Max Verstappen finished in second place at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP around Madrid’s new Madring street circuit, crossing the line behind the championship leader Kimi Antonelli, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Starting from third on the soft tyres, the Red Bull driver had an eventful afternoon that featured opening-lap chaos, a strategy boost from a Virtual Safety Car, and heavy pressure from Norris in the closing laps.
An eventful Turn 1 of Lap 1 at the 2026 F1 Spanish GP
Verstappen started P3 on the soft tyre and went side-by-side with Lewis Hamilton into Turn 1. The four-time world champion took to the runoff area at Turn 2 while Mercedes driver Antonelli also ran wide through the opening chicane. Verstappen rejoined the track in second place behind polesitter Norris.
Hamilton reported over team radio that Verstappen should give the place back for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Red Bull race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase soon instructed Verstappen to let both Antonelli and Hamilton through to avoid a potential penalty, dropping him to fourth. However, Hamilton had a brake failure soon after, moving Verstappen back up to third place.
When asked if he could have challenged for the win without giving the places back, Verstappen made it clear that it was unrealistic since staying on track would have led to contact and a potential race-ending damage.
“I would have had damage at the start if I would have stayed on track, so then the win was also not on. It’s as simple as that. I just did my own thing in Turn 1, but Lewis went for a move on the first two and bottomed out on the kerb, so he just jumped back onto the track, and that’s why I had to go off the road.
“If I would have stayed there, I would have definitely had contact. So, then my race could have potentially been over in Turn 2, and that’s why I think, where we are now, I’m happy to be.”
Virtual Safety Car that shifted the podium order
Norris led the first part of the race by a distance until Lance Stroll stopped with a brake issue, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.
Antonelli and Verstappen were able to enter the pit lane immediately and take fresh tyres. However, since Norris had already passed the pit entry, he had to complete another lap and pit only after normal racing conditions resumed.
An slow pit stop dropped Norris down to fifth behind Antonelli, Verstappen, and George Russell, while Charles Leclerc stayed out to take the lead on hard tyres. That did not cost him the positions, though.
Verstappen acknowledged that the timing of the it played a key role in his final position.
“Well, I think looking at the race pace, I think it’s, for us, a great result. Of course, we know that Lando got unlucky with that VSC, so for us I think today P2 is an incredible result because you could see how much Lando was catching me. Around here you can’t pass, so I could keep him behind. And for us, of course, to be P2 is incredible.“
Pressure from Norris and defending second place
Charles Leclerc stayed out until Lap 48, keeping the front-runners close together. Antonelli was held up behind the Ferrari, keeping Verstappen and a recovering Norris within touching distance.
Once Leclerc made his pit stop, Antonelli had clean air to comfortably claim the victory until the end of the race. Meanwhile, Norris caught up to the back of Verstappen on fresher tyres. Despite Norris closing into overtake mode, Verstappen kept his car positioned in the middle of the narrow Madrid layout and held onto second place until the chequered flag.
“Yeah, maximised the result. Probably a bit lucky with, of course, the unlucky situation for Lando because I didn’t have the pace of Kimi and I definitely did not have the pace of Lando. So yeah, we’re here on the podium and I think that’s, of course, great, but yeah, we just still lack a little bit, you know, to really fight for the win.
“Because it might have looked a little bit like we were in a fight for the win, but that was more because Kimi was getting held up by Charles. Because as soon as he had clean air, he just drove away from me again and I was busy with Lando behind me. But around here, if you just drive a little bit in the middle, then yeah, you can’t pass.”
“I just kept the car in the middle. I think that works quite well around here. And of course, yeah, just trying to keep the grip in the tyres, which I think was probably the hardest part of that final stint.”
Red Bull’s form before heading to Baku
Madrid marked Verstappen’s fifth podium finish in the last seven races. When asked about the current competitiveness of the RB22 and what to expect at upcoming rounds like Baku, Verstappen pointed out that execution has helped mask their performance deficit.
“I mean, we profit sometimes a little bit from some misfortune of others, but we are also trying to really maximise and sometimes, maybe, yes, slightly overperform. And that’s good. That’s the only thing that we can do at the moment. Now we rely on making our package, like our overall package, a little bit stronger to really be in a potential fight for the win.”
Verstappen agreeing with Norris about Virtual Safety Car
The post-race press conference also touched upon the debate on Virtual Safety Car procedures. Norris voiced his frustration about losing a likely win due to bad pit-lane timing under the VSC, arguing that losing a race to circumstances outside a driver’s control is unfair and that potential rule tweaks such as closing the pit entry during VSC periods should be evaluated.
Verstappen agreed with Norris’s view, noting that while every driver benefits or suffers from safety cars over their career, losing a win because of VSC timing is still a tough pill to swallow.
“Well, I mean, what Lando said. Like, I’ve also won races because of it, I’ve lost races because of it. And yes, it is extremely painful today for Lando, in that case, to lose a win.
“Like, sometimes it can be, ‘Oh, you might lose points,’ but this time it’s a win. Yeah, that’s really not nice.
“But unfortunately, I think a lot of drivers have had it that, yeah, you win some, you lose some. But can it be better? Probably yes, in the future. But we’ll probably talk about it in the next briefing and see if there is anything that can be done.
“But unfortunately, yeah, in the past and history, it’s happened more often.”
