Wonder boy Kimi Antonelli has roared ever closer to the world Formula 1 crown with victory around the new Madrid street circuit — but there was nothing but gloom for McLaren as Lando Norris got “insanely unlucky” and Oscar Piastri’s wretched season continued with an eighth-place finish in a damaged car.
Antonelli took another huge stride towards becoming the youngest world champion ever with his Spanish Grand Prix victory, but even the 20-year-old was happy to concede he had got seriously fortunate on Sunday (Monday AEST) to oust third-placed Norris.
“I feel a bit bad for Lando, he deserved to win,” shrugged Antonelli, after he took full advantage of Lance Stroll putting his Aston Martin in the wall on the 14th lap to earn a free pit-stop during a Virtual Safety Car period.
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Meanwhile, world champion Norris, who’d been looking unstoppable seven seconds ahead at the front, had just passed the pit entry, and missed a chance of a cheap tyre change.
Piastri was not even really at the races once his McLaren collided twice on the opening lap with George Russell’s Mercedes, and he ended up having to battle through the race with a damaged front wing.
McLaren decided not to change it because time would be lost but just altered the angle to provide more downforce when a disgruntled-sounding Piastri eventually pitted on lap 42.
Emerging in 11th place, he fought to get back among the points but it will still dismay him to end up a minute-and-a-half slower than his teammate.
“It was pretty painful, obviously from lap one,” sighed Piastri, who reckoned the real damage had come by finishing seventh in qualifying.
“Not much I really could have done from that first lap, having damage for the whole race. It was just a difficult afternoon.”
Norris dropped to fifth after a slow front-right tyre change when he did stop under the VSC and could only make up two places on the new Madring circuit where overtaking is at a premium.
“I don’t know how someone looks at this design and goes, mint!” Norris said.
Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto added: “I almost fell asleep.”
Fernando Alonso said it was “sad” that the key feature of the track — the banked Monumental corner — was so easy in these cars his Aston Martin team press officer could drive it flat-out.
All the drivers rued the lack of overtaking opportunities and hoped for layout changes, particularly with the turn 5-6 chicane, before the next visit in 2027.
Beyond the entertainment of it all Carlos Sainz also said there was little thought to driver safety.
The Madring follows the fast but walled street circuit template put forward by Baku, Jeddah and Las Vegas in more recent years.
“It seems like the FIA is happy to go in this direction moving forward in terms of new circuits, which obviously, as drivers, we are raising our, not concerns, but our point of wanting to keep improving safety,” the Williams driver said.
“We’re going to go towards these circuits because going at 260km/h, 270km/h on esses that you cannot see through is definitely eye-opening and definitely makes you question how safe everything is.”
Despite his superior pace in the first race to be held in Madrid for 45 years prompting team boss Zak Brown to say he’d been in “a league of his own”, Norris couldn’t pass Max Verstappen for second, even though he felt the Dutchman had illegally run off the road while defending his position on the penultimate lap.
So Verstappen finished runner-up, 4.3sec behind the Italian winner, with polesitter Norris third just seven-tenths back.
“Insanely unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car … I was the only once who didn’t get a chance to do the pit stop there. Of course I feel like I deserved more,” Norris sighed, before suggesting the lottery of pitting under the VSC needed to be changed.
Charles Leclerc was fourth, and Russell fifth as Antonelli extended his advantage in the championship race with an eighth win of the year to 81 points with nine rounds remaining.
Lewis Hamilton’s fading championship hopes also suffered further when he retired early on with a brake problem. He’s now 101 points behind Antonelli, 20 behind Russell and five ahead of fourth-placed Norris.
Charles Leclerc is fifth, Verstappen sixth and Piastri seventh, now a whopping 172 points off the lead.
— with 7NEWS
