Oscar Piastri sees off McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to claim his FIFTH victory of the F1 season at the Spanish Grand Prix - as Max Verstappen and George Russell reignite fiery feud

Daily Mail​

2 days ago

There is only one flaw in the greatest driver in the world. Just as there was with Michael Schumacher when he ruled Formula One.
And it brought him, Max Verstappen, low on lap 64 of 66 on Sunday as he blew his top and lost his composure. A few minutes later he was gracious as he spoke about his deed of moments earlier, if unrepentant. Introspection is not his style. Action is.
It is part of the DNA that makes him by a wider margin superior to the next best of his contemporaries than anyone in history. But there was a sense of desperation, of not being in charge of all he surveyed, that, surely, impelled him to drive deliberately into George Russell.
As Murray Walker always argued in Schumacher's defence, the German acted without 'malice aforethought' and that is about as solid a defence as you can offer for Verstappen's impulsive act.
And his instinct to fight out of a dark hole was more vivid because Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix may prove pivotal in several ways.
It was a race won by Oscar Piastri with ice in his veins. It means the Australian is now clear favourite for the world title. He has won five of nine races this season.
Linked, it indicates that Lando Norris is struggling to stay in the ring. His form is fragile. He is unable to piece together back-to-back wins. Up in Monaco last week, down in Barcelona this.
Second meant he slipped 10 points behind Piastri in the other superlative McLaren. Perhaps time will help Norris – there are 14 races remaining – or will the nagging doubts grow horns?
And the final of the three things this race suggested, is that we may be witnessing the end of the Verstappen dominance. Four times in four years, touched by the angels more than the devil, he has won the title.
Once controversially, twice with sledgehammer-force, finally with grit that raised him beyond what ought to have been the limitations of his car. Now, he is 49 points off Piastri.
You sense that frustration was crowding in on him. McLaren are up the road, dominant beyond belief, a reality underlined by Red Bull rightly turning to a three-stop strategy yesterday. On a two-stopper, they were toast.
So when the safety car came out after Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes had given up the ghost and all the leaders were reshod, Verstappen was restricted to hard tyres. It's all they had left. His opponents were on softs. It put him at a dreadful disadvantage. He expressed his disquiet over the radio.
He then made a rare mistake. He went on to the kerb on the straight and lost his shape. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc went past him. They touched. The stewards cleared them both.
A second or two later, he was attacked by Russell at the first corner. Rather than take the bend, Verstappen was forced off and went straight on – an off-the-road shortcut.
Then came the fateful instruction to swap places with Russell.
Now, Verstappen is a good reader of these things, knowing how to press his claims with nuclear tenacity yet within the rules. He did so several times in close combat with Norris last year, only once – in my view – overstepping the mark, in Mexico.
This time he was right in asserting he did not need to cede to Russell. The stewards later said so in their adjudication. So the event that was to unfold would not have unfolded had his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, known as GP, not insisted he did.
Verstappen saw red. He operates on a short fuse. He does not blink. Thus, he deliberately steered right into Russell, accelerating as he did so.
Nico Rosberg, world champion nine years ago, said the Dutchman should be black-flagged. Rosberg is a big admirer of Verstappen's repertoire of skills that have slaughtered every team-mate he has encountered. But here, in this condemnation, was an echo of his father Keke, 1982 world champion, who called Schumacher a 'cheap cheat' that afternoon of infamy in Monaco where the German parked up at Rascasse to block Fernando Alonso's qualifying lap in 2006.
The calculation in that skulduggery was worse than some of Schumacher's more impetuous fouls, and worse, in my estimation, than Verstappen's hot-headed madness here.
But the Dutchman acted dangerously and the 10-second penalty that sent him from fifth to 10th was lenient. If it was deliberate – and Verstappen given the chance to deny it declined to – an exemplary sentence was required.
Later, told that Russell accused him of setting a bad example to youngsters, Verstappen seemed to think the verdict priggish. 'OK, well, I'll bring some tissues next time,' he said.
On the question of entangling intentionally, Verstappen said: 'He has his view; I have my view. It's better not to do comment.'
Of Rosberg's black-flag call: 'That's his opinion.'
As of the championship situation: 'I never said that I was in a championship fight. Every race has been tough. When McLaren get their things right, they are unbeatable.'
Will he speak to Russell? 'No, not necessary. I don't have anything to say.'
Does he regret anything? 'In life you shouldn't regret too many things. No regrets.'
That is fair up to a point. Elite sport is not a place for self-doubters. But conduct is important in the assessment of reputation and legacy, not least when you have a genius talent to protect and nurture.
It was also another horror show for Lewis Hamilton (who, it should be noted, has never resorted to shady deeds on track). He was asked to let his faster team-mate Leclerc through, just as he was in China on the only previous occasion he out-qualified him. He was later passed by Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg and finished sixth. Leclerc claimed third place.
'I have no idea why it was so bad,' said Hamilton. 'That was the worst race I have experienced, balance-wise.' Positives? 'Zero.' And where does he go from here? 'Home.'