Antonelli wins first Madrid F1 race after Norris VSC blow
Kimi Antonelli won the first-ever Formula 1 race at the Madring, as Lando Norris and McLaren lost a likely victory due to their pitstop timing.
Norris led away from pole, with Antonelli only briefly jumping ahead twice when he ran off the circuit on lap one, before returning the lead to Norris on both occasions.
The McLaren driver was looking comfortable until Lance Stroll brought his Aston Martin to a halt in the run-off area at Turn 20.
That triggered a virtual safety car, but Norris had already passed the pit entry by then, while Antonelli - as well as Max Verstappen and George Russell behind - were able to make their pitstop under the VSC.
Norris pitted a lap later, but the race was back under green flag conditions. The pitstop was slow too (seven seconds), so he was jumped by Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell.
Charles Leclerc didn't pit, so he led more laps of the race than any other driver before finally trading in his hard tyres on lap 48 of 57, allowing Antonelli to claim a race lead he'd never relinquish.
Verstappen finished second, having lost out to Antonelli on the opening lap.
He'd passed him and Lewis Hamilton on the first lap to run second behind Norris, but he overtook the latter by missing the first chicane to avoid Hamilton's Ferrari.
Much to Verstappen's dissatisfaction, Red Bull ordered him to give the place back to Hamilton - but Verstappen lost out to Antonelli too because he'd passed Hamilton.
"He can give me the position now, f***ing bullshit. F***ing mickey-mouse racing this is,” Verstappen told his team at the time.
Hamilton's race didn't last much longer than that as he retired with brake problems.
Norris had to settle for third place despite a penultimate lap attack on Verstappen, while they were lapping a scrapping Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg.
Verstappen had to cut a chicane, and while he was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, it was quickly dismissed as needing no further investigation.
He finished ahead of Leclerc, who didn't get the safety car intervention Ferrari was hoping for.
Russell was fifth, having stopped for a second time and lost the position he gained on Norris with his VSC pitstop.
Stand-in Liam Lawson earned his best result for Red Bull so far in sixth place ahead of Franco Colapinto, who won F1's midfield scrap and even beat McLaren's Oscar Piastri.
Lindblad was ninth for Racing Bulls, having triumphed in a tight duel with Hulkenberg's Audi, in the points for the third time in four races.
Along with Hamilton and Stroll, home hero Carlos Sainz retired - but not before picking up a five-second time penalty for clashing with fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso - as did Sergio Perez's Cadillac.
Race results
1 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +4.4s
3 Lando Norris (McLaren) +5.1s
4 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +29.1s
5 George Russell (Mercedes) +29.8s
6 Liam Lawson (Red Bull) +1m26.7s
7 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1m34.3s
8 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +1m35.8s
9 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1 lap
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1 lap
11 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1 lap
12 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1 lap
13 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 lap
14 Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) +1 lap
15 Alexander Albon (Williams) +1 lap
16 Oliver Bearman (Haas) +1 lap
17 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +2 laps
18 Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac) +3 laps
DNF Carlos Sainz (Williams)
DNF Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
DNF Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
DNF Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
