Kimi Antonelli won the Spanish Grand Prix after McLaren's Lando Norris, who had dominated from pole position, was denied victory by unfortunate timing of a virtual safety car (VSC). Norris had already passed the pit entry when the VSC was triggered, allowing rivals Antonelli and Max Verstappen to make cheap pit stops while he was forced to wait, and a slow McLaren pit stop compounded the damage when he did come in. The result tightens Antonelli's grip on the championship and highlights how sharply race fortunes can turn on split-second strategic decisions.

Antonelli's win, his eighth from 14 races this season, puts him 81 points clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who finished fifth, and 101 points ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who retired early with brake failure. Norris ultimately recovered to third after a seven-second pit stop (compared with the usual two) dropped him to fifth, unable to find a way past on a new circuit, the Madring, where overtaking proved extremely difficult. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc briefly led by staying out on hard tyres before finishing fourth, while Antonelli acknowledged afterwards that Norris "deserved to win."