Spanish Grand Prix: Teams and drivers report from Madring

Kimi Antonelli won the race, claiming his eighth victory of 2026 after McLaren’s Virtual Safety Car strategy cost Lando Norris the lead. Max Verstappen finished second, resisting late pressure from Norris, who recovered to third after a slow stop dropped him to fifth.

Charles Leclerc salvaged fourth for Ferrari after an alternative Hard-tyre strategy, while George Russell finished fifth for Mercedes. Liam Lawson continued his strong run with sixth for Red Bull.

Franco Colapinto impressed in seventh, holding off Oscar Piastri, whose race was compromised by first-lap contact and front-wing damage. Arvid Lindblad brought Racing Bulls home ninth, while Nico Hulkenberg secured the final point in tenth for Audi on a difficult afternoon at the Madring.

Below is what teams and their drivers had to say after the Grand Prix in Spain.

"It was great to get the victory today, but we know we were a little bit fortunate with the timing of the Virtual Safety Car. Lando (Norris) was in control at the front, but we were able to dive into the pits just as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, make the cheap stop onto the Hard, get the net lead and run to the end. We probably didn’t deserve to win therefore but we will of course take it.

"We can also be happy with our pace today. We know we are still out of step with other teams in terms of upgrades, but we have been able to win the last two races at very different circuits. That is encouraging as we continue the season; we have a good position in the championships but we know there is still a very long way to go."

"No matter what we had done with strategy today we would have finished P5. The Virtual Safety Car came at the worst point for everyone who had started on the Hard tyre like me, and the best point for those who had started on the Medium. Unfortunately, that is how racing goes sometimes but it is a little bit the story of my season so far! It was very difficult to overtake today but I’ve enjoyed driving the Madring overall this weekend.

"It is going to be an intense run to the end of the season. I’m looking forward to getting back to the factory, working with the team, and getting ready for the first of three triple-headers. My pace today, particularly on the Hard tyre, felt good so we can be encouraged by that as we head to Baku."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"We are pleased to have taken the first victory at the Madring; it has been another successful new event for F1 at a great location. Kimi drove well and, whilst the Virtual Safety Car played into his hands, he drove well to bring the car home at what has proved to be a very challenging circuit. To take another win at such a different track to Monza, having not brought a major update package to the car since Canada, is very encouraging.

"On George’s side, he was slightly unfortunate with the timing of the Virtual Safety Car. We started him on the Hard tyre, intending to go long, but we had to take the cheap stop under the Virtual Safety Car and to do something different if we were to try and beat Leclerc. The Ferrari stayed out and we switch George to the Medium but unfortunately it wasn’t the strongest tyre today. George reported early on that he was suffering so we went back to the Hard compound; ultimately whatever we had done we would have come home P5 today.

"We now have one week to get ready for Baku and the beginning of the first of three triple-headers. Extending our lead in the championships is good but we know there is still so much racing to come. It is going to be an intense run to the end of the season but we’re excited for that challenge."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"That was a great result for Kimi and a really strong weekend for the team. We clearly benefited from the timing of the Virtual Safety Car, but credit goes to the drivers and everyone in the garage for being ready to react. The execution of both stops was excellent and that helped us take the win today.

"For Kimi, the decision to pit under the Virtual Safety Car was the one that ultimately put him in the net lead of the race. George's situation was a little more complicated. We had elected to do the opposite of Leclerc strategically because, when you're behind, you often need to try something different to create an opportunity. As the race unfolded, though, it became clear that the Hard tyre was performing better than we had expected and was the compound to be on. That said, if we had mirrored the Ferrari’s strategy, we would have still likely finished P5 with overtaking proving so difficult.

"Ultimately, the Virtual Safety Car arrived at the perfect moment for the cars that could switch onto the Hard tyre, and that's sometimes how racing goes. The important thing is that we've come away with a race win, a strong points haul, and strengthened our position in both championships.

"We'll regroup over the next few days and prepare for the run to the finish of the season. Nine races in 11 weeks is going to be a demanding stretch for everyone, but we've put ourselves in a good position in both title fights and we'll keep pushing right to the final Grand Prix."

“It was a great result, and we really maximised our performance, with finishing P2 on this track a solid way to wrap up a good weekend. At the start, Lewis clipped the kerb and jumped back onto the racing line, I had to go off track, otherwise both of us would have taken damage. I don't think we had the pace to challenge for the lead anyway, Kimi and Lando were faster than me throughout, so I'm happy with second. It's a circuit that's very difficult to pass on; if you position yourself in the middle, there isn't really a way through, so I was able to hold off Lando until the end. This double header has been a positive one. The car has been in a decent window both weekends, and we've been able to score consistently good points over the last few races. A podium is a nice way to end the European swing."

