 4.351 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, while Lando Norris, who started from pole, had to settle for third after his strategy was ruined by a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) on lap 13.
The race at the new Madrid circuit delivered drama from the start. Norris was the fastest driver all weekend, taking pole with a 1:31.824, just 0.011s quicker than Antonelli. However, his hopes of victory vanished when the VSC was deployed after Lance Stroll hit the barriers at Turn 20. Norris had already passed the pit entry when the VSC came out, while Antonelli and Verstappen took advantage of the cheap pit stop to jump ahead. From there, the lead was untouchable.
Antonelli controlled the race with composure, made no mistakes, and secured his eighth win from 14 rounds. He now has 292 points, 81 clear of teammate George Russell. Meanwhile, Verstappen finished second after exploiting the same VSC window. Although Red Bull has yet to win this year, Verstappen admitted that Norris was the unlucky party. "I think Lando deserved more today," he said after the race.
In the midfield, Franco Colapinto caught the eye. Starting ninth, the Alpine driver finished seventh and was the only Alpine to score points, while Pierre Gasly had to settle for 12th, a lap down. On a circuit where overtaking was nearly impossible, Colapinto's ability to avoid mistakes was key. These points are crucial in the fight for fifth in the constructors' standings against Racing Bulls.
Rookie Arvid Lindblad also impressed. Despite crashing in FP2 and requiring a chassis rebuild, the 19-year-old made it into Q3 and finished ninth, beating teammate Yuki Tsunoda who finished 14th. This intra-team gap is the number that keeps Racing Bulls in the fifth-place fight.
Conversely, some drivers received low ratings. George Russell finished fifth, 29.829s behind Antonelli, and was involved in a lap 1 collision with Oscar Piastri that damaged the McLaren's front wing. Piastri himself finished eighth, over 90 seconds behind his teammate. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz endured a nightmare at his home race: starting 17th, colliding with Tsunoda, clipping Alonso's front wing, receiving a five-second penalty, and eventually retiring with a technical issue.
Below are the full driver ratings from RacingNews365 for the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix.
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