Key events
16/57 The pit stop is taken by Norris, without a virtual safety car, and it’s a bad one, seven seconds, one of his tyres slow to lock on. That means Norris drops to fifth behind Russell, Verstappen, Antonelli and Leclerc, the last of whom has yet to pit.
15/57 Stroll’s crash causes a virtual safety car, and that gave Antonelli chance to dive into the pits, a chance that Norris missed out on. Will McLaren get another chance? That depends on how long it tales to clear the Stroll debris.
14/57 The calculations are being run. There’s a yellow flag as Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin is into the barricades.
13/57 The gap from Norris to Antonelli is 6.3 seconds. Piastri, the other McLaren, is chasing Lingblad. Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz clash, and there’s damage for Alonso, with Alonso not happy with his fellow Spaniard. The gap wasn’t big enough for an Alonso lunge.
12/57 Both Antonelli and Verstappen are struggling with their tyres while Norris, with clean air in front of him, is having little such problems.
11/57 It’s been a dream race so far for Norris, to follow that brilliant qualifying lap.
10/57 Liam Lawson overtakes Colapinto to climb from sixth into seventh. Lawson can help Verstappen, his Red Bull teammate, by getting amid the front five as pit stop plans are actioned.
9/57 Norris has 4.5 seconds on Antonelli. His team want him to try and last out his tyres as long as possible.
8/57 Hamilton had completed every lap of the season and been in the points for every race but that run has come to an end.
Hamilton retires
7/57 Hamilton goes into the pits and that’s surely going to be that. The team try to rescue matters but this looks terminal. Antonelli meanwhile is in trouble for going off the track, and his tyres look a mess.
Lewis Hamilton’s brakes fail
6/57 “I don’t have brakes, guys,” says Hamilton. The team is ready for him but that will be that. “I can barely stop the car,” says Hamilton. He is told not to stop on track, as he drops to the back of the field.
5/57 Hamilton soldiers on but Verstappen sails back into third, as the Ferrari looks to be sluggish, with power problems a possibility. Leclerc goes past Hamilton, and Russell lurks. Hamilton is having to brake early and has dropped down to 10th. It’s all going wrong.
4/57 Verstappen is raging at his team, and drops back to let Hamilton and Antonelli in, leaving him in fourth. Hamilton is complaining that he has brake failure. It’s all go.
3/57 Piastri is back in 10th with a damaged wing. Norris holds the fastest lap, so mixed fortunes for McLaren. Verstappen is asked to give the position back to Hamilton, which will let Antonelli back in.
2/57 Verstappen is on the blower to the stewards, having t0 explain why he went wide to overtaken Hamilton. Antonelli is in third, having dropped from second. It’s a tight track, and so little room for overtaking.
Lights out at the Madring
1/57 Lando Morris gets away, and Lewis Hamilton steals a march but drops to fourth. Verstappen has gone past Antonelli and goes into second. Norris has the open track ahead of him. Will Verstappen have to give his place back? Oscat Piastri seems to have taken a bash, and drops back in the field.
The formation lap is away. It’s a hot day in Madrid, 31 degrees, no shade at all. The track temperature is 54 degrees.
The 57 laps are soon to start, a voyage into the unknown, with the preliminary races throwing up a few questions of what the track will dish out to the drivers.
Here comes Martin Brundle’s grid walk after a blast of flamenco. Max Verstappen says: “it’s warm, it will be tough on tyres.” Rafa Nadal is spotted, as Mrs Vinicius Junior strolls past. “The energy will be unforgettable, and the new circuit will be unexpected.” He’s cheering on Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso. “They’re going through hard times.” Vini Junior gets a quick word. “My English is so bad.” That must be why he is not at Arsenal. Thibaut Courtois is here, very tall, and cheering on Lando Norris and Max Verstappen as both have Belgian blood.
Brundle seeks Jude Bellingham, who is not always a man for the mixed zone. But he speaks. “Good start to the season,” says Jude. “I’m here with Mercedes, Kimi and George, I have to pretend I understand….I am used to the PlayStarion, these guys are whipping up something with 40 buttons.” Jude is in good form, and wishes Brundle well. It’s ram-packed out there. “Maybe the best lap he’s done,” says Zak Brown of Lando’s winning lap. There’s doubt that pole is the right side of the track. “I don’t know what to expect,” says George Russell. Brundle seeks Jose Mourinho but runs into Nico Hulkenberg on the way. And Ollie Bearman.
Here’s Jose. “Look, this is right next to where I work and I see the evolution of the track.I drove here…” He’s cut off by the Spanish national anthem…
Vinicius Junior, Bernardo Silva and Zinedine Zidane are all present, too.
Jose Mourinho and Rafa Nadal are in the garages, VIP access being enjoyed.
Carlos Sainz speaks: “I don’t think we will have a car to score points or to have an amazing race unless something big happens … but I’ll still enjoy every lap I do. I will give it my best and we will make it this the last year that I don’t have a competitive car in Madrid.”
Here’s Giles Richards’ report from qualifying.
On a circuit that has proved punishingly unforgiving with some major crashes, keeping it clean was vital, but for the top spot, absolute commitment and inch-perfect execution was the differentiator in threading the needle inside the looming walls of this high-speed challenge.
Drivers’ standings after Italian GP, won by Antonelli.
1 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes 267pts
2 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes 201
3 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari 191
4 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren 171
5 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari 155
6 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull 127
7 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren 116
8 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull 71
9 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Racing Bulls 51
10 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine 41
11 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧 Racing Bulls 29
12 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine 21
13 Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas 18
14 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi 10
15 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi 6
16 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams 6
17 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams 5
18 Esteban Ocon 🇫🇷 Haas 3
19 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin 3
20 Yuki Tsunoda 🇯🇵 Racing Bulls 1
Yet to score:
Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin
Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac
Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac
Spanish GB qualifying
1 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren 1:31.824
2 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes 1:31.835
3 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull 1:31.964
4 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari 1:32.013
5 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari 1:32.019
6 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes 1:32.149
7 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren 1:32.294
8 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Red Bull 1:32.316
9 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine 1:32.903
10 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧 Racing Bulls 1:33.041
Eliminated in Q2
11 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi 1:33.223
12 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi 1:33.388
13 Esteban Ocon 🇫🇷 Haas 1:33.667
14 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine 1:33.753
15 Yuki Tsunoda 🇯🇵 Racing Bulls 1:34.084
16 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams 1:35.532
Eliminated in Q1
†17 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams 1:35.312
18 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin 1:35.388
19 Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac 1:35.913
20 Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac 1:38.011
No time
21 Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin
Pit lane Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas
†Three-place penalty for impeding Bottas
Preamble
It could barely have been closer in qualifying, with Lando Norris snatching pole by 0.011 seconds so what does Madring, the newest circuit in the championship, hold? A lot of unknowns to deal with.
To quote Giles Richards: “Billed as a street circuit, it is in fact a hybrid of roads and purpose-built track; narrow, with fast corners and walls looming for much of the lap, there is going to be virtually no margin for error.”
Kimi Antonelli, the drivers’ championship leader, is still at the front of the grid, so what does the race hold? We’ll start to find out at 2pm UK time.
