Latest news with #PiastriWin
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Automotive
- News.com.au
Piastri wins wild Spanish Grand Prix after Mad Max penalised for meltdown
Unflustered by the chaos and late drama that was unfolding behind him, Australia's Oscar Piastri produced a faultless drive under intense pressure to win a wild Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday night and extend his lead in the Formula One world championship. Maintaining his cool after Max Verstappen completely lost his and went into meltdown on a baking hot day at the iconic Catalunya circuit in Barcelona, Piastri calmly held off his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to register his fifth win from the first nine rounds this year. In doing so, Piastri equalled the longstanding record for the most victories by an Australian driver in a single F1 season, which was set by the legendary Jack Brabham when he won his second world title in 1960, then equalled by Alan Jones when he claimed the championship in 1980. 'It has been a great year and this weekend has been exactly the kind of weekend I was looking for, we executed everything we needed to when it counted and that's all we could ask for,' Piastri said. 'The team gave me a great car once again, it's a lot of fun winning races at the moment and I've been enjoying it and I hope the team are too.' With 15 rounds remaining, Piastri still has a long way to go before he can potentially become the third Aussie to win the biggest prize in motorsport but so far, he's doing everything right. 'It was a great weekend overall,' he said. 'The overall pace was really good and we could turn it on when we needed to. I'm just very proud of the work we've done this weekend. 'It wasn't the best first practice and then we got our stuff together, it's a nice way to bounce back from Monaco, it's been a superb weekend.' With his first victory in Spain and the seventh overall of his F1 career, Piastri took his points tally for the 2025 season to 186, 10 clear of Norris (176), who is starting to loom as his only real threat for the drivers' title after Verstappen (137) plummeted 49 points behind after being handed a 10-second penalty for colliding with George Russell. Norris finished second in Spain to limit the ground he lost to Piastri after he had closed the margin to three points by winning on the narrow streets of Monaco last week. 'Oscar drove a very good race. I didn't quite have the pace to match him,' Norris said. 'We gave it our best shot. It's a long race, anything could have happened at the end of the race. 'We both got pretty sideways with the safety car restart. It was a good, fun race and for us as a team to finish one-two is even better. 'It's been a good weekend. I lost out to the better guy this weekend. 'I know where I need to improve, I know what I need to do better. I feel confident that I can do it but, yeah, can't win them all, as much as I want to. It takes time to progress and that's what I'm working on.' For the second week in a row, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc got himself on the podium after he crossed the line third, despite making contact with Verstappen's Red Bull when the race was restarted after Kimi Antonelli drove off the track and into the gravel in the closing laps, causing a yellow flag. 'Max wanted to bring me towards the inside where there was all the rubber, so I didn't want to go there,' Leclerc said. 'I was trying to push him to the left, there was a little bit of contact. Fortunately, for us there were no consequences.' There were repercussions however when a furious Verstappen twice collided with Russell. Ordered by his engineers to let the Englishman past in his Mercedes, the four-time world champion finished fifth but was demoted to 10th after the stewards took a dim view of his actions and imposed a penalty for the race and later docked three points off his driving licence, putting him at risk of a one-race ban if he reoffends. Former world champion Nico Rosberg, commenting on television, said Verstappen was lucky not to have been disqualified. 'It looked like a very intentional retaliation. Wait for the opponent, go ramming into him, just like you felt the other guy rammed into you at turn one,' Rosberg said. 'That's something which is extremely unacceptable and I think the rules would be a black flag yes. If you wait for your opponent to bang into him, that's a black flag.' Russell was unimpressed by Verstappen's behaviour and said he was also surprised that the Dutchman only got a 10-second penalty. 'I've seen the manoeuvres before on simulator games and go karting but never in F1,' Russell said. 'Ultimately we came home in P4 and he came home in P10. I don't know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment so yeah it was a bit surprising. 'It is down to the stewards to decide if its deliberate or not. Max is such an amazing driver and so many people look up to him. It's a shame that something like that continues to occur, seems totally unnecessary and never seems to benefit himself.' Verstappen declined to talk about the incident after the race, saying: 'Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment. 'We are way too slow any way to fight for the title, I think that was clear again.' Apart from a brief period when he pitted for the first time, Piastri comfortably led the 66-lap race from the moment he made a perfect getaway from pole position. Managing his tyres on the tricky circuit, he maintained a comfortable lead throughout the race even though his advantage got wiped away when the safety car was deployed after Antonelli's engine failed and the field closed up for what amounted to a six-lap sprint to the chequered flag. Norris did push Piastri hard at the restart before the 24-year-old Melburnian broke free of the DRS zone and surged ahead to join Jones (1980) and Mark Webber (2010) as the only Aussies to win the Spanish Grand Prix. 'My restart was OK from a time point of view,' Piastri said. 'I'm not sure my rear tyres were very happy though, I think I was wheel-spinning in sixth gear so not the cleanest of restarts but it was good enough. 'Just getting used to how much grip there was on low fuel, it was like being back in qualifying so that was a bit of an adjustment, but very well managed.' The next race is in Canada in two weeks' time.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Piastri wins Spanish Grand Prix despite late safety car
Championship leader Oscar Piastri of McLaren claimed his fifth Formula One win of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, as not even a late safety car disturbed his win. Piastri had a great start to retain his lead, but also gave Red Bull's Max Verstappen a little tow, which helped the four-time defending champion to make a move on the McLaren of Lando Norris for second place. Advertisement The race was focused on the tyre strategy and McLaren did a great job to keep Piastri away from any trouble, while Norris recovered second place and Verstappen dropped to third. It looked like this was going to be the final top three, but the safety car was deployed on lap 55 after Kimi Antonelli parked up his Mercedes in the gravel. While Piastri and Norris had no problem at the restart, Verstappen locked up and Charles Leclerc made his way through to complete the podium. But Verstappen's day got even worse after he was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with the Mercedes of George