"I think it was a decent race. We had good speed through parts of it, but I just think we weren’t on the ideal strategy today. We went for the alternate strategy, starting on the Hards. At the start I lost the position to Franco and lost a lot of time as it was, but by the time I cleared him the VSC came out and they’d boxed, so it was just tricky from there. The start was exciting and I had to take a lot of risks to get the move done on Franco because it’s quite difficult to overtake here. It would’ve been nice to start a bit higher, but considering where we did start, the result today was good and I’m happy we managed to gain two places in the Race. I’m much more confident in the car this week, we’ve made a couple of great steps, so there are some good things to take away from the weekend."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“After Monza another strong result from the whole Team at the end of a tough race. Once again, Max extracted absolutely everything from the car, as he always does. There was obviously some frustration at the start when he had to give the place back to Lewis, but the Team on the pit wall took a good look at it and, credit to them, made the difficult call. It was painful at the time, but Max immediately got himself back into the fight and was outstanding all the way to the flag, including a great defence against the McLaren in the final laps.

"It was also a strong race and some good points from Liam. It certainly wasn’t easy towards the end of his first stint on worn Hard tyres, but he kept his cool and showed good pace in the final stint.

"Max’s P2 is his fifth podium in the last seven races and, although we have had a couple of tricky moments along the way, we are continuing to close the gap and credit needs to go to everyone working behind the scenes at Milton Keynes, improving every aspect of the car and its PU.”

“I feel like I drove a perfect race today, my tyre management was very strong, and I felt a step ahead of everyone. Qualifying was perfect, the race in terms of performance was perfect, and we were quickest by a big margin. It's just incredibly frustrating to lose in a way that has nothing to do with performance. I was the only driver on the whole grid who didn't get a pit stop under the VSC, and I lost around twenty seconds of race time because of it.

“There are still positives to take from this weekend in terms of what we can do. The pace on Sunday is clearly there, we were better than everyone today, and that's reassuring. Saturday is still an area we need to improve, but if we can close that gap and avoid situations like today, we win. We'll take today on the chin, keep pushing, and go again.”

“It was a tough one for us today, and a pretty painful race from start to finish. I got squeezed by Russell which then broke my front wing on the first lap, and from there we just got stuck in traffic, which is tricky with the lack of overtaking here. Unfortunately, the VSC timing wasn't ideal for the Hard tyre starters like myself. When we did pit, the Mediums didn't perform how we wanted them to, and I was back in traffic.

“The positive we can take is that there are some good learnings, especially on how to get the most out of the car. We also had some decent pace on the Hard tyre in clean air, which is always encouraging. We will review, see what more we can learn and then and take it into the next part of the season.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“Today is a day of mixed emotions, but we leave with our heads held high and a smile on our faces. Lando was the fastest driver on track and absolutely deserved the victory. The pace we showed was phenomenal, especially at a circuit where we didn't expect to be so strong. Unfortunately, factors entirely outside our control, specifically the timing of the Virtual Safety Car, meant the win was taken from us. We reviewed all options, but the circumstances left us with no viable alternative strategy. It's frustrating when you have the performance to win and the racing gods aren't on your side, but we will take it on the chin.

“The biggest positive is the clear evidence that our car is competitive and capable of fighting at the front. The team did an exceptional job all weekend to unlock this level of performance, and it gives us great confidence for the upcoming races. We are closing the gap in the championship and have proven we can be a threat on Sundays. While it was a tougher day for Oscar, who was compromised by damage at the start, we are working hard with him to unlock his full potential. We look forward to Baku, ready to fight for podiums and victories.”

"Firstly, a big thank you to the team for the job they did throughout the weekend. We were in a position to fight for a strong result and the car had been performing well. Unfortunately, we encountered an issue with the braking system very quickly into the race which brought our afternoon to an early end. It’s disappointing, especially considering all the effort that went into the weekend both here at the track and back at the factory. We will turn our attention to the next race and do our best to come back strong there."

