Kimi Antonelli’s difficult Spain go to weekend bought one other twist after stewards confirmed a post-race penalty for the Mercedes driver after the Barcelona-Catalunya GP.
The Italian got here into Spain with the title on his shoulders and a sixth consecutive win in thoughts, however as a substitute had some of the tough weekends of his younger F1 profession. Antonelli fought arduous for lots of the race however was compelled to retire as a consequence of a late electrical failure, just some laps from the end, in a podium place.
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The retirement wasn’t sufficient because the FIA later introduced that Antonelli had obtained a five-second time penalty for 4 situations of over-tracking. The sanction didn’t have an effect on his last classification, but it surely was a setback in a stellar rookie season.
FIA Explains Why Antonelli Was Penalized
The stewards mentioned Antonelli had run previous the monitor 4 instances for no cause, and beneath the principles of Method 1, he was given the standard five-second penalty. The FIA admitted that one of many violations was solely noticed later within the race, which meant the Mercedes driver was given a warning flag later than he ought to have been. Nevertheless, officers determined that the punishment ought to nonetheless be carried out.
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Curiously, if Antonelli had are available second, the penalty may have been much more important. Moderately, his retirement was only a matter of the additional 5 seconds being added to his labeled race time.
Lewis Hamilton Capitalizes With Historic Ferrari Victory
Antonelli’s , however had some of the memorable moments of his Ferrari profession. The seven-time world champion delivered an ideal drive to win his first race for the Scuderia, ending a 41-race dropping streak and making him the oldest winner in Method 1 since 1970.
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Pole place qualifier Kimi Antonelli, second-placed qualifier George Russell, and third-placed qualifier Lewis Hamilton on the 2026 F1 Chinese language Grand Prix qualifying.Dom Gibbons/LAT Photographs
Hamilton’s victory helped to slender Antonelli’s lead within the championship and helped to offer Ferrari an enormous increase in each championships. A day that was alleged to be one other dominant one for Mercedes become a day of reliability points, FIA penalties, and a historic win for one in every of Method 1’s most interesting drivers.
This story was initially printed by on Jun 16, 2026, the place it first appeared within the part. Add Athlon Sports activities as a
