Given the nighttime animation of Gran Vía, Las Letras, Chueca, or Malasaña, the first race of the Madring had to be a superb bore for the Madrilenians. Not a single worthy overtaking in 57 laps of train-like procession, reminiscent of the Monaco processions. The most notable, the only thing that livened up the drowsiness was a virtual safety-car (which most wouldn’t even notice) that led to a change of leadership and dethroned Lando Norris to deliver the first victory in Madring history to Kimi Antonelli, who was there ready with the rod. The Italian leaves the Spanish GP much more of a World Championship leader with his eighth win of the year.
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Completing the first Madring podium were Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, frustrated by his team’s error in the pit-stop. The Spaniards were not very brilliant after a touch between them: Fernando Alonso finished 17th and Carlos Sainz retired due to a failure.
The start
Antonelli had to give up the position he gained twice after going off track; Norris started leading from ‘pole’
Tension was palpable on the starting grid. Norris and Antonelli on the front row started on medium tires; behind them, Verstappen and Hamilton on softs; and further back, Russell, Piastri, Lawson, Colapinto, on hards without having tested them. The tire strategy was a mystery.
When the lights went out, Norris started maintaining the preferred position, but Antonelli braked too late in the second corner, went wide into the escape road, and had to give back the gained place; the same happened a few corners later, in the chicane, having to give his spot back to the McLaren again. Verstappen took advantage to sneak into second place, ahead of the Italian. Hamilton stayed fourth and Leclerc fifth. Sainz moved up from 20th to 18th and Alonso dropped to 20th.
On the fourth lap, Verstappen had to give back positions to Antonelli and Hamilton after gaining an advantage in turn 1. The Dutchman, complaining over the radio to his team, dropped back to fourth place, although the Englishman returned the favor a lap later for track limits. The Ferrari driver, with brake problems, had to retire after six laps. “I could barely stop the car,” lamented the Englishman. One less podium contender.
Change of script
A ‘virtual safety-car’ hastened the change of leadership: Norris changed tires but lost 7 seconds in the stop and ceded the provisional lead to Leclerc
Up front, Norris was leading authoritatively with a 5-second advantage over Antonelli on lap 10/57, while Verstappen, third, was dropping back to almost 11 seconds. Behind, sparks flew between the two Spaniards. When Alonso tried to gain 17th position from Sainz, the Madrilenian closed the gap and the Aston Martin destroyed the Moor’s front wing. “He strangled me against the wall; at the start, he crashed into two and now he strangles me against the wall at braking,” Alonso bitterly complained, who had to go to the pit-stop (lap 15) taking advantage of the neutralization of a virtual safety-car due to Stroll’s accident against the barriers.
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Then a change of script was hastened. With the VSC, Antonelli and Verstappen took the opportunity to enter and change to hard tires. Norris, who had already passed the pit-lane entrance, waited one more lap (16) to change tires. It was a disaster for the Englishman because the operation took 7 seconds due to a stuck wheel. Goodbye to victory. He reappeared in fifth position, while Leclerc, the only one who had not stopped to change tires, took the lead.
Leclerc’s leadership
Leclerc stretched the ‘stint’ with the hards to the maximum hoping for a safety-car or a red flag to help him
Unintentionally and unexpectedly, Leclerc, who had bet on the hard tire at the start, found himself first by not having to change tires. The Monegasque pushed and pushed, opening a gap of 2.5 seconds over Antonelli and 9.5 over Verstappen. Ferrari prayed for a safety car to gift him a free stop to change tires and stay in the lead until the finish. Anything could happen in the Madring.
Ferrari and Leclerc’s tactic was to stretch the life of their hard tires to the maximum, even at the cost of losing distance to Antonelli, who was on fresher tires and therefore had more grip. Mercedes and Verstappen’s Red Bull inexorably closed in. On lap 48, ten to go, the Italian was on Ferrari’s heels, 0.8 seconds behind, and the Dutchman was 2 seconds back. They smelled the Monegasque’s blood, who was called to the pits on lap 49.
Change of leadership
On lap 49 of 57, Antonelli inherited the lead from Leclerc, who went out to put on soft tires for a final assault
Leader change with the pit-stop. The World Championship leader took command of the race, with Verstappen behind him, while Leclerc dropped to fourth, behind Norris, 26 seconds from Antonelli but on new soft tires. Would the Monegasque hunt down?
While the Ferrari chipped away tenths from the clock to at least reach the podium closed by Norris, up front Antonelli kept Verstappen at bay and put 2.5 seconds of safety margin to secure the victory. The eighth of the season.
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