2026 Spanish Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell

4 minutes ago

4 min read

Antonelli Wins in Madrid as VSC Costs Norris

For the 8th time in 2026, the Italian National Anthem played out for the winning driver as Andrea Kimi Antonelli took another win to further extend his Championship lead! Max Verstappen did well to earn P2 in his Red Bull, whilst Lando Norris rounded out the Podium after a badly timed Virtual Safety Car cost him the win!

The Biggest Talking Points

As we got underway in Madrid, Lando Norris was able to keep the lead into Turn 1 as both Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen cut the chicane, with them both eventually having to give places back! Oscar Piastri would also see his Race partly ruined with a couple of Turn 1 incidents with George Russell, whilst Carlos Sainz came together with Yuki Tsunoda! After giving the place back to Lewis Hamilton, Max would soon be back into P3 as Hamilton tumbled down the order with brake issues! This would force Lewis into his first retirement of the season, with the Brit’s hopes of an 8th World Championship feeling all but over! Funnily enough, the two Spaniards came together in the Spanish Grand Prix, with Sainz failing to give Fernando Alonso enough space, resulting in Carlos receiving a 5-second time penalty! Then came the crucial part of the Race, as Lance Stroll suffered yet another DNF after issues with the brakes on his Aston Martin caused a Virtual Safety Car! Pretty much the entire field then had the option of choosing whether or not they wanted to pit, except Lando Norris, as he was simply too quick! The VSC would then end a corner before Norris entered the pits, with a subsequently awful 7-second pit stop resulting in Lando coming out all the way down in P5!

I’ll be honest, not a lot (if at all anything) happened after this point! Charles Leclerc went ridiculously long on his hard tyres, hoping for a Safety Car as Kimi Antonelli (who was now the net Race leader) refused to get too close to him! This created a little bit of intrigue with Max Verstappen late on, but as soon as Leclerc pitted, Kimi pulled away! George Russell went on quite the odd strategy; pitting off hard tyres under the VSC, only to then box again as it sort of left him in no-man’s-land (although he did come close to challenging Charles late on)! Pierre Gasly and Gabriel Bortoleto would both drop out of the points after they too failed in their hopes for a Safety Car to sneak them up the order (with Gasly going 55 laps on one set of tyres), whilst Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg would get very feisty in the battle for the final two points-paying positions! Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to overtake!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out two 10’s for the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix, and the first one is actually for Lando Norris! Lando proved in both stints that he was clearly the quickest man on track today, with a number of things going wrong costing him what would’ve been a rather dominant victory (I suspect)! The other driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Franco Colapinto, who did a fantastic job to finish 7th for Alpine! Well done Franco! Elsewhere, I can’t quite give Kimi a 10 due to the fortune of the Virtual Safety Car, whilst Max Verstappen had a very good drive to finish second! Charles Leclerc had pretty good pace on the hards, whilst Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg can be happy with scoring more points! Also, shout out to Sergio Perez, who was running P15 before the Virtual Safety Car, whilst I do feel sorry for Esteban Ocon (who just missed out in P11)!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

I’ve given out one 1 for today’s Race, and that is unfortunately for the home hero, Carlos Sainz! Carlos had an absolute shocker today; he made contact with Yuki Tsunoda in Turn 1, then took out the front wing of compatriot Fernando Alonso, before boxing to retire the car early! I think Sainz’s season has been underrated by a lot of the media, but having said that, 3 of the last 4 weekends have been awful! Elsewhere, damage at Turn 1 rather ruined any chance Oscar Piastri had of a strong result, whilst Yuki Tsunoda was nowhere in comparison to his teammate! Aston Martin and Cadillac also had poor days (although what’s changed there), whilst a DNF for Lewis Hamilton was a disaster!