Formula 1
SpainSeason 2026
Before the start, Fernando Alonso was required to start from the pit lane for his home race after Aston Martin changed power-unit elements on his car under parc fermé conditions. The change came after Alonso had qualified at the rear of the field, with teammate Lance Stroll also starting near the back of the grid.
The race was held in hot conditions, with track temperatures reported to be above 50 °C before the formation lap. Tyre degradation was expected to be a major factor, partly because Pirelli had selected softer compounds than those used at the previous year's race.
Most of the field started on the medium compound, including polesitter George Russell, championship leader Kimi Antonelli, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad, Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman, Charles Leclerc, Stroll and Alexander Albon. Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Nico Hülkenberg, Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz Jr., Esteban Ocon and Sergio Pérez started on soft tyres, while Aston Martin chose the hard compound for both Alonso and Stroll.
Hamilton had qualified on the front row alongside his former Mercedes teammate Russell, while Antonelli and Norris started from the second row and Verstappen and Hadjar formed an all-Red Bull third row. At the start, Russell defended the lead from Hamilton into the first corner, while Antonelli, Norris and Verstappen held third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Leclerc, who had started tenth after crashing during qualifying, made immediate progress and moved up the order during the opening laps. By contrast, Hadjar made a poor start from sixth and fell outside the top ten, while Bortoleto also lost ground from the midfield.
Russell opened a lead of around three seconds in the first stint, but the pace of the leading cars began to fall as tyre degradation increased. Norris reported that his car was sliding on the medium tyres, while Verstappen also complained about tyre behaviour despite starting on the soft compound.
The first significant retirement came on lap 6, when Stroll was instructed to return to the pits with a gearbox problem. Shortly afterwards, Leclerc continued his recovery drive by passing Piastri into the top six.
The leading drivers began their first round of pit stops around lap 12. Hamilton was the first of the front-runners to stop, switching from soft to hard tyres, and Mercedes responded by stopping Russell one lap later.
Russell retained track position, while Antonelli, Norris and Verstappen also stopped during the same phase of the race. Lawson lost time during this phase after a slow pit stop for Racing Bulls, while Leclerc extended his opening stint before pitting on lap 16.
The midfield order continued to change after the first pit stop sequence. Hadjar recovered from his poor start with several overtakes, eventually re-entering the points positions.
Alpine used team orders to move Pierre Gasly ahead of Colapinto, with Colapinto later saying that he had no complaint about the decision after crossing the line eighth. Valtteri Bottas became the second retirement when Cadillac called him into the garage as a precaution, while Hülkenberg later retired his Audi after running in the lower points battle.
Ferrari altered their strategy on lap 28, bringing Hamilton in for a second pit stop and fitting medium tyres. The move committed Hamilton to a three-stop strategy, immediately giving him a pace advantage over the Mercedes drivers who remained on older tyres.
Hamilton used the fresher tyres to reduce the time lost to Russell and Antonelli and to bring himself into contention for the net race lead. Verstappen also stopped again, although his strategy was compromised by a slow pit stop.
During the second stint, Antonelli began to close on Russell and asked whether Mercedes was comfortable with him pushing his teammate. Russell defended from Antonelli into the first corner on lap 33, while Mercedes warned that the pair could lose time if they fought too aggressively.
Antonelli was also shown the black-and-white flag for track limits, which increased the risk that a further infringement could bring a time penalty. Behind them, Norris remained close enough to keep pressure on both Mercedes cars.
Norris made his second stop on lap 35, forcing Mercedes to respond. Russell stopped shortly afterwards, followed by Antonelli, leaving Hamilton in the lead but still needing to make one further pit stop.
The decisive moment came on lap 41, when Alonso stopped on track with a technical problem, triggering a virtual safety car. Ferrari called Hamilton in for his third stop during the interruption, allowing him to change to hard tyres and return to the track still ahead of Russell.
Verstappen also pitted under the virtual safety car, but Hamilton retained control of the race once the field returned to racing speed. After the virtual safety car period ended, Hamilton gradually extended his lead.
Russell struggled to match the Ferrari's pace, while Antonelli and Norris closed on the Mercedes driver in the battle for second place. McLaren reported Antonelli to race control for further alleged track limit offences, but the potential penalty became irrelevant before the end of the race.
Hamilton's advantage reached double figures during the closing laps, with several reports describing the virtual safety car and Ferrari's three-stop strategy as the decisive factors in the result. With five laps remaining, Antonelli attacked Russell for second place and moved ahead of his teammate after a wheel-to-wheel fight.
The move damaged Antonelli's front wing, and he slowed soon afterwards before stopping with a mechanical problem, ending his run of five consecutive Grand Prix victories. Almost simultaneously, Leclerc suffered a power-steering problem and retired his Ferrari, prompting a second virtual safety car.
The interruption ended before the finish, but Hamilton's lead was large enough that Russell was unable to challenge him. Hamilton crossed the line to win ahead of Russell, with Norris third for McLaren.
Verstappen finished fourth for Red Bull, ahead of Piastri, Hadjar, Gasly, Colapinto, Lawson and Lindblad, who completed the top ten on the road. Bortoleto, Sainz, Ocon and Pérez were the last classified finishers on track, while Albon was not classified after completing insufficient race distance.
Seven drivers retired from the Grand Prix: Stroll, Bottas, Hülkenberg, Alonso, Bearman, Antonelli and Leclerc. Aston Martin endured a double retirement, with Stroll stopping early and Alonso later causing the virtual safety car period that proved decisive for Hamilton's strategy.
Bearman and Albon also failed to reach the finish in competitive condition, while the late retirements of Antonelli and Leclerc removed two cars from points contention in the closing laps.