Kimi Antonelli admitted that his first Spanish Grand Prix victory did not feel quite the same after a perfectly timed Virtual Safety Car denied Lando Norris a likely win at Madrid’s new Madring circuit on Sunday.
The Mercedes driver started second and went on to claim his eighth victory of the season, extending his lead over teammate George Russell to 81 points after 14 rounds. Four-time world champion Max Verstappen finished second, with Norris third and Russell fifth.
“I think today it’s good to win but it doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved the win but overall, we take it,” Antonelli said after the race.
Virtual Safety Car Changes The Race
The decisive moment came on Lap 15 when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll stopped at Turn 20, triggering a Virtual Safety Car. Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell immediately came into the pits, but Norris had already passed the pit entry by the time the VSC was deployed.
When Norris finally stopped on Lap 16, the race had returned to green conditions. His pit stop also lasted seven seconds because of an issue with the front-right of the car, although McLaren and Pirelli said the slow stop made little difference because Norris had already lost out through the VSC timing.
Norris returned to the track behind the leading runners and eventually finished third despite closing on Verstappen late in the race.
“I felt like we deserved it today but that’s racing sometimes,” Norris said. “I feel like I drove a perfect race today, just luck wasn’t with me.
“It’s just incredibly frustrating to lose in a way that has nothing to do with performance.”
Opening Battle Between Antonelli And Norris
Antonelli twice had to give the lead back to Norris on the opening lap after cutting corners and gaining an advantage while trying to pass but the Briton then settled into a rhythm and began to pull away.
Verstappen also gained places that he had to hand back to Antonelli and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, despite complaining that the latter had “almost shunted into me” and was out of control.
Hamilton then suffered a brake problem that sent him plunging down the order and the seven-time world champion was eventually forced to retire.
Norris was more than six seconds clear with everything seemingly under control when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll triggered the VSC by stopping at turn 20.
Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell all pitted, saving precious seconds compared to a normal stop.
When Norris came in for a switch to hard tyres to take him to the end of the race, he was stationary for seven seconds and returned to the track in fifth place but effectively fourth with Ferrari’s new leader Charles Leclerc yet to stop.
Leclerc stayed out until lap 48, hoping in vain for another safety car to give him a cheap stop, and then pitted. He ended up fourth.
The virtual safety car proved decisive, with the remainder of the afternoon effectively a high-speed procession to the chequered flag without major incident — despite fears that there could be multiple crashes and red flags as seen in earlier junior races — or much to get excited about.
Antonelli crossed the line 4.3 seconds clear of Verstappen with Norris a further 0.7 behind, pushing hard but with no way past.
“Of course we know that Lando got unlucky with that VSC, so for us I think today P2 is an incredible result because you could see how much Lando was catching me,” said Verstappen.
Liam Lawson, standing in for the injured Isack Hadjar for the third race in a row, was sixth for Red Bull with Franco Colapinto seventh for Renault-owned Alpine and Oscar Piastri eighth in a damaged McLaren.
Arvid Lindblad secured precious points for Racing Bulls in their battle for fifth with Alpine and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg the final scorer in 10th.
Mercedes now have 503 points to Ferrari’s 358 and McLaren’s 306.
The next race is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on September 26.
(With inputs from Reuters)
