SPAIN LOWDOWN: All the key moments as Antonelli wins again after Norris denied by VSC

Kimi Antonelli claimed his eighth win of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver extending his points lead in the title race as Formula 1 made its first visit to the Madring.

Although the Italian came out on top on the streets of Madrid, Lando Norris lost a potential victory due to an ill-timed Virtual Safety Car, while Lewis Hamilton's race was over almost before it started after brake problems.

Here are all the key moments from the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix…

Antonelli extends lead to 81 points after another victory

Kimi Antonelli put in yet another impressive display to become the first driver to take victory at the Madring, and record his eighth win of the season from 14 Grands Prix.

The Mercedes racer continues to march on in his quest for a maiden F1 title, with his margin over team mate George Russell now standing at 81 points.

Antonelli didn't really put a foot wrong all weekend, but was no match for Lando Norris' pace in the early stages of Sunday's race after starting second.

A short Virtual Safety Car deployment just as Antonelli headed to the pit entrance allowed him to take a cheap pit stop, as Norris missed his chance in the pivotal moment of the race.

Once Charles Leclerc's Ferrari made a late pit stop from the lead, Antonelli was back in front but acknowledged that Norris had been the quickest driver on the day.

“It’s good to win, but it doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved to win," said Antonelli.

In contrast, Russell was left to finish only P5 having made one extra stop than those ahead after being left compromised by starting in P6.

The Briton admitted post-race that any hopes of challenging Antonelli for the drivers' title had all but faded with nine Grands Prix still remaining.

"Realistically, I’m not in the fight for the drivers’ [title]," he said. "That just allows me to focus race by race and try to get some good results."

Norris' Qualifying heroics undone by VSC

Just in case his victories in Hungary and the Netherlands weren’t enough to demonstrate the calibre of driver Lando Norris has become, the reigning World Champion executed what he confessed was “one of the best laps” of his F1 career in Qualifying.

With the exception of a small error at the final turn, the Briton mastered the latest addition to the calendar to edge out Mercedes’ Antonelli by 0.011s for his third pole position in four races.

With overtaking spots limited, it gave the McLaren driver a real chance of victory come race day.

And he got off to a confident start, rebuffing Antonelli's challenge when the lights went out, with the Italian making two small mistakes that enabled Norris to quickly build a lead at the front.

It was a somewhat cruel irony that soon after his engineer praised him for managing his tyres so well, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed and Norris missed the chance to take advantage, having already passed the pit entry when the alert came through.

McLaren still brought him in on his next tour to remain on the same strategy as Antonelli, both drivers having started on the medium compound, but by that time the VSC had ended and a painfully slow 7s stop dropped him down to P5.

He did manage to recover to the podium, which would normally be a result to celebrate against the likes of Mercedes, but the disappointment was palpable as Norris – and even the triumphant Antonelli – believed that he “deserved” the win.

Ferrari fail to capitalise on strong pace again

The Madring represented an opportunity for Ferrari to capitalise on the circuit's novelty and snatch a good result, especially after a disastrous home event at Monza.

Lewis Hamilton's head-on crash in the final hour of practice gave his mechanics a hefty repair job in order to make Qualifying, but that didn’t seem to dissuade the seven-time World Champion, as he went on to claim provisional pole with the first Q3 flying laps.

Ending up fourth in the final reckoning, directly ahead of team mate Charles Leclerc, there was still a possibility that a podium was on the cards, especially when Hamilton got a superb launch off the line.

Verstappen, who Hamilton had jumped, cut the chicane before eventually allowing the Ferrari driver back ahead, only for Hamilton to suffer a brake problem that sent him through several run-off areas and eventually forced his retirement.

It was a better day for Leclerc, who was likely left questioning what could have been had Ferrari’s hope of a Safety Car or red flag come to fruition. He did not pit under the VSC and thereby inherited the lead, but the lack of any further incidents left him with no choice but to finally pit after 48 laps on the hard tyres.

The gaps that had opened up between the frontrunners and the rest of the top 10 helped the Monegasque to come back out in P4, where he held off Mercedes’ Russell to bring home a respectable haul of points.

Best of the rest for Verstappen after giving positions up

Max Verstappen claimed P2 in Madrid, despite begrudgingly giving back places in the opening laps after tangling with Lewis Hamilton.

The Ferrari driver got ahead after lights out, with Verstappen cutting the first turn by driving off track to keep his P3 starting position.

The Dutchman said on the radio that Hamilton “almost shunted me”, and tried to resist Red Bull's instructions to give the place back to avoid a potential penalty, especially after he had since overtaken Antonelli for P2.

After giving in and allowing both Antonelli and Hamilton through, he quickly returned to the podium places after the Ferrari driver had a problem with his brakes.

Verstappen was also able to make the most of the VSC to limit positions lost during his pit stop, and eventually held off a charging Norris in the closing laps.

Ugochukwu takes F3 title in Madrid

Both F2 and F3 championships were in action at the Madring, with the latter concluding their season in the Spanish city.

Ugo Ugochukwu was up against Freddie Slater for the title, and it was the Campos Racing man who took the crown courtesy of a P2 finish in the final Feature Race.

Slater’s chances were dealt a blow when he was unable to score in the Sprint Race, before failing to finish the first Feature Race, meaning the pair entered the final race tied on points.

Eighth in the second Feature Race was not enough to deny his rival, Ugochukwu taking the title by 14 points in the end, with Tuukka Taponen also left celebrating after taking a maiden F3 victory on Sunday.

Over in F2, Dino Beganovic took a lights-to-flag victory in the Feature Race for DAMS Lucas Oil, as he led home Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne and Hitech’s Ritomo Miyata.

Championship leader Nikola Tsolov finished down the order, but his rival Rafael Camara could not capitalise, coming home P10 after a penalty to only narrowly reduce his deficit in the standings.

Tsolov leads by seven points, with those two set to resume their rivalry next time out in Baku.

Football stars out in force while Madrid welcomes tennis royalty to the paddock

There were plenty of famous faces from the world of sport on the Madring grid on Sunday, with Real Madrid giving a few players the day off to come and watch F1.

Their manager Jose Mourinho was also on the grid, and having beaten Rayo Vallecano 4-1 in La Liga action the previous evening, he was in an understandably good mood. As was Jude Bellingham, who scored in that match before using his Sunday off to catch up with some of his countrymen.

Vinicius Jnr was seen laughing and joking with Gabriel Bortoleto, while Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois towered over some of the drivers – at six foot seven, he is considerably taller than even the likes of Russell and Esteban Ocon.

Footballing legends David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Roberto Carlos were also in attendance, as was retired tennis star Rafael Nadal, who was spotted down at Ferrari.