After 45 years, F1 returned to the streets of Madrid and immediately opted for chaos. But Kimi Antonelli didn’t lose his command over the championship. As anticipated, the Madrid circuit cut through IFEMA exhibition grounds, wasted no time earning its reputation. 22 corners, a banked 270-degree sweep at La Monumental, and barely any margin for error. This was never going to be a gentle homecoming.
The first surprise for the weekend was a reigning champion, Lando Norris on pole. Across all three practice sessions, the McLaren driver didn’t get the best result. Then came qualifying. Norris put in all of his effort into the lap and snatched the first ever pole position at the new circuit by a scarcely believable 0.011 seconds from Antonelli.
Next came the race, which was far from a straightforward procession. As soon as the race started, we were met with multiple incidents: Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda made contact, and so did George Russell and Oscar Piastri, resulting in front wing damage for Piastri’s McLaren. Another incident involved Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, where Verstappen tried to cut the corner but got pushed away by Hamilton instead. This was just the beginning of the chaos which was yet to unfold.
Hamilton constantly complained about his brakes over team radio, and by lap seven we were met with our first heartbreak. Hamilton was asked to retire the car. Further, Sainz made contact with Fernando Alonso, resulting in a five-second penalty for Sainz.
Meanwhile, the other Aston Martin driver, Lance Stroll, had some technical issue and got off track, resulting in another DNF and a VSC. While the VSC turned out beneficial for most drivers with pit stops, Norris missed out. Being in the lead, Norris got to know about the VSC after moving past the pit lane, missing it by merely five seconds. What made this worse was Norris being pitted at the end of the VSC and getting a slow pit stop, which made him drop down many positions.
Soon, we were met with two more car retirements, including Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz. After multiple yellow flags and DNFs, Madrid’s new circuit met its first ever winner—Kimi Antonelli. Our championship leader made his latest statement on this new circuit by keeping up his domination. Antonelli stretched his championship lead to 81 points over teammate George Russell, putting him firmly in control of the title fight with nine rounds still to run.
Behind Antonelli, both Verstappen and Norris secured the podium with their impressive speed. After its time in Europe, the paddock heads next to Azerbaijan. Here, Antonelli will look to keep tightening his hold of the 2026 title.
Feature image credit:F1 Paddock Club
Edited by Alexandra.
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