No luck for Norris as Antonelli becomes Madring's first F1 winner

MADRID, Sept 13 : Mercedes's Kimi Antonelli won the first Spanish Grand Prix held at Madrid's new circuit to take another huge stride towards the Formula One title after bad luck denied Lando Norris victory for McLaren on Sunday.

The 20-year-old Italian's triumph from starting second on the grid at the Madring was his eighth win of the season and stretched his championship lead over teammate George Russell to 81 points after 14 rounds.

Red Bull's four-time champion Max Verstappen was second with reigning champion Norris third. Russell finished fifth. 

"I think today it's good to win but it doesn't feel as good because I think Lando today deserved the win but overall, we take it," said Antonelli.

VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR PROVES DECISIVE

Antonelli benefited from a virtual safety car (VSC) on lap 15 falling at just the right time for him to come in for a change of tyres and too late for McLaren's pole-sitter Norris, who was leading and had already gone past the pit entrance seconds earlier.

When Norris came in at the next opportunity, on lap 16 of 57, the race had gone green again.

The pitstop was slow, due to a problem on the front right of the car, but McLaren and Pirelli said that made little difference and the damage had already been done on a track that lived up to fears it would be impossible to overtake.

Norris said there was nothing he could do, with all the top three on the same one-stop strategy.

"I felt like we deserved it today but that's racing sometimes," he said. "I feel like I drove a perfect race today, just luck wasn't with me.

"It's just incredibly frustrating to lose in a way that has nothing to do with performance."  

OPENING BATTLE BETWEEN ANTONELLI AND NORRIS

Antonelli twice had to give the lead back to Norris on the opening lap after cutting corners and gaining an advantage while trying to pass but the Briton then settled into a rhythm and began to pull away.

Verstappen also gained places that he had to hand back to Antonelli and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, despite complaining that the latter had "almost shunted into me" and was out of control.

Hamilton then suffered a brake problem that sent him plunging down the order and the seven-time world champion was eventually forced to retire.

Norris was more than six seconds clear with everything seemingly under control when Aston Martin's Lance Stroll triggered the VSC by stopping at turn 20.

Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell all pitted, saving precious seconds compared to a normal stop.

When Norris came in for a switch to hard tyres to take him to the end of the race, he was stationary for seven seconds and returned to the track in fifth place but effectively fourth with Ferrari's new leader Charles Leclerc yet to stop.

Leclerc stayed out until lap 48, hoping in vain for another safety car to give him a cheap stop, and then pitted. He ended up fourth.

The virtual safety car proved decisive, with the remainder of the afternoon effectively a high-speed procession to the chequered flag without major incident - despite fears that there could be multiple crashes and red flags as seen in earlier junior races - or much to get excited about.

Antonelli crossed the line 4.3 seconds clear of Verstappen with Norris a further 0.7 behind, pushing hard but with no way past.

"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," said Verstappen.

Liam Lawson, standing in for the injured Isack Hadjar for the third race in a row, was sixth for Red Bull with Franco Colapinto seventh for Renault-owned Alpine and Oscar Piastri eighth in a damaged McLaren.

Arvid Lindblad secured precious points for Racing Bulls in their battle for fifth with Alpine and Audi's Nico Hulkenberg the final scorer in 10th.

Mercedes now have 503 points to Ferrari's 358 and McLaren's 306.

The next race is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku on September 26.