Lando Norris took the first pole position in Madring history, led the race, and finished third. A virtual safety car and a seven-second pit stop decided the first Grand Prix here.
Lap one was messier than the rest of the race. Antonelli went wide at the first chicane and had to give his place back to Norris. Verstappen cut the chicane, ended up second, and was told to hand places back to both Antonelli and Hamilton, dropping him to fourth. He called it "Mickey Mouse racing" on a radio message.
Meanwhile Russell squeezed Piastri into the wall twice, damaging his front wing endplate. Piastri later asked if they were going to fix the wing and they offered to add three holes instead.
On lap 15, Stroll stopped at Turn 20 with brake trouble, triggering a VSC. Antonelli, Verstappen, and Russell all pitted cheaply. Norris had just passed the pit entry, went around again, and the VSC ended a corner before he got there. He stopped under a green flag, got a seven-second stop (McLaren what are you doing to us), and came out fifth.
At the beginning of the race, Hamilton was running third. He said he might have brushed the wall at Turn 5 on lap two. Then he had brake issues, then his pedal was going long, then he had to retire on lap seven, ending his run as the only driver to complete every racing lap this season.
As for the one-stop gambles, Leclerc led on hards waiting for a safety car Ferrari told him on lap 38 they were hoping for. It never came and he ended up in fourth. Gasly ran 55 laps on one set of hards and was forced to stop under green because of the two-compound rule. He was running seventh and because of the forced stop he dropped to twelfth.
Russell pitted twice and wasn't quiet about it. Their own explanation was that they pitted him early under the VSC and said that they didn't think the mediums would last so they made him stop again. He ended up in fifth, nearly thirty seconds back from Antonelli.
As for La Monumental, nothing happened. The corner everyone feared produced no overtakes, and Verstappen is already calling for layout changes.
Four retirements, not one of them a crash. Everyone predicted the barriers would be the problem this race but it was really the brakes and strategies.