Max Verstappen left furious as Spanish GP ruined late on and Oscar Piastri wins

Daily Mirror

2 days ago

Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two finish as he won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position. He and Lando Norris were put under pressure by Max Verstappen throughout the Barcelona race, right up until a late safety car which ruined the Red Bull racer's chances.
Verstappen had gone for an aggressive three-stop strategy which kept McLaren on their toes. But any chance he had of improving on a third-placed finish behind them evaporate when Kimi Antonelli suffered an engine failure, triggering a safety car with 10 laps to go and a mad dash to the pit lane.
Because of his extra stop earlier in the race, the Dutchman only had one set of hard tyres left to have fitted to his car. The McLarens ahead were able to fit more of the softer and grippier compound, as were Charles Leclerc and George Russell behind him.
A big snap of oversteer out of the final corner allowed Leclerc to pass immediately when the safety car peeled in and Russell might have got past straight away too had he not touched the Red Bull while trying into the first corner.
But then it all kicked off between them as Verstappen, when advised to move over and cede the place to the Mercedes, appeared to make deliberate contact with Russell's car. "What the f***?" the Brit asked over the radio, before confirmation came that the Red Bull man was under investigation.
Just 19 cars took to the grid after Aston Martin confirmed that Lance Stroll, feeling pain in his hand and wrist, would not race. And when the light went out, the battle for the lead between the two McLarens that had been so heavily built-up never materialised.
Norris suffered a relatively poor launch off the line and that opened the door for Verstappen. The Dutchman swept around the outside of the McLaren and gave leader Piastri exactly what he wanted – someone to slow his team-mate and title rival down so he could build a comfortable lead.
And that's what he did, creating a four-second gap to Norris by the time Verstappen peeled into the pits for his first tyre change. The Dutchman found a lot of grip on the set of softs he moved onto and cut through the cars ahead when he re-emerged, to the extend he had the lead of the race even after Piastri had stopped.
But he was on 10-lap old softs when McLaren switched to the medium tyres and already starting to lose traction and time. "It's so hard to drive," Verstappen complained as Piastri closed in, before pitting for the second time before half distance to drop down to fourth place, just ahead of Hamilton.
It was around that time that Alex Albon became the first retiree from the race. He had picked up front wing damage after contact with Liam Lawson early on and then copped a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage – Williams served that penalty, sent their driver back out for one more lap and then ended his misery.
At the front, Verstappen's strategy was aggressive but successful in putting pressure on the McLarens. The Dutchman was able to keep up with Norris and disavow the team of any notion they may have had about a one-two finish being little more than a formality.
With 18 laps to go, he pitted for a third time to use new softs in the final stages to try to pile on the pressure. Sensing the danger, McLaren pulled Norris in just one lap later, and then Piastri, to put both also on the softs and remove the Red Bull rivals' advantage.
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There were a hairy few moments as Norris and Verstappen approached backmarkers, including Lawson and Oliver Bearman who were duelling for position. As Lawson attempted the overtake, Norris was forced to slow and opened the door for Verstappen – only for the Dutchman to then also be impeded.
"F***ing idiots!" Verstappen yelled over the radio, while also gesturing angrily as he passed them. And he was then left baffled by his own team when he was put onto the hard tyres as most cars stopped when Antonelli brought out the safety car because of a power failure, while the McLarens ahead were fitted with used softs.