Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed his eighth grand prix victory of the season in the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver hit the front after early leader Lando Norris was caught out by an unfortunately-timed Virtual Safety Car period.The race was neutralised on lap 15 after Lance Stroll stopped in a run-off area. Norris was four seconds ahead of Antonelli at the time and the VSC period began seconds after the McLaren passed the pit lane entrance.
Antonelli and his pursuers headed for the pits but the VSC period ended seconds behind Norris returned to the pit entrance. McLaren brought him in anyway, but his front-right wheel stuck on the hub, costing him even more time.
While Antonelli took the effective lead of the race, Charles Leclerc held the front for most of the grand prix. He started the race on hard tyres and Ferrari left him out in the hope another interruption would play in his favour. But it never happened, and Leclerc fell to fourth place after his pit stop.
Max Verstappen took second place with Norris on his tail. Red Bull told their unimpressed driver to let Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton pass him after Verstappen cut the first corner on the opening lap. Norris also accused him of leaving the track and gaining an advantage on the penultimate lap, but the stewards cleared him.
George Russell took fifth place after Mercedes opted to pit him a second time. Liam Lawson took sixth ahead of Franco Colapinto.
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Oscar Piastri paid the price of not pitting under the VSC period and fell to eighth when he eventually came in. He performed one of the race’s few overtaking moves on Arvid Lindblad as he took eighth place, despite running with a damaged front wing endplate from the first lap of the race.
Nico Hulkenberg claimed the final point for Audi, crossing the line less than a second behind Lindblad.
For the first time this year, Hamilton failed to score a point at a grand prix weekend. He retired with a brake problem early in the race.