After racing at the classic Monza circuit, the teams and drivers immediately headed to Spain for the FORMULA 1 TAG HEUER GRAN PREMIO DE ESPAÑA 2026 at its new home in Madrid.
Lando Norris got away quickly from pole position, immediately diving across to defend against Kimi Antonelli behind. Lewis Hamilton had a strong start, finding himself three-wide into the first corner. He had to back out of it, as Max Verstappen cut the chicane, rejoining in front of Hamilton.
Antonelli also cut the first corner and then again cut the fifth corner, giving back the lead to Norris. Verstappen used the opportunity to promote himself to P2 with an overtake on Antonelli. But it was ill-gotten gains, as the Dutchman had overtaken Hamilton off the circuit. He argued that Hamilton would have hit him if he hadn’t cut the corner.
After a few laps of deliberation on the Red Bull pit wall, the team decided to allow both Antonelli and Hamilton by. It was poor timing for the team because Hamilton ran wide as a brake issue began to show, losing a good chunk of time. Verstappen allowed both cars by, losing himself five seconds.
A lap later, Verstappen sped past a limping Hamilton again, as did Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. Hamilton crawled back to the pit lane with a brake failure, ending his race after only six laps. He managed to return to the pits to avoid a virtual safety car.
Lance Stroll was not as lucky on lap 14, as he stopped in the runoff area at turn 20. The virtual safety car was deployed, slowing the field.
Most of the leaders used this as an opportunity to make a pit stop for new tyres. The tyre strategy among the top drivers was split across all three compounds. Norris and Antonelli had started on the mediums, Verstappen on the softs, and Leclerc and George Russell on the hards. Antonelli and Verstappen pitted for hards, while Russell pitted for mediums. Russell was a little unhappy with the call, as it effectively locked him into an alternate two-stop strategy.
The VSC was deployed a little too late for Norris to dive into the pit lane, and by the time the Brit got his McLaren around the circuit, the VSC was just being withdrawn. Despite this, he took the green-flag pit stop onto the hards, losing the lead to Leclerc, who hadn’t pitted. To add insult to injury, McLaren had a slow stop, ensuring Norris would rejoin down in P5.
Leclerc held the lead on his hard tyres, stretching his stint in hopes that there would be another stoppage. Unfortunately for the Monegasque driver, there were no further incidents, forcing him to make the pit stop under green flags on lap 49, dropping to P4.
While he was out front, Antonelli, Verstappen, and Norris had bunched up for a good battle in the closing laps. Once he got some clean air, Antonelli managed to pull away at the front, leaving Verstappen and Norris to squabble over P2.
Norris’ best chance came on the penultimate lap. They had stubbled across Nico Hulkenberg and Arvid Lindblad, who were battling over P9. Verstappen was slightly compromised when he overtook them, running deep into turn five and losing a heap of time to Norris. The McLaren driver got close, but could not get by, having to settle for P3.
Next on the calendar, Formula One will head to Azerbaijan for the fastest street circuit on the calendar. Everyone will be in Baku for the race on the weekend of September 26.
