2026 Spanish Grand Prix Review: Antonelli Wins a Boring Race

Another Formula 1 weekend, and this time the action took place at the new semi-street circuit in Madboring, sorry, Madring. This one will probably be a shorter entry, because the race was hardly one of the most exciting I can remember. It was late at night here in Korea, and it took quite a bit of effort to stay awake and not drift off.

Saturday was the best part of the weekend.

If this circuit has one thing going for it, it is the fact that the walls are very close. It reminds me quite a bit of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia: very high speed and walls right beside the track. That makes Saturday more entertaining, because the drivers have to push hard and flirt with the limit. Just looking at the track map, you can already tell it will be very hard to overtake. In other words, Saturday has more risk.

Well done Goguma, what happened on Saturday?

Well, Saturday did bring a surprise, or at least a relative surprise. Norris took pole with McLaren after setting a stunning lap, finishing ahead by just 11 thousandths. He could have had even more margin, but he made a mistake in the final corner. Even so, it was enough.

Behind him, Antonelli was second, doing exactly what he needs to do: stay ahead of his title rivals. With the walls so close, it was easy to make a mistake here. Both were outstanding: Norris for the lap, Antonelli for getting the job done.

Behind them, Verstappen did well, extracting more than the car should really give, as always. In his career, the Dutchman keeps squeezing every last drop out of the package.

After that came the two Ferraris, still not quite getting it together, and in sixth place a disappointing Russell, far, far behind his teammate all weekend. It is hard to see him winning this championship like that, and I just do not see a comeback happening.

Another positive from Saturday was Colapinto, who finished ninth. At the other end of the field, the home drivers had mixed luck. Sainz finished behind his teammate by just a few thousandths and missed Q2 because of it, while Alonso struggled in his Aston Martin. Nothing new from Aston Martin, and Williams is still waiting for upgrades for the next race.

Saturday qualifying

Too much talk about Saturday. Tell me about the race, that is what matters.

Well, if I have talked more about qualifying, there is a reason. Very little happened in the race, one of the most boring I can remember in years. To be fair, the organisers did a great job, especially for a first year, but this layout needs to be changed. We will see whether they can or want to modify it.

To get straight to it, the start was the main talking point: Antonelli and Verstappen both ran wide through the asphalt run-off areas while trying to recover positions. Antonelli was smart and gave the place back immediately, but Verstappen did not, claiming that Hamilton had forced him off. That was only half true, unfortunately, because the rules allow that sort of thing. Even so, with the regulations in hand, the corner belonged to Hamilton, so Verstappen had to give the position back eventually. By then, however, Hamilton, who was already dealing with brake issues, was way down the order. In the end, he lost a huge amount of time and almost any chance he had in a circuit that does not allow overtaking.

After the start, nothing much really happened, with Norris leading ahead of Antonelli and Verstappen. The race followed its course until, as usual, one of the Aston Martins gave up. This time it was Stroll.

At that moment, the virtual safety car came out just as the leader Norris had already passed the pit entry, but before Antonelli reached it. Naturally, the Italian pitted and took advantage of the chance to lose less time than his rivals, along with many cars behind him. The strange part was that the virtual safety car lasted less than a lap, ending just seconds before Norris reached the pit entry. Inexplicably, he pitted anyway, which destroyed any chance he had. He came back out deep in traffic on a circuit where overtaking is almost impossible.

The Ferrari of Leclerc was one of the few cars that stayed out, choosing not to pit. He briefly led the race, gambling on whether a safety car would appear before the end of the Grand Prix, but nothing happened. So once he stopped, Antonelli moved into first place and that was the end of it.

And that was that: nothing happened, the race was very boring, I did not enjoy Sunday, and I almost fell asleep.

Was that it? What about Russell? And the Spaniards?

Well, a bit more did happen. Carlos Sainz moved over while trying to overtake Alonso, which led to contact. Carlos received a very deserved 5-second penalty, but in the end he had to retire.

Russell could only finish fifth, and he was flat all weekend, far, far behind Antonelli. Honestly, I do not see him recovering from this. Below I leave you the race result and the full standings for both championships.

Race result

Drivers’ Championship after the Spanish Grand Prix

Constructors’ Championship after the Spanish Grand Prix

And that is it. Nothing interesting really happened. Did you watch the race on Sunday? Did you manage to stay awake? Did you like Saturday’s qualifying session? Do you think the circuit should be changed? Let me know in the comments.

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Cover photo: Pexels.