The 2026 F1 Spanish GP had an unexpected polesitter in Lando Norris, who surprised the field with what he called one of his best laps in qualifying. Ollie Bearman was forced to start from the pit lane as a result of his FP3 crash. Other than that, the race promised to be one of questions: would overtaking be possible? And how would the tyres last? The field has not reached a unanimous decision on the tyres, as all compounds were represented on the grid.
Feisty first lap at the front
At lights out best getaway seems to be for Kimi Antonelli, but he cannot make the move stick and has to take the shortcut at turn 2. Verstappen does the same as he deems Lewis Hamilton coming in too hot. Antonelli also goes straight into turn 5, which gives Verstappen the option to pass around outside in The Bunker.
Oscar Piastri drops 3 places at the start after hitting George Russell twice, damaging his front wing. Verstappen then gets told he has let both Antonelli and Hamilton by, with the latter just having gone straight. He reluctantly does so as Hamilton starts complaining about brake issues. This causes Hamilton to give up loads of positions before having to retire. All this kerfuffling has given Norris a significant lead over Antonelli, who in turn has a significant gap to Verstappen.
A bit behind them it is Verstappen’s team mate Liam Lawson that proves that overtaking is possible, as he disposes of Franco Colapinto in turn 5. He immediately creates a gap, as Colapinto starts to form a train behind him.
The train’s second wagon Arvid Lindblad is noted for a yellow flag infringement, but with Piastri pressuring him he currently has other things to worry about.
Both Spaniards on the grid get together into turn 5, as Carlos Sainz squeezes Fernando Alonso to the wall. It costs the Aston Martin driver a piece of his front wing, and the Williams driver has to go straight ahead. The contact was Sainz’s second one of the day, as he also hit someone at the start.
VSC throws spanner in the works for Norris
Lance Stroll is off the track in turn 20 after complaining about brake issues, prompting a Virtual Safety Car. This causes Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell to switch tyres. Charles Leclerc opted to stay out, whereas Norris was already past the pits entry. He does pit the next time around, however the VSC has ended, and to add insult to injury, his stop is seven seconds, causing him to drop quite a bit behind Russell.
That same Russell has a bit of a discussion with his race engineer on the strategy, as he has swapped to the medium tyre and still has 40 laps to do. Russell thinks he can make it, his engineer Marc Dudley disagrees.
On the other side of the garage Bono informs his driver that the hard tyres aren’t bulletproof either. He is however stuck behind Leclerc, who has significantly older tyres. Antonelli outbrakes himself into turn 17, and complains about his steering. It cost him a bit of time, as Leclerc is negotiating the first few backmarkers.
After both drivers cleared the backmarkers, the difference is still around 3,5 seconds. Antonelli however seems to have collected himself, and he quickly starts closing the gap again.
Norris in the meantime has closed the gap to Russell, who has dropped back from Verstappen. Unfortunately is is difficult to overtake, especially without any difference in tyre life.
Sainz gets the black-and-white flag for track limits, with over 30 laps to go. Antonelli is warned for this as well, adding some extra pressure on him.
Piastri puts suome unnecessary pressure on himself by tapping the wall going into The Bunker. He is able to continue, but is shows that a mistake is made easily.
Leclerc waiting for a Safety Car
Russell decides to drop the medium tyres after just 13 laps, dropping right in front of the other McLaren of Piastri. Up front however, Leclerc still hasn’t pitted on the hard tyres, nor does Lawson in fifth.
After giving way in a very generous manner to Russell, Cadillac decides to retire Sergio Pérez, hinting that it wasn’t out of luxury. It did help Russell closing the gap to Lawson, who he quickly disposes of coming out of turn 6 after the Kiwi made a small mistake.
With 20 laps to go, there is little change at the front, where Norris is slightly faster than those ahead, but not significantly enough to make them sweat yet. Leclerc seems to wait for a Safety Car intervention of some sort to make his stop, as the hard tyre seems to be holding out to the end.
Wiht 15 laps to go, five drivers are still without a pit stop. But with today’s driving standards a second Safety Car seems not very likely. Norris in the meantime has closed the gap to Verstappen, although overtaking proved to be difficult in this race.
Piastri if the first of the five drivers to make their stop, attempting to undercut Lawson. He is however dropped behind Lindblad, meaning he is currently just outside the points. A lap later he is in the points as he manages to overtake Lindblad into turn 1, putting him behind Colapinto.
Antonelli stays out of trouble to the flag
At the front Antonelli is closing the gap to Leclerc, as Verstappen is closing up to him.
Lawson is pitting two laps later than Piastri, but comes out ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, and thus the young Ozzy. In the meantime Colapinto is under investigation for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, while he is attacking Bortoleto and cuts the track again in turn 5. Piastri does the same a lap later.
All this midfield fighting gives Leclerc some hope for chaos, although Norris is well within his Safety Car window. In fact, the top 4 are all withing a second of each other. Which means the battle for first place is not off the table yet.
With nine laps left Leclerc stops, handing the lead to Antonelli. He eventually keeps a three second gap to Russell, who is setting the fastest lap of the race at the moment.
Antonelli seems to have a little more pace than Verstappen and is opening up the gap a bit, as Norris tries to get by the Dutchman.
With five laps to go, Antonelli has a decent gap to Verstappen, but it is far from a smooth sailing with Antonelli hitting the wall in turn 7. Norris tries to force Verstappen into an error, but makes one himself in turn 5.
Behind them, Russell has closed the gap to Leclerc, and Lawson has closed the gap to Pierre Gasly. And with three laps to go Lawson manages to pass Gasly.
Nico Hülkenberg and Linblad decide to slug it out when Verstappen and Norris are behind them. It causes Verstappen to make a small mistake in turn 5, putting him under pressure from Norris. The McLaren driver cannot find a way past, forcing him to complain on the radio.
Kimi Antonelli isn’t bothered by all of this and wins the 2026 F1 Spanish GP, ahead of Verstappen and Norris. Leclerc is fourth ahead of Russell. Lawson is sixth from Colapinto, Piastri Lindblad and Hülkenberg.
