The Spanish Grand Prix was held today in Madrid at a brand new venue called the Madring, (see above). New tracks bring endless new possibilities, which is a good thing IMO. But after the practice round it was said this track is "a Fast Monaco", meaning it is a really cool track, but you better qualify well because you ain't gonna pass much. And that surely played out.

Qualifying was fierce with Lando Norris pulling "one of my best laps ever" to pull a stunning Pole Position with Kimi Antonelli second and Max Verstappen 3rd. The Ferrari's were just below this with George Russell (the other Mercedes) just below this.

So, off the standing start in the Grand Prix, Norris and Antonelli along with Verstappen raced nip and tuck around the rigorous Spanish race course and when it settled Verstappen got by Antonelli and by doing so allowed Norris the opportunity to build a few second lead. Antonelli was on Verstappen's tail, but it turns out that Verstappen passed Hamilton off the track, and he was told to give the spot back which he did, but he DID NOT want to.

Hamilton went out early with brake issues. Disappointing. His teammate Charles LeClerc had a good race and sat just behind the leaders (and we will pick him up after this next point).

Then the most important event of the race happened, as our rolling chicane, Lance Stroll spun and had brake problems too, so a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) came out. VSC events can begin and end at any point in time, so it isn't structured really. So, when the Stroll Chicane brought out the VSC, Norris was already passed pit lane, but Antonelli and Verstappen dove in quickly and chanced tyres from Mediums to Hards. Under VSCs you have to go at slower speed. So, Norris was trying to get around quickly, but he was slow during the VSC and as he got to the pit lane the VSC ended AND McLaren had a very bad pit stop of 7 seconds, which put Norris down in 5th or 6th. As the race went on from here LeClerc didn't pit and he led the field on the Hard tyre and ran 54 of the 57 total laps on that one set of hard tyres. He pitted and came out just in front of George Russell and claimed 3rd place.

Norris would catch Verstappen on track, but in Verstappen's words "I just have to park the car in the middle of the track" and that's exactly what he did and held onto 2nd place. And Kimi Antonelli continues his stellar form and extends his Championship lead to 81 points. Incredible really.

Next race is in 2 weeks at Azerbaijan, which is a good street course that you can pass on more than the Madring, so should be entertaining.

Good summary @Purple88!

The VSC is an issue and I hate when it affects the outcome of a race like this. I would like to see F1 look at it.

One last thing, I love the Race in 30 segments on Apple TV. ESPN's race day coverage was awesome but Apple TV matches that and goes beyond with all the additional content available on demand. Not to mention from two different race broadcasts. Love it!