As the five red lights went out for the opening race of the season, polesitter Norris was immediately challenged by Antonelli, who darted up the inside but was forced to retreat and cut the opening chicane. That left Norris to cling onto P1 - and Antonelli was then quite happy to sit in his wake. However, Hamilton was unhappy with how Antonelli had kept him in the first corner and was told that the position needed to be handed back - and the Briton's engineer ordered him to hand the position back to his rival lest he be slapped with a penalty.

Despite a mild protest from the Dutchman, he eventually complied and then allowed both Antonelli and Hamilton past.

A few laps later, his race was over, however, as he struggled to brake and the Scuderia pulled him out of the race after just seven laps.

Up front, Norris had built a sizeable lead - which was set to be overhauled when Aston Martin's Stroll ground to a halt at Turn 20, the second car to fall by the wayside on a day punctuated by brake issues. The Virtual Safety Car was thrown out for the fallen villain, giving Mercedes and Red Bull the ideal opportunity to pit all of their drivers and implement their planned stops for Antonelli, Russell and Verstappen. However, with traffic still on the prowl, this didn't last long at all - and once the racing resumed, he found himself in P5 behind Leclerc, who'd also not stopped. Norris played a waiting game and then pitted to jump Leclerc and both Red Bulls - only to have the slowest pit stop of the day take 7s, ultimately dropping down to P5 behind the eventual winner Antonelli, Leclerc, Russell and Verstappen.

Source: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/antonelli-clinches-victory-over-verstappen-and-norris-in-spanish-gp.644ZZfPzRPEaUh2JBHcB9

Written by

Dee