Spanish GP: Was Lando Norris robbed + How to fix the Madring
episodePreviously titled “Spanish GP: Why F1's Madring debut was so dull + was Lando Norris robbed?” — renamed by the publisher on Sep 15, 2026
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Did the Virtual Safety Car unfairly cost Lando Norris the win at the Spanish Grand Prix?
Aloita ilmainen kokeilu shopify.com sivustolla. The Athletic.
The race is on, and Kimi Antonelli won again in the Spanish Grand Prix, but only with the assistance of a virtual safety car that couldn't have been more badly timed for Lando Norris. And with that being one of the only moments of note in a race devoid of overtaking, should F1 already be worried about the measuring? I'm Ed Straw, and joining me to tell all are John Noble and Diego Mechia. Welcome to the Race F1 podcast presented by Atlassian. We're coming to you from Madrid where John, Diego and I have just witnessed the very first Grand Prix at the Madring. Diego, we were here together in May. We visited the track following the Barcelona Grand Prix. We're going to get into whether it was a good race later on.
But as an event, would you say it was a success with the slight caveat that you were working for the organisers?
No. We
have to set you up as obviously just a massive shill for the
organization. Thank you. Thank you for that introduction. Yeah, I was doing the job of commentating all sessions in Spanish and English from two, three and Formula One, of course, and also doing some work on the. on the stages, on the fan activations. But I would say that as an event, because it's very important that you separate the two, one thing was the race, the sporting aspect of it, and a different one was the event. And talking about the second one, it was, I'd say, it was a sounding success. I mean, it was 964 days since they made the announcement. I was here on the street and I was so amazed to be here this weekend. And it's completely unrecognizable, the place. You see, where did I take the picture?
I look back on my pictures from back then and it's a completely different place. What they built here, the facilities for the teams, for the drivers, for the media, everything. For the photographers, I know there were some last-minute changes to accommodate some of the suggestions after F3 testing at the end of August as well. I live here in Madrid as well. It's not where I was born, but I've lived here for the past six years. And I never thought that there would be such an event here. And there's a big fan base for Formula One here in Spain and even more in Madrid. It's a very international city these days because there is a lot of migration from Mexico, from Venezuela, from Colombia as well. I hear more French people on the streets every day.
So it has turned into a... a very international city and i heard from the organizers the numbers around 40 percent of the people that attended the event were from abroad so they may have a reference and they can judge probably better having attended or other f1 races what the experience was like here i would say and from the feedback i've gotten it's been a sounding success We can talk a lot more about what happened on the track, but as an event, it's hard to deny that it was a big success.
And it's really important, John, isn't it, to remember that, yes, I know people listening or watching at home who won't have been here and enjoyed everything going on in Madrid and at the track. It's understandable there might be sort of rain in it and saying, yeah, but what we watched on Sunday wasn't the greatest race we've ever seen, to say the least. But this is part of it, isn't it? And it is a good achievement to have built up this facility. And it really did feel, even though it's just sort of on the edge of Madrid, it did feel like a Madrid Grand Prix, as it should do.
The risk of new races all the time is that there can be a complete shambles and things can go badly wrong. I mean, the list of things that could go wrong is immense. And if you think about recent races, when I think of the first year in India, for example, and how far behind they were of building that famous... staircase to
stairway to heaven stairway to heaven there was
some buildings that just had stairs that went nowhere korea korea with the city that didn't exist you think of um las vegas the drain cover the fans getting thrown out of the circuit late tonight the chaos of the timetable you think of miami and the track surface and the problems they had
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Did the Virtual Safety Car unfairly cost Lando Norris the win at the Spanish Grand Prix?
0:00–10:27
2
What was the process and timing behind the VSC deployment after Lance Stroll’s stopped car?
10:27–19:44
3
Could McLaren have avoided Lando’s loss by pitting at a different moment?
19:44–27:29
4
Is the Madring track layout hindering overtaking and what changes are being considered?
27:29–38:14
5
Should Formula 1 introduce a mandatory pit‑stop rule during a VSC to improve fairness?
38:14–47:14
6
Was Kimi Antonelli’s victory a result of luck, skill, or both?
47:14–57:40
7
Can Max Verstappen still win the race if he had given the position back to Hamilton earlier?
57:40–1:08:54
8
What are the championship implications for Antonelli, Norris, and Russell after the Spanish GP?
1:08:54–1:17:46
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Race F1 Podcast
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