Spanish Grand Prix
Sun, Sep 13, 20261:00 PM UTC
Weekend write-up
How Antonelli won the first race at the Madring, how the field picked it, and why a Virtual Safety Car decided it.
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) won the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix at Madring, ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Lando Norris (McLaren) took pole position. 4 of the 22 drivers classified did not finish.
Session Results
Top 5
| Pos | Actual |
|---|---|
| P1 | Kimi Antonelli |
| P2 | Max Verstappen |
| P3 | Lando Norris |
| P4 | Charles Leclerc |
| P5 | George Russell |
| P6 | Liam Lawson |
Head-to-Head
| Team | Won | Beaten |
|---|
Bahrain Grand Prix
Round 16Sun, Oct 4, 2026
How players picked this weekend
Every player’s picks, as they were when each session locked.
Qualifying
12 players
| Driver | P1 picks |
|---|---|
Kimi Antonelli | 9 |
Charles Leclerc | 1 |
George Russell | 1 |
Max Verstappen | 1 |
Lando NorrisPole | 0 |
Race
14 players
| Driver | P1 picks |
|---|---|
Kimi AntonelliWon | 9 |
Lando Norris | 2 |
Charles Leclerc | 1 |
George Russell | 1 |
Max Verstappen | 1 |
Drivers are ranked by where players put them, so a P1 pick counts for more than a P5 pick. The percentage is the share of players who had the driver anywhere in their Top 5.
Qualifying
12 players
| Pos | Driver | Picked by |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | Kimi Antonelli | 100% |
| P2 | Charles Leclerc | 100% |
| P3 | George Russell | 66.7% |
| P4 | Lando NorrisPole | 75% |
| P5 | Max Verstappen | 33.3% |
| P6 | Lewis Hamilton | 66.7% |
| P7 | Oscar Piastri | 50% |
| P8 | Pierre Gasly | 8.3% |
Race
14 players
| Pos | Driver | Picked by |
|---|---|---|
| P1 | Kimi AntonelliWon | 100% |
| P2 | Lando Norris | 78.6% |
| P3 | Max Verstappen | 71.4% |
| P4 | Lewis Hamilton | 78.6% |
| P5 | George Russell | 64.3% |
| P6 | Charles Leclerc | 64.3% |
| P7 | Oscar Piastri | 21.4% |
| P8 | Pierre Gasly | 7.1% |
Circuit guide
Madring
Madrid, Spain
Madring makes its Formula 1 debut in 2026 as a 5.416-kilometre, 22-corner circuit around the IFEMA exhibition complex in north-east Madrid. It combines public roads with purpose-built sections, so one lap moves between a street-circuit feel and the elevation changes and fast sweepers of a permanent track.
- Track type
- Street and permanent mix
- Overtaking
- Promising, unproven
- Upset risk
- High (new circuit)
What the lap demands
The 837-metre run down Ribera del Sena and several heavy stops reward straight-line speed and braking stability, while the Valdebebas sequence, taken flat out through Turns 14 to 16, asks for high-speed balance. Turn 12, La Monumental, is the signature: a 550-metre corner banked at 24 percent, taken at speed and followed by heavy braking for Turn 13.
How the racing unfolds
The organisers name four overtaking spots, each at the end of a long run: Turns 1, 5, 13 and 17. The heaviest are Turn 13, where cars come off the banking at over 300 kph and take an 84-degree corner at 140, and Turn 17 at the end of the flat-out Valdebebas run. Those ingredients are promising, but no Formula 1 race has yet shown whether cars can follow closely through the fast sections, so treat overtaking claims as unproven.
Picking a Top 5 here
Treat this as the highest-uncertainty weekend on the calendar. There is no historical form, tyre-degradation pattern or proven overtaking baseline, and teams begin with simulation rather than race data. Give practice more weight than usual: watch braking confidence, pace through the fast linked corners, long-run tyre behaviour and how quickly each team adapts as the new surface evolves.