"The race was good and we brought home what was realistically the best result possible, given that this track is so difficult to overtake on. We did a good job with the strategy, playing our cards to suit our situation. We decided to take our chance and wait for a Safety Car to come up before the end of the race to gain an advantage, but it didn’t play out that way in the end. If we had been on the opposite strategy, I would have finished fourth as well, so either way, we extracted the most we could out of our race. Now we take a break and reset ahead of the next round in Baku, a track I’ve always enjoyed racing on in the past."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"Like a few other teams, we split the strategy today, starting one car on the Soft compound and the other on the Hard. With Charles, we were leading the group that started on the Hard tyre and he drove a very strong first stint, pushing for almost 50 laps while maintaining good pace throughout. We knew there was a reasonable chance of a Safety Car or a red flag, so we decided to extend the stint and keep that opportunity open.

"A red flag could have put us in a position to fight for the win, while a late Safety Car could have given us a shot at third. In the end neither happened, but I think it was absolutely worth trying and Charles delivered a very solid performance. As for Lewis, at this stage we don’t yet know the exact cause of the brake system issue that forced him to retire and we will investigate it thoroughly. Regarding the championship, our approach remains the same: we take it one race at a time, and our focus now turns to Baku."

“We gave it absolutely everything we could today but, unfortunately, circumstances did not play into our hands. Yesterday we did not maximise Qualifying and that really left us out of position on the grid and gave us an uphill battle to score points. We had to try something and took some risks. We were fast throughout the race, I left nothing out there, but we just needed a VSC or a SC to benefit at the end. Like for others, that didn't happen, so I'm left a bit frustrated but still pleased the team managed to score important points. We'll debrief on many things from the weekend and continue putting our efforts into making the car faster and more complete at every event.”

“I'm very happy with the end result today with P7 and scoring six points for the team, especially as this track layout probably does not best suit the strengths of our package too well. I had a very good race start again today and I managed the tyres well and then kept the position. The VSC came and we did our pit-stop to save time, like some others around us. The second stint lasted until the end of the race, so it was very long and took some defending throughout. I caught up to Gabriel [Bortoleto] but I lost a lot of time even if it probably did not mean we'd have finished in a position higher. I'm pleased to score points today and be in front of our direct competitors as we continue to close the gap in the Championship. It's probably my best race weekend in terms of execution this year, I maximised everything in Qualifying and did what I had to do today. We will all debrief as a team and continue to develop the car and maximise our performances each weekend.”

Flavio Briatore, Executive Advisor

“The aim heading into the weekend was to be ahead of Racing Bulls and close the gap to them in the Constructors' Championship. We did that, so we can be pleased with the result from today's race. Franco did a mega job all weekend and scored six valuable points for the team. With Pierre's race, given where he qualified and started the race, the only option we had to score points was to keep him out and hopefully benefit from a late Safety Car. As did other teams around us. Also, fantastic job to Formula One and the organisers to put on this amazing new race event in Madrid, which I am sure will only grow and get better.”

"I'm pleased to come away from a challenging weekend with a couple more points. Approaching the race, we knew strategy was going to be really important, but once the VSC came out, almost everyone pitted, so there wasn't much more to play with. From there, I just pushed pretty much flat out for the rest of the race on the Hard tyre. We had good pace throughout and for most of the race we were right behind Franco. I tried everything I could, being smart with my energy management and using it differently to see if I could find a way through. Unfortunately, there just wasn't a real opportunity to overtake. It wasn't the most exciting race, but I think we can be satisfied with how we handled the weekend following the setback on Friday."

"Today wasn’t easy at all. The race was almost over for me at Turn 1, where I picked up a lot of damage from the collision with Sainz, and the impact that had on our pace was significant. Considering the damage, I don’t think the pace was too bad, but I lost a few positions at the start. With overtaking being so difficult around here, there wasn’t much opportunity to recover them. I gave it everything I had and really enjoyed being back in the car again. A big thank you to the team for another opportunity this weekend.”

Alan Permane, Team Principal

"We had a pretty decent day today with Arvid coming away with some points, so can feel confident that the pace is there. Yuki's race was compromised on Lap 1 when Carlos Sainz collided with him and caused damage to the car. This cost him at least half a second and led to a tough race overall. It's a great circuit here in Madrid, and I think it will continue to grow in popularity over the years. We look forward to heading to Baku in a couple of weeks as we kick off the triple header."

"We got the maximum out of what we had today. Starting on the soft tyre meant the early Virtual Safety Car was the right window for us to pit, and the pit crew did a fantastic job to get me ahead of Esteban [Ocon]. That was probably the key moment of our race because it gave us the track position we needed. From there, it was all about managing the tyres. Overtaking was very difficult with everyone running at a similar pace, so there wasn't much room to make further progress. We've been towards the top of this midfield fight for a while now, hopefully we will soon make the extra step we need to keep moving forward."

