Wonder boy Kimi Antonelli has roared ever closer to the world F1 crown with victory around the new Madrid street circuit -- but there was nothing but gloom for McLaren as Lando Norris got "insanely unlucky" and Oscar Piastri's wretched season continued with an eighth-place finish in a damaged car.
Antonelli took another huge stride towards becoming the youngest world champion ever with his Spanish Grand Prix victory, but even the 20-year-old was happy to concede he had got seriously fortunate on Sunday (Monday AEST) to oust third-placed Norris.
"I feel a bit bad for Lando, he deserved to win," shrugged Antonelli, after he took full advantage of Lance Stroll putting his Aston Martin in the wall on the 14th lap to earn a free pit-stop during a Virtual Safety Car period.
Meanwhile, world champion Norris, who'd been looking unstoppable seven seconds ahead at the front, had just passed the pit entry, and missed a chance of a cheap tyre change.
By the time he did stop on the next lap, a slow front-right tyre change then effectively cost him the race as he emrged in fifth and Antonelli enjoyed a 20-second switch of fortune to then control affairs at the front on the new Madring circuit where overtaking is so difficult.
Despite his superior pace in the first race to be held in Madrid for 45 years prompting team boss Zak Brown to say he'd been in "a league of his own", Norris couldn't pass Max Verstappen for second, even though he felt the Dutchman had illegally run off the road while defending his position on the penultimate lap.
So Verstappen finished runner-up, 4.3sec behind the Italian winner, with polesitter Norris third just seven-tenths back.
"Insanely unlucky with the Virtual Safety Car ... I was the only once who didn’t get a chance to do the pit stop there. Of course I feel like I deserved more," Norris sighed, before suggesting the lottery of pitting under the VSC needed to be changed.
Charles Leclerc was fourth, and George Russell fifth as Antonelli extended his advantage in the championship race with an eighth win of the year to 81 points with nine rounds remaining.
But once again, Piastri was not even really at the races once his McLaren collided twice on the opening lap with Russell's Mercedes, and he ended up having to battle through the race with a damaged front wing.
McLaren decided not to change it because time would be lost but just altered the angle to provide more downforce when a disgruntled-sounding Piastri eventually pitted on lap 42.
Emerging in 11th place, he fought to get back among the points but it will still dismay him to end up a minute-and-a-half slower than his teammate.
"It was pretty painful, obviously from lap one," sighed Piastri, who reckoned the real damage had come by finishing seventh in qualifying.
"Not much I really could have done from that first lap, having damage for the whole race. It was just a difficult afternoon."
Lewis Hamilton’s fading championship hopes also suffered further when he retired early on with a brake problem. He's now 101 points behind Antonelli, 20 behind Russell and five ahead of fourth-placed Norris.
Charles Leclerc is fifth, Verstappen sixth and Piastri seventh, now a whopping 172 points off the lead.
