Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his maiden win on Spanish soil as Lando Norris rued his unhealthy luck. Right here’s how the drivers fared on the Method 1 Spanish Grand Prix.
The 20-year-old could not have “deserved” to win the inaugural race on the Madring circuit, however his triumph now sees him in pole place to wrap up the 2026 drivers’ championship.
Kimi Antonelli: 9
Grid Place: P2, Race End result: P1
Antonelli received his seventh F1 race of the season, consolidating his stronghold on the drivers’ championship.
Regardless of wanting just like the quickest bundle out on observe, the Italian wasn’t in a position to slot his W17 on pole, on Saturday. The race begin, in opposition to pole-sitter, Lando Norris was additionally a messy affair.
He went huge into the Flip 1 and 5 chicanes, ultimately settling for second on the street behind the McLaren driver. That stated, the racing gods favored the 20-year-old when an ill-timed VSC for Norris meant Antonelli took the general race lead.
Visitors and graining did turn into a trigger for concern for the Mercedes driver, however he stored his head until the chequered flag, extending his lead over team-mate George Russell to 81 factors heading into the race weekend at Baku.
A removed from flawless efficiency, by his personal admission, however one which has solely furthered his title credentials.
George Russell: 7
Grid Place: P6, Race End result: P5
Russell was in no mans land in comparison with his team-mate Antonelli as soon as once more this season.
Unable to extract pure single lap tempo from his automotive, the Briton was already on the backfoot for the 53-lap race on Sunday.
The Mercedes driver was preventing fair-and-square with Charles Leclerc. Ferrari opted to go away the Monegasque out to increase his stint, and regardless of a large undercut try he misplaced out to Leclerc on the chequered flag.
A tough afternoon for Russell that has seen him relinquish additional floor to Antonelli within the title struggle.
Max Verstappen: 8.5
Grid Place: P3, Race End result: P2
Verstappen nonetheless hasn’t been in a position to register his first win of the season strapped right into a cumbersome RB22.
However the Spanish GP was the closest the Pink Bull has gotten to getting up on the highest step of the rostrum. Ranging from the second-row of the grid, Verstappen stored himself in competition for the win all through the 53-lap race.
The ultimate 10 laps noticed visitors and the soiled wake from Leclerc’s SF-26, who was but to pit, push Antonelli into the clutches of the Dutchman.
That stated, as quickly as Leclerc pitted and Antonelli was launched, it was all an excessive amount of for Verstappen to mount a bid in opposition to the Mercedes driver.
On the chequered flag, Verstappen racked up his sixth podium of the season – a testomony to the stable work he has put in regardless of battling his disdain for the 2026 rules and the driveability of his automotive.
Liam Lawson: 8
Grid Place: P8, Race End result: P6
In solely his third outing with the Milton-Keynes-based crew this season, the Kiwi driver made additional strides as he appears to vindicate himself for his acrimonious ousting from the crew, final season.
Qualifying noticed Lawson submit a good eighth-fastest lap through the prime 10 shootout. Through the race, the Pink Bull driver was the quickest of the midfield contenders.
A late-race pit cease gaffe at McLaren noticed Lawson leap forward of Piastri and take the chequered flag in sixth – his greatest end for Pink Bull.
Lando Norris: 9.5
Grid Place: P1, Race End result: P3
F1 can generally be a merciless, merciless sport. Nobody would relate to that sentiment as strongly as Norris.
The McLaren driver put in a stellar lap on his remaining flying effort in Q3 to take a shock pole place, his third of the season, for the 53-lap race on Sunday.
That stated, whereas he stored his lead intact out of the primary nook, it was an ill-time VSC that unravelled his afternoon on the Madring.
Ceding the online race result in Antonelli, Norris did try and put in an impressed comeback drive. Nonetheless, he wasn’t capable of finding a well beyond the RB22 of Verstappen, and Leclerc’s essential pit cease on Lap 49 lastly launched the Italian.
Whereas the McLaren didn’t put a foot incorrect, circumstances and a cussed Verstappen ultimately thwarted Norris.
