Lando Norris Spanish heartbreak as Kimi Antonelli capitalises again - Spanish GP Winners and Losers

Kimi Antonelli won the inaugural Madrid race from second on the grid, but the decisive moment of the Spanish Grand Prix was a virtual safety car that arrived two seconds too late for Lando Norris.

Norris had converted pole into the lead and controlled the opening stint until Lance Stroll stopped on Lap 15. 

Race Control neutralised the race just after the McLaren had passed the pit entry, and the VSC ended as Norris finally came in, costing him around 20 seconds against rivals who stopped under delta conditions. 

Antonelli took the win from Max Verstappen by 4.351s, with Norris third. Lewis Hamilton retired on Lap 7 with brake failure, and almost nobody overtook anyone.

So, who are RacingNews365's Spanish GP Winners and Losers? Find out below!

Winner - Antonelli takes control

Antonelli's eighth win of the campaign was not the most emphatic of his season, but it may prove the most valuable. He qualified 0.011s off Norris and never lost touch, then took the one strategic gift the race offered. 

The 20-year-old leaves Madrid on 292 points, 81 clear of team-mate George Russell and 106 ahead of Norris. Mercedes now has 503 points to Ferrari's 358. 

Antonelli has not needed to take risks to build that cushion; he has simply been in position every time a race has swung, and Madrid swung his way again.

Loser - Norris loses one he had won

Norris did everything asked of him and lost 15 points of value to a rule. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella conceded that some elements of racing cannot be controlled, noting the VSC came a couple of seconds too late and then ended a few seconds too early. 

Norris himself argued that a rule should not decide a race, and that he was the only driver on the grid denied the cheaper stop. 

At a circuit where recovery was near impossible, third was all that remained. He is 106 adrift with the season running out, which makes this the sort of afternoon a title challenge does not survive twice.

Winner - Verstappen overachieves again

Second place in a Red Bull that has no business being there was voted as the drive of the weekend by F1 fans. Verstappen qualified third, 0.140s off pole, and then defended against Norris to the line.

Context matters: under the FIA's ADUO rules for 2026, Red Bull Powertrains was designated the benchmark internal combustion engine, locking the team out of the upgrade concessions handed to rivals. 

Red Bull has openly disputed the methodology, saying its own data does not match the governing body's. Verstappen is sixth in the standings on 145 points, which flatters nobody except the car. Madrid was further brilliance from the 28-year-old.

Loser - Hamilton's title bid ends

Hamilton qualified fourth, within two tenths of pole, and was out of the race by Lap 7. He described the brake failure as sudden: the pedal stepping down into Turn 5, the car refusing to slow, a brush with the barrier, then the pedal going long a few corners later. 

He said he did not know where it had come from, and Ferrari has not yet identified the root component. 

He was reportedly told to nurse the car home rather than stop on track, protecting Leclerc's long opening stint on hards. Hamilton stays on 191 points, third, now 101 behind with the calendar shrinking.

Winner - Colapinto shines again

Ninth in qualifying, seventh at the flag, and six points that move Franco Colapinto to 27 for the season. 

On a track where positions barely changed hands, the Argentine kept Oscar Piastri's McLaren behind him by 1.558s and looked very competitive. Team-mate Pierre Gasly was 12th and a lap down, which sharpens the comparison considerably. Alpine sits sixth on 68 points. 

Colapinto's weekend was built in qualifying, exactly as Madrid demanded, and that is the clearest evidence yet that the 23-year-old has settled into the seat.

Loser - The Madring's damaging debut

The circuit's problem is structural, not circumstantial. 

Drivers reported that narrow sections and badly configured corner entries left essentially nowhere to pass, with the curved braking zone into the Turn 5 chicane singled out: Oliver Bearman pointed out that braking on a curve removes the alternate line needed to go up the inside. 

Verstappen went further, arguing the design should never force drivers to steer and brake at once, and offered to redo the braking zones himself. Piastri rated only Monaco harder for overtaking. 

No FIA or organiser review has been confirmed, and whether anything changes before 2027 is the question Madrid now has to answer.