Kimi Antonelli claimed victory at the Madring on Sunday ahead of Max Verstappen and disappointed polesitter Lando Norris.
Antonelli claimed his 8th career victory and the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at Madring. He crossed the line 4.351 seconds ahead of Verstappen, who had Norris only 0.738 seconds back from him. Charles Leclerc claimed fourth with Kimi’s teammate George Russell behind in 5th. This result has extended Kimi’s championship lead to 81 points over Russell.
Lando controlled the race from the start however he was struck with unfortunate Virtual Safety Car (VSC) timing and a very slow pitstop. He managed to recover in 3rd, but it should realistically have been his win.
Max Verstappen was under pressure from Hamilton early in the race and made a move to get past him. He got past Antonelli briefly as well when the Italian made a mistake but his team instructed him to give the place back to Hamilton as he was at risk of getting a penalty for going off track during his overtake. This meant he had to let Kimi and Lewis through.
Verstappen regained one place relatively quickly as on lap 5, Hamilton started reporting a brake problem. He retired one lap later.
Norris had a strong lead but his day went horribly wrong on lap 13 when Lance Stroll stopped on track at Turn 20 with a brake problem. This triggered the VSC.
When the VSC was called, Lando had already passed the pit entry, but Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell all dived into the pits for fresh rubber. By the time Norris could pit the race had gone green again. McLaren decided to pit him anyway but it cost him dearly as he had a 7 second stop, causing him to emerge in fifth behind Leclerc and the four who pitted.
Leclerc had not pitted as he was on the hards and wanted to go long. He hoped there would be a safety car or a red flag later on so he did not lose track position but this did not happen. Antonelli eventually took the lead with 9 laps to go when Ferrari brought the Monegasque into the pits.
Russell stopped again on lap 28, which freed Lando to move up alongside Verstappen. Russell made a move on Lawson and the 4-5 chicane to claim 5th.
Four drivers failed to finish the race. Hamilton and Stroll both had brake issues, Sergio Perez had a water-system issue in his Cadillac and home hero Carlos Sainz was told to retire the car on lap 43.
Add comment
Comments