Marco Rossi · F1-Korrespondent
On the newly built street circuit Madring, a single pit stop window decided between victory and defeat, while Lewis Hamilton buried his title dream for good.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli won the first Grand Prix of Spain on September 13, 2026, on the newly constructed Madring street circuit in Madrid after a Virtual Safety Car triggered by Lance Stroll's accident completely reshuffled the race in lap 14. The Mercedes driver capitalized on pole-sitter Lando Norris missing the pit stop window and crossed the line ahead of Max Verstappen and Norris himself, while Lewis Hamilton retired early due to a brake failure and publicly declared his championship hopes for the season over.
Stroll's crash and the window that cost Norris the win
Norris had controlled proceedings from pole position with sovereign authority, building a lead that by the classical script would have been enough for his first win on a new circuit this season. But in lap 14, Lance Stroll lost control of his Aston Martin after a brake failure and crashed into the barrier at Turn 20, uninjured, but with immediate consequences for the entire field: race control deployed the Virtual Safety Car.
Norris had already passed the pit entry at precisely that moment, and with it the window in which a tire change would have been possible with virtually no time loss. Antonelli and Verstappen, by contrast, were able to immediately peel into the pits and complete their stops under reduced pace. Norris had to wait a full lap at VSC speed and then pit under green flag conditions, including an additional seven-second stop. The lead he had built over the opening 14 laps was gone, without any mistake of his own.
Hamilton's brake failure and Ferrari's split-personality race
For Lewis Hamilton, the afternoon ended as early as lap six or seven with a brake pedal failure that sent him into the barrier and forced his retirement, his first DNF of the 2026 season. After the race, Hamilton drew a line under his title ambitions: 'There's no getting past Kimi and Mercedes this year. They're doing a phenomenal job and they deserve it,' Hamilton said.
Charles Leclerc held position in contention for the lead with a different strategy before being called to his final stop at the end of lap 48, after which he dropped to fourth place, just under 30 seconds behind Antonelli. For Ferrari, it was an evening with two faces: up front a driver fighting for the win, behind him a second whose car let him down.
Verstappen's controlled drive, Sainz' home disaster, and a look at the championship
There had been friction between Verstappen and Hamilton at the start: the Red Bull driver cut across the first chicane to stay ahead of the Ferrari, but had to hand the position back after radio complaints from Hamilton. In the end, Verstappen still secured a solid second place, visibly satisfied with the outcome: 'When I think about our race pace, second place for us is an incredible result,' Verstappen said.
For local favorite Carlos Sainz, however, his home race became a disaster: after serving a grid penalty for a qualifying obstruction, he started from position 20, collided with Tsunoda at Turn One and moments later with Alonso, before the accumulated damage to the floor and front wing became too much to overcome and he retired. Sergio Pérez also ran out of fuel in lap 31 with a suspected issue in the cooling system. With his eighth win of the season, Antonelli extends his drivers' championship lead to well over 80 points according to paddock sources, though he was cautious about committing himself: 'I think race by race,' Antonelli said. Norris, meanwhile, barely concealed his frustration over the lost pit window: 'On this track, overtaking is nearly impossible. Congratulations to Kimi and Max, they didn't make a mistake,' Norris said, a remark that shows how tight this season has become, where triumph and a missed opportunity now hang on nothing more than a pit entry.
