Oscar Piastri expanded his World Cup leader over Lando Norris after beating his McLaren teammate for victory in the Spanish Grand Prix as Max Verstappen was punished for a controversial late collision with George Russell.
Piastri, who claimed his fifth victory in nine races this season, always looked in full control of Barcelona after converting his impressive pole to the race’s lead at first, when Norris almost immediately fell behind Verstappen to the third.
Norris soon overtook Verstappen to move back to second place, but a prosecutor behind his teammate was never really realized, which means Piastri is leaving the European triple header with an expanded lead of 10 points in the championship.
Apparently aware that they would unlikely to beat McLarens at an absolute pace on the same strategy, Red Bull rolled the dice by placing the Verstappen on a three-stop strategy compared to Piastri and Norris’ more conventional two.
It kept Verstappen in search of other behind Norris in the final stint before a safety car was called with 10 laps to walk when Kimi Antonellis Mercedes stopped in the gravel.
The leaders changed all the tires, but Verstappen was now vulnerable when Red Bull mounted his car with the only tires they had left – new hard – the rest around him were used, but faster, softs.
Almost spinning out of the last corner when the race restarted, Verstappen was overtaken by Charles Leclerc on the run to turn one – with the two cars that got in touch just before then.
Russell then tried to move down the inside of Verstappen, where Red Bull ran wide, but got back on the field and stayed in front of Mercedes. Red Bull Pit Wall soon asked the Dutchman to give the place back to Russell, but just as he seemed to do so, the two cars contacted when Mercedes got his step on the outside.
Stewards took a weak view of Verstappen’s driving and quickly issued the four-time world champion with a 10-second time penalty and dropped him from fifth to 10th place.
When Leclerc took the third and Russell fourth, Nico Hulkenberg claimed a fantastic fifth for Sauber with a late surge of Lewis Hamilton, who had fought all afternoon for pace in the second Ferrari.
More to follow …
Formula 1 season 2025 breaks for breath after the European triple hater before resuming live Sky Sports F1 with the Canadian Grand Prix from 13 to 15 June. Stream Sky Sports With Now – No Contract, Cancel anytime