Oscar Piastri: 6.5
Grid Place: P7, Race End result: P8
Whereas his team-mate has been preventing on the sharp-end of the sector, Piastri has been struggling for tempo in opposition to his midfield rivals.
The Australian lacked single lap tempo on Saturday and the race begin on Sunday made issues trickier. Selecting up injury on his entrance wing, Piastri was additional impeded by a sluggish pit cease which meant he ultimately may solely take the chequered flag in eighth.
Charles Leclerc: 7.5
Grid Place: P5, Race End result: P4
Leclerc had a fairly uneventful but stable Spanish GP, surprisingly out at entrance. Ferrari’s choice to maintain the Monegasque out ready for a Security Automobile meant Leclerc was main the occasion for a lot of the race.
The Ferrari driver was meaningfully solely in a battle with the Mercedes of Russell, and on the chequered flag, he did do the job his crew had set out for him by ending forward of the Briton.
Lewis Hamilton: N/A
Grid Place: P4, Race End result: DNF
Hamilton, earlier than this race weekend, was one of the profitable F1 drivers on Spanish soil.
However brake points early on within the 53-lap race meant he retired from the Grand Prix on Lap 7 – dealing him a deadly blow in his quest for an unprecedented eighth drivers’ title in 2026.
Credit score: F1C
Franco Colapinto: 8
Grid Place: P9, Race End result: P7
Colapinto has been on a terrific run of kind with the Enstone-based crew these days. After the heartbreak of the Italian GP, the Argentinian racing driver bounced again exceptionally with a second consecutive Q3 look.
Through the race, too, he confirmed some splendid tempo to take the chequered flag in seventh.
Colapinto’s resurgence has additionally come on the proper time for Alpine, because the Anglo-French marque appears to re-establish itself because the midfield chief heading into the ultimate phases of the 2026 season.
Pierre Gasly: 7
Grid Place: P14, Race End result: P12
The Frenchman went from pole-sitter to being knocked out of Q2 in a span of only one week.
Out-qualified by his team-mate, Gasly lacked pure tempo to ever threaten the top-10 realistically.
On a weekend the place a double factors end may have closed Alpine’s hole to Racing Bulls for P5 within the Constructors’, Gasly got here up brief.
Arvid Lindblad: 7.5
Grid Place: P10, Race End result: P9
It was yet one more spectacular outing for F1’s rookie of the 12 months on the Madring, final weekend.
Lindblad made his seventh-consecutive Q3 look on Saturday, and delivered a rock stable efficiency through the race to tug his VCARB 03 into the factors for the ninth time this season.
Whereas his team-mate Yuki Tsunoda failed to copy his points-scoring kind from Monza, Lindblad ensured Racing Bulls nonetheless held a lead over Alpine within the Constructors’.
Yuki Tsunoda: 6.5
Grid Place: P15, Race End result: P14
It has been a steep studying curve for the Japanese racing driver coming to phrases with the all-new 2026 vehicles. On the Madring, it was all an excessive amount of for Tsunoda.
A brand-new observe, and nonetheless not fairly 100% with the VCARB 03, the previous Pink Bull driver wasn’t in a position to make a lot of an impression throughout both qualifying or the 53-lap race as he took the chequered flag in 14th.
Nico Hulkenberg: 7.5
Grid Place: P11, Race End result: P10
The German racing driver obtained himself again into the factors after a largely tough race weekend at Monza.
It was all all the way down to some stellar execution from the Audi pit wall and pit crew, however Hulkenberg did all the appropriate issues on observe to leap his rivals and take the chequered flag in tenth.
Gabriel Bortoleto: 7
Grid Place: P12, Race End result: P13
Whereas his team-mate was within the factors, Bortoleto may solely muster thirteenth on the chequered flag.
That stated, it didn’t imply he lacked pure race tempo within the sister Audi. The German marque had determined to separate methods with the Brazilian racing driver, extending his stint within the hopes of late-race Security Automobile or VSC.
