Antonelli takes eighth win of 2026 at the Madring
Formula One's first trip to the Madring was marked by yet another flawless victory from Kimi Antonelli, who was able to capitalise on a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) brought out by Lance Stroll as well as McLaren's failure to optimise Lando Norris' stop under the VSC — having the Briton take his stop just as the VSC was pulled back and executing a slow stop to add salt in the wound for then race leader Norris.
Max Verstappen endured a lonely race for the most part, before finding himself competing with Norris for the podium spots, a battle he won to secure second and Norris had to settle for third.
Here's how the inaugural race at the Madring panned out.
Race Report
Norris and Antonelli had opted for the medium tyres, with the second row drivers Verstappen and Hamilton on softs. Strategy was further split with plenty of drivers also on the hard tyres, including Leclerc and Russell.
As the five lights went out for the first ever Grand Prix start at the Madring, Norris immediately covered off Antonelli while the Mercedes driver attempted to dive past Norris but had to bail out of the move and cutting corners, meaning Verstappen was able to move past but not without also going off at an apex.
The order out of the first lap was Norris followed by Verstappen, Antonelli, Hamilton, Leclerc and Russell — with Verstappen still needing to give a position back to Hamilton but unable to do so with a car in between.
The start saw several other incidents, including contact between home favourite Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda as well as between Russell and Piastri that left the McLaren driver with a broken endplate.
Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase informed Verstappen to let Antonelli pass Hamilton past as well, fearing a penalty, which the Dutchman was disgruntled with but had to comply eventually.
Meanwhile, Hamilton appeared to be nursing an issue with his brakes that allowed Verstappen to re-pass the Ferrari driver. Hamilton dropped further down the order, also getting a black and white flag with no ability to keep his car within the painted lines.
Hamilton limped back to the pits to become the first retirement of the Grand Prix on Lap 9.
Into the following lap, the top 10 was occupied by Norris, Antonelli, Verstappen, Leclerc, Russell, Colapinto, Lawson, Arvid Lindblad, Piastri and Esteban Ocon — the Haas driver making up three spots.
Lawson soon overtook Colapinto for sixth at Turn 5. At the sharp end of the field, Norris had built a near six-second gap to Antonelli, as the McLaren driver received the news that Antonelli’s tyres were worse for wear compared to his after 13 laps.
Further back, the two Spaniards were fighting as Alonso felt Sainz had squeezed him against the wall, the home favourites making contact in their battle for 17th.
The latest driver to lose their brakes was Lance Stroll, who parked up and brought out a Virtual Safety Car (VSC). Several drivers pitted, including Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell. Leclerc on the hard tyres opted to stay out, while race leader Norris missed the pit entry, but just as the VSC was being called back, McLaren decided to call Norris in anyway in a decision that unravelled Norris’ race.
Norris’ afternoon was further undone when a seven-second pit stop added insult to injury, dropping him 15 seconds back from Antonelli in second.
Leclerc was the new race leader, with Antonelli within a second behind the Ferrari driver. On Lap 19, the top 10 was led by Leclerc followed by Antonelli, Verstappen, Russell, Norris, Lawson, Piastri, Gasly, Bortoleto and Colapinto.
Elsewhere, Sainz had received a five-second time penalty for the incident with Alonso.
Meanwhile Leclerc was still hanging on to the lead as Antonelli began to close in on fresher hard tyres, the Ferrari pitwall no doubt hoping for an intervention to give them a cheap stop.
On Lap 29, Russell swapped his medium tyres for a fresh set of hards, as he rejoined the track in sixth. As the laps ticked down, Leclerc’s hard tyres were still durable enough, as further back, Russell overtook Lawson on Lap 36 at Turn 7.
With 20 laps to go, Leclerc still hadn’t pitted as Antonelli remained two seconds adrift. Verstappen found himself in a lonely position in third, five seconds behind Antonelli and Norris a further three behind — the McLaren driver attempting to reel the Dutchman in to salvage a podium.
On Lap 40 of 57, the drivers yet to pit were Leclerc in the lead as well as Lawson, Piastri, Gasly and Bortoleto in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Meanwhile Norris was putting his pedal to the metal to recover the lost time, now a second behind Verstappen and in the fight for the podium.
In the lead, Leclerc’s best course of action at the moment was to sit tight and hope for an intervention, as pitting at that point would send him down to fourth with little chance to recover positions.
Piastri was finally called to the pits on Lap 43, finding himself behind Lindblad in 10th after going through the long stretch of the pitlane, the Australian driver soon making up one position to enter the points.
Lawson too boxed, but minimised the loss of positions as he rejoined in seventh, right ahead of a battle for points between Bortoleto in eighth and Colapinto under a second behind him.
On Lap 46, Sainz had been called into the pits to retire the car, becoming the fourth retirement of the day.
Another battle was gaining traction as Verstappen closed in on Antonelli, just as Leclerc was finally called in to stop on Lap 48.
Antonelli was now promoted into clean air as Leclerc rejoined the melee in fourth ahead of Russell on the soft tyres.
The battle for the race win now began to ebb and flow, with Verstappen and Norris pushing to close the gap but the superior Mercedes of Antonelli continued to cruise off into the distance.
Further back, Gasly in sixth on the hard tyres remained the only driver yet to pit.
On Lap 52, Antonelli reported that he touched the wall at Turn 7, with Verstappen 2.9 seconds behind. But Antonelli could rest easy as the tension between the Dutchman and Norris was now beginning to boil over, just as they approached the backmarkers where Verstappen had to go off in the scuffle.
Gasly took his stop after on the penultimate lap, as Antonelli sailed to another victory — his eighth of the season and his career.
Norris was unable to catch up to Verstappen, the podium being completed by the McLaren driver.
Up Next
Following this double header, we have a week’s reprieve before the paddock heads to Baku for the 15th round of the 2026 season. The action resumes on Thursday this time, 24th September, as the race will be held on Saturday, 26th September owing to their Remembrance Day celebrated on Sunday.
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