MADRID (AP) — This time, Kimi Antonelli didn't have to work too hard for his Formula 1 victory.
A week after having to come from the back of the grid for an epic win in front of his home fans at Monza, Antonelli was virtually gifted the victory at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
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The young Italian took advantage of an unlucky break for Lando Norris to win in F1's return to Madrid and increase his lead in the drivers' standings.
“It’s good to win and I think the pace at the end was good,” Antonelli said. “But if I have to be realistic and honest, you know, today we didn’t deserve to win. Lando deserved to win today.”
Antonelli was second early on at the new Madring track in the Spanish capital, but pole-sitter Norris relinquished his lead after he wasn't able to pit when a virtual safety car was deployed. He had already passed the pit entrance and had to pit on the next lap in a move that dropped him a few positions.
“Lucky for the virtual safety car, feel a bit bad for Lando,” Antonelli said on the radio after the race.
He had come from 19th place to win at the Italian GP last weekend.
“It doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved to win,” Antonelli said. “But overall, you know, we’ll take it.”
Norris ended third, behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen in “one that just got away from us.” He said he was “insanely unlucky” with the safety car and “there was nothing I could do.”
“I was the only one on the whole grid that didn’t get the chance to do the pit stop. That’s just unfortunate," Norris said. “Of course I feel like I deserved more today, but the others also did a good race and I have to give credit to that too.”
Charles Leclerc, who led most of the race after opting not to pit when the virtual safety car was deployed, ended fourth after having to change tires late.
Leclerc's Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton saw his race last only seven laps after he reported a problem with his brakes and retired. The seven-time world champion had also struggled last weekend in the Italian GP, when he finished sixth following an early dust-up with Leclerc.
The Spanish GP returned to the Madrid region for the first time in 45 years. It last took place at the Jarama circuit in the capital’s outskirts in 1981.
It was the eighth race win this season for Antonelli, who now leads teammate George Russell by 81 points with nine races remaining. Russell finished fifth Sunday.
"Realistically, I’m not in the fight for the drivers’ (championship), and that just allows me to focus race by race and try to get some good results,” Russell said.
The start of the race gained importance with the new track yielding few overtaking opportunities, and Antonelli was able to challenge Norris into the first turn. He got past the McLaren driver after cutting the corner to avoid a collision but had to give the position back.
Verstappen also had to give back the position to Hamilton after gaining advantage while going off the track shortly after the start.
The race changed on Lap 15 when the virtual safety car was deployed after the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll stopped on the track with a brake problem.
Norris missed the opportunity to pit under the safety car and Antonelli took advantage to stop and come out in front of the McLaren. Leclerc stayed out and moved to first place on a different strategy.
“We did a good job with the strategy, playing our cards to suit our situation," Leclerc said. “If we had been on the opposite strategy, I would have finished fourth as well, so either way, we extracted the most we could out of our race.”
Norris ended pitting a lap later, when the virtual safety had ended, so he lost more time and returned to the track in fifth position. He also lost time because his stop was slower than usual because of a problem with the right-front wheel.
With the hard tires holding on well, the front-running drivers did not have to pit again and Leclerc had to come in late for his required stop, relinquishing the lead.
The home grand prix was one to forget for the local drivers.
The only two Spaniards on the grid, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, started on the back and touched each other early in the race.
“He squeezed me into the wall,” Alonso said. “(At) the start, he crashed into two people, now he squeezed me into the wall on breaking.”
Sainz had also collided with other drivers after an aggressive start at his home race. He received a five-second penalty for the incident with Alonso, and eventually retired with a car issue.
“He complained on the radio and got them to punish me,” Sainz said of Alonso.
Spanish King Felipe VI was among those on hand for the race in the Spanish capital.
Organizers expected a total attendance of nearly 350,000 spectators throughout the weekend.
Hours before the start, a few hundred residents from neighborhoods in northern Madrid protested against the return of the race.
Many of them were clad in bright yellow T-shirts and carried signs reading “Stop Formula 1 in Madrid.”
There was plenty of support for the event locally, but some residents complained about the noise generated by the cars, the road closures and the environmental effects of the race, which is contracted to take place in the Spanish capital for 10 years.
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