Dubai Telegraph - World championship leader Antonelli wins Spanish GP

The 20-year-old Mercedes driver finished clear of Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lando Norris (McLaren) and is now 81 points ahead of nearest rival, his Mercedes teammate George Russell, in the title race.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) finished fourth ahead of fellow Briton Russell and Liam Lawson in the second Red Bull.

Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) and Niko Hulkenberg (Audi) rounded out the top 10.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who had scored points in every race this season, missed out completely, retiring his Ferrari on lap seven because of brake failure.

George Russell was another big loser, with the Mercedes driver suffering badly from his team's decision to put him on two-stop strategy - the only one of the main runners to have this - which blew his chances of podium and left him even further behind his teammate in the title race.

Norris will also rue his team's poor strategy.

The reigning world champion drove a blistering lap on Saturday to claim pole position and was leading comfortably until the intervention of the virtual safety car (VSC) on lap 15.

While Antonelli and Verstappen immediately dived into the pits to change their tyres McLaren kept Norris out for an extra lap.

As he prepared to come in, the VSC finished meaning he lost time against his rivals, and the Briton wasn't helped by a slow pitstop of seven seconds.

By the time he came out Norris was down in fifth with Leclerc, who hadn't boxed, and George Russell also ahead of him.

He clawed his way past Russell and moved into third when Leclerc finally boxed on lap 48 of the 57, at which point the lead was handed to Antonelli who cruised home to take the chequered flag.

F.Damodaran--DT