Antonelli Wins Spanish GP as Norris Falls to VSC — SkimNews
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- Kimi Antonelli won the Spanish Grand Prix for Mercedes ahead of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lando Norris (McLaren), extending his drivers' championship lead at F1's first race at the Madring, a partly new, partly existing layout around Madrid's Ifema exhibition centre near Barajas airport.
- Lando Norris, who had been leading, lost out after passing the pit entry immediately before a virtual safety car was called — a situation the source notes was, "to the best anyone could remember on Sunday," unique in leaving a driver solely unable to benefit from a VSC pit stop.
- The Madring layout drew widespread driver criticism for lacking a long straight into a big braking zone, having corner entries that combine braking and turning, walls that come back towards the track on exit, and featuring the longest pit lane on the calendar — discouraging multi-stop racing and tyre management.
- Norris proposed removing turns 18 and 19 to create a straight into a wide hairpin "like Austin Turn One or Turn 10," plus redesigning what he called the "unpopular, clumsy chicane at Turn Five," telling the BBC the track is "great in qualifying" but currently not for racing.
- McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said he is "puzzled" about whether VSC should be mandated for at least one full lap; any rule change would go to the F1 Sporting Advisory Committee and then the F1 Commission, but the source notes "momentum for that does not appear to be there" currently.
- For 2026 driver seats, Haas is the likeliest opening, with F2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli (McLaren junior), Ferrari academy driver Rafael Camara, and Toyota-aligned reserve Ryo Hirakawa in the frame; Red Bull is considering F2 leader Nikola Tsolov for Racing Bulls, potentially at Liam Lawson's expense, while Cadillac reserve Colton Herta has struggled in F2 (best result fifth, 19th in standings).
Why it matters: The Madring's dire debut puts reputational and commercial pressure on organisers to rework the layout before 2026, and Norris has already handed them a concrete blueprint. Separately, the VSC timing loophole that cost Norris a likely win will be reviewed, but team principals' own uncertainty about the right fix — and the source's note that rule-change momentum is absent — suggests the loophole survives at least for now.
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