“We got unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car today, which pretty much messed up with our plans, and after that nothing else happened until the end of the race - not much more we could have done from there, especially as chances to overtake were slim. Overall, it's been a weekend of learnings. It wasn’t the best, but it was not all that bad either, and I have quite enjoyed racing around here. In qualifying, we were close to making it into Q3 again, and that was more or less where our pace has been all weekend. Now, a week to recharge and get back to work before we head to Baku in two weeks.”

Allan McNish, Racing Director

“Overall, we’re happy to have gained a point. It was always going to be a difficult race from a strategy point of view, with overtaking being very difficult and it looking strongly like a one-stop race. We dropped positions again at the start, which is an area we know is one of our weaknesses, but from there I was very pleased with how we worked as a team.

“We played a real team game today. Nico switched from the soft onto the hard tyre, while we ran an alternative strategy with Gabi which covered pretty much every scenario. Gabi did a great job to run very long on the hard, with the hope that a Safety Car, Virtual Safety Car or red flag later in the race could give him a significant tyre advantage, or a free stop, and propel him back into the points. On the other side, Nico was very strong on both the soft and the hard and came very close to getting ahead of Lindblad at the end.

“Ultimately, I have to say the point today was delivered by the team in the pits. Nico came in behind Ocon and went out ahead of him after a fantastically quick stop, and the team repeated that performance when Gabi came in. It was a very good team effort, strategically, in the pits and from both drivers. It’s another point for us, and now we look forward to Baku.”

“Unfortunately, the VSC came at a bad time and I didn’t benefit from it at all – but it’s been a tough weekend, and I only have myself to blame for that. On a positive, this weekend has taught me a lot, maybe more so than a clean, easy, straightforward weekend, as I took a lot from yesterday and won’t repeat that mistake. The car was strong, so whenever I was in clear air, I was right on the pace with our competition, it was just unfortunate that it was rare that I had free air as I was stuck in traffic. That gives me a good outlook heading to Baku, so now we can turn the page, reset and come back stronger.”

“We’re disappointed as we deserve much more, we deserved to be in the points today. The plan was to get both Audis at the start, and we managed to do so, and we knew it would be hard to hold them, but we did so until the stop. At the stop, we lost the position, so we need to see what I could’ve done better, if I could’ve stopped in a better position or what, as I thought it was a decent stop but they must’ve had a better one. We gave it our all out there and I’m proud of everyone, as we came from being out in Q1 and now we’re fighting for points, so it’s positive and encouraging for the rest of the races.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“We’re all very disappointed to finish P11, but I think it’s really good that we’re back in the position that we’re all a bit disappointed by that. The car was functioning very well, the drivers drove well, trackside and remote operations were really good, I think we did our best today. We lost out on the pit stop against Audi, but I don’t believe it was our team’s fault, it’s really the equipment that we need to improve to give them a better chance. I’m honestly very happy, it was a huge team effort all around, and the car’s consistency was there, no issues as we’ve had previously, so we need to learn from it. I’m sure Ollie will also come back strong, so it’s been a positive weekend.”

“It’s been a tougher weekend in Madrid than what I would have liked. I had a very strong start, picking up positions off the line, but I went deep into turn 1 and had contact with Yuki. From there on, the damage to the floor meant I was lacking a lot of downforce and couldn’t keep it on track for the remainder of the race, forcing us to retire. Regarding the penalty, two cars don’t fit into that corner so being ahead, there was little I could do. It’s a disappointing way to end the first race here, but ultimately, scoring points was always going to be near impossible for us.

“The fans have been absolutely amazing from start to finish and I’ve felt their support all weekend. The track is great and for the first year I think it’s been a great event overall. There needs to be some work done to create better overtaking opportunities. Looking ahead to Baku, I’m hopeful that the upgrades will put us more in the mix with the cars ahead and that we can come back stronger.”

“It was a tricky race and a difficult weekend for us, but I think that was probably the best we could've hoped for today. Beating both Astons and one of the Haas' is what we could realistically maximise, so that was our accomplishment for the day - we're still too far behind to be properly competing with the midfield, and it was pretty tough out there.

