Kimi Antonelli took another step in his quest towards winning the 2026 world championship by benefitting from pit-stop misfortune for Lando Norris to win the first Spanish Grand Prix at the Madring.

McLaren's Norris had looked in control of the race after converting his superb pole position into a comfortable early race lead but the battle for victory turned on a lap-14 Virtual Safety Car when Aston Martin's Lance Stroll stopped in a run-off area.

McLaren did pit Norris at the end of the next lap but, by then, the VSC had ended, meaning the field was back up to racing speed, with that misfortune then compounded by a slow seven-second service at the tyre change.

Norris rejoined in fifth place and, underlining his prodigious pace, eventually finished on second-placed Verstappen's tail in third but was tantalisingly unable to find a way past the Red Bull through the closing laps. With George Russell finishing only fifth in the second Mercedes behind a long-running Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, Antonelli's title lead grows to a season-high 81 points with a scheduled nine races remaining.