Antonelli’s Madring win owed much to McLaren’s VSC timing advantage

Madrid September 11-13

Another victory for Kimi Antonelli, but the inaugural Madring edition of the Spanish Grand Prix should morally have been won by Lando Norris. What undid the reigning world champion was that he and his McLaren were so dominant.

Antonelli, indeed, had a horrid first lap, the Mercedes cutting the first two chicanes and conceding second place to the Red Bull of Max Verstappen at the Búnker. Problem was, Verstappen himself had gone off track in passing Lewis Hamilton at the start. He was radioed in a fourth-lap call to drop back behind the Ferrari – which was behind Antonelli. Cue much disgruntlement.

Norris had a handy lead when the virtual safety car was called on lap 14 due to the traditional stranded Aston Martin (Lance Stroll with brake failure this time) – just after the Brit had passed pit entry. Antonelli and Verstappen, who was back up to third when brake dramas ended Hamilton’s race, dived in for their pitstops. Norris came in one lap later, at which point the VSC ended, and lost time with a sticking right-front wheel.

Once George Russell had pitted his Mercedes, Norris was into a net third, while Charles Leclerc kept his Ferrari at the front of the field until he finally made his pitstop with nine laps remaining, dropping to fourth.

At this point, Antonelli, Verstappen and Norris were all pretty close, but as the past champions fought for second, so the future king built an advantage. That scrap got close on the penultimate lap, when the Red Bull and McLaren caught jostling lapped pair Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hülkenberg. Verstappen made a mistake at Turn 5, but held on to beat Norris to second.

Leclerc continued after his late pitstop to claim fourth ahead of Russell, while Liam Lawson, still deputising for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, was sixth.

1st Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:34:23.754
2nd Max Verstappen Red Bull +4.351sec
3rd Lando Norris McLaren +5.089sec

Mark Hughes’ Driver of the day

Lando Norris

Scintillating form in qualifying and race, exploiting the recently improved McLaren to an extreme which has left team-mate Oscar Piastri gasping – and without the bad luck of the VSC timing, he’d have been a deserved dominant winner.

Italy September 4-6

His seventh position in qualifying may have been converted to 19th on the grid due to a penalty for changes of power unit elements, but that did little to affect Kimi Antonelli’s chances at Monza.

Following an early red flag due to a hefty shunt at Parabolica for Charles Leclerc, Antonelli was soon up to sixth. Eventually he caught up to Mercedes team-mate George Russell and the two traded places before the team called off the ‘yo-yo’ racing.

Antonelli and third-placed Max Verstappen used a virtual safety car to pit for medium tyres, leaving Russell – on hards since the restart – on his own out front… until the inevitable pass four laps from home.

Driver of the day: Kimi Antonelli
How could it be anyone else? From 19th to victory, regardless of lucky breaks, was a staggering achievement. But the real performance was seen after the VSC when the 14sec he made up on race leader Russell was way more than could be accounted for by the tyre offset. Around 10 of that 14sec was on-the-limit driving genius. MPH

1st Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:51:15.281
2nd George Russell Mercedes +3.857sec
3rd Max Verstappen Red Bull +14.718sec

MONTH IN NUMBERS

60
Years since the previous win for an Italian in the Italian GP – Ludovico Scarfiotti in 1966

2.14sec
This month’s fastest pitstop, courtesy of Mercedes for George Russell in Spanish GP

4
Estimated number of successful passing moves at the Madring, after the first lap

213.7
Fastest speed trap figure in mph, recorded by Lando Norris’s McLaren in the Italian GP

1
Pierre Gasly is off the mark for F1 poles after the Alpine man’s surprise Saturday at Monza