"We've got the upgrade coming in Baku, so hopefully that moves us up relative to the midfield and at least gets us into that fight. Realistically it's probably not big enough to shift us forward completely, but our priority unfortunately has shifted to next year. The midfield teams have brought more upgrades than usual this season and the development race is moving so fast, which is something we are focused on improving.”

James Vowles, Team Principal

“A very tricky day – we don't have pace here this weekend. Fortunately, we have a small step coming for Baku, but it's still going to be a difficult run to the end of the year. It was fantastic to see the support for Carlos, the entire grandstand was cheering him on all the way through the weekend. That level of support is what we need to keep us going in the tough times. Well done to Alex, he performed well all weekend and that was the best the car could achieve today. Onwards and upwards.”

"We needed a chaotic race today to try and change our situation and in the end we didn’t have much to fight for. But we tried different things and keep learning about the updated package. Unfortunately, Carlos [Sainz] hit me and it meant we had to pit to replace the front wing. There was a penalty given out so that’s the decision taken by the FIA and I think it was correct. It was incredible to see the support of the fans today and I really enjoyed the atmosphere.”

“I picked up quite a bit of damage in the opening laps. We tried to keep going, but then I started having some brake issues and the pedal was getting very long, so I locked up. I tried to spin the car around in the run-off, but I didn’t have enough power, so unfortunately that was the end of the race. It’s been a difficult weekend in Madrid.”

Adrian Newey, Team Principal

“A disappointing afternoon for us in Madrid. With Lance retiring early with damage and Fernando also suffering damage after contact with Carlos Sainz, we could not show our true pace. Fernando drove a solid race in front of the Spanish fans which helped to gather useful data on this new car for us to analyse. We now focus on Baku where we will bring further weight saving measures and continue to optimise the package.”

Shintaro Orihara, Honda Chief Engineer: “Today’s result isn’t what we wanted, but we need to look at the learnings and improvement points that we can take forward to future races. Over the past three races we’ve improved the driveability of our spec 2 power unit, which was introduced at the Dutch Grand Prix. By reducing the driveability issue, we can now focus on the performance side. This weekend, for example, we changed some calibrations to improve this aspect and session-by-session we saw some good signs in the data. This shows us all that we are working in the right direction.”

“Our race was going really strong up until the moment we suffered with a suspected water system issue. I think it's been one of the strongest weekends we've had as a team so far, pushing everything to the limit. We raced all the cars around us, keeping Yuki [Tsunoda] behind before we stopped and fought with the Williams all the way through, staying within a second of [Alex] Albon, so we can be happy with how our race was going.”

“Sadly not much action for me today. I was hoping for a few more things to happen but we knew that the pace here would be difficult and it was a tough race. The brake temperatures were an issue we had to manage quite a lot throughout, and the nature of this track highlights a lot of the issues that we have, but we know where we need to improve and we will keep working on it.”

Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal

“Thanks to Valtteri who brought the car to the finish while managing a few issues during the race. We opted for a strategy aimed at maximising race disruptions but it didn’t quite pay off. Checo had a great first lap, gaining several positions and was racing against the Williams and the Racing Bulls before we had to retire the car with a Power Unit issue. We’re looking forward to a busy week of preparation back at the factory before our next street race in Baku.”

Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director

“The teams approached today's race differently from what had been simulated on track on Friday. Thanks also to the opportunity provided by the Virtual Safety Car, they favoured a more measured management of pace and degradation, which allowed them to significantly extend stint lengths and made the one-stop strategy the preferred choice for the majority of the field.

“The star of the Grand Prix was the Hard tyre, a compound that had been little explored during free practice and which today demonstrated a very high level of consistency, proving to be the most robust of the three compounds from both a thermal and mechanical perspective. With the C2, we saw several stints exceeding 45 laps, reaching very high levels of wear without any significant performance drop-off. Both the Medium and the Soft also proved to be effective options despite the track temperatures. The C4, in particular, completed competitive stints comparable to those of the Medium in terms of durability.

“As expected, graining appeared mainly on the front-left tyre, on the inner area of the tread, but with limited intensity. The work carried out by the teams on car set-up and tyre management helped to minimise its effects. In a race characterised by few overtaking opportunities, the drivers were able to focus on tyre management, contributing to a very straightforward contest from a strategic perspective.

“Congratulations to Ugo Ugochukwu for securing the Formula 3 championship title today at the end of a highly competitive season. The series continues to represent an important proving ground for young talents from all over the world. The fact that the title was decided only at the final round highlights the exceptionally high level of competitiveness within the championship, which this year delivered spectacular racing and outstanding sporting value.”