Nonetheless, that didn’t come, and Bortoleto needed to accept a fourth-consecutive race weekend with out factors for Audi.
Esteban Ocon: 7.5
Grid Place: P13, Race End result: P11
It was an agonising finish to the 53-lap race for the Frenchman as he simply missed out on factors. He executed the beginning completely, leaping the Audi of Hulkenberg and projected to be on the right track for factors.
That stated, his race unravelled within the pits because the German marque despatched Hulkenberg again out in entrance of the Frenchman. However there have been a bevy of positives for Ocon to take into the Azerbaijan GP weekend – reliability on his VF-26 appeared improved, and tyre degradation, an actual concern for his rivals, wasn’t a lot of an issue for Haas on the Madring.
Oliver Bearman: 5
Grid Place: P22, Race End result: P16
Bearman’s race was destined to be a painful outing from FP3 onwards. The Briton crashed closely through the remaining follow session on Friday and the extent of repairs required meant he was not in a position to participate in qualifying.
A pit lane begin later, he by no means actually had the tempo nor the alternatives to make any inroads in the direction of the factors paying positions.
With Audi creeping up on Haas for seventh within the Constructors’, Bearman can’t afford to make such expensive errors within the remaining phases of the 2026 season.
Alex Albon: 4.5
Grid Place: P16, Race End result: P15
It was yet one more tough outing for Albon within the FW48. Williams have been recovering from a really sluggish begin to F1’s newest period, and upgrades from the Grove-based crew “can’t come quickly sufficient” for the British-Thai driver.
At this level, each race weekend is sort of a glorified follow session for Albon. Whereas he was in a position to progress into Q2, the 53-lap race noticed him accumulate his eighth-consecutive point-less end for Williams in 2026.
Carlos Sainz: N/A
Grid Place: P20, Race End result: DNF
It was a house race weekend to neglect for the Madrid-born driver. Whereas the longer term could look vivid for Williams, the Spanish GP colored the full-extent of the awful current in entrance the crew.
Sainz was demoted three locations down the grid after impeding Valtteri Bottas throughout Q1. The race additionally noticed him in scorching water with the stewards after an incident with Fernando Alonso noticed him earn a five-second penalty.
Fortunately for him, he was referred to as into the pits by Williams to retire from the race earlier than he may have endured the struggling of jostling the FW48 throughout all the 53 laps of the Madring.
Fernando Alonso: 5
Grid Place: P17, Race End result: P17
Coming into the Spanish GP weekend, Alonso hoped the Madring would carry “alternatives” for himself and Aston Martin.
Actuality, nevertheless, was fairly completely different. A mid-race incident with Carlos Sainz noticed him into the wall and requiring a front-wing change. The AMR26, in all equity although, didn’t have a lot tempo to problem the midfield anyway.
Lance Stroll: N/A
Grid Place: P21, Race End result: DNF
It was a race weekend impeded by hurdles for the Canadian racing driver. He first took a large grid penalty for brand new engine parts at the back of his AMR26. Ranging from the very again of the grid additionally meant that the Lap 1 melee was solely exacerbated for him.
He picked up substantial ground injury within the opening phases and a protracted brake pedal lastly put him out of his miseries as Aston Martin retired him from the race.
Valtteri Bottas: 4
Grid Place: P19, Race End result: P18
There’s a lengthy option to go for Cadillac beneath F1’s newest rules. But to attain a World Championship level, Bottas nonetheless was nowhere close to troubling the likes of Aston Martin, Audi and Haas.
A irritating race on the very again of the sector resulted in an 18th-placed end, three entire laps behind the leaders.
Sergio Perez: N/A
Grid Place: P18, Race End result: DNF
It was a weekend for relative successes for the Basic-Motors backed mission. Whereas the crew is massively off the tempo in comparison with the remainder of the grid, Perez felt it was one of many strongest weekends for Cadillac.
That stated, all of it got here to an finish when he retired from the 53-lap race from a water leak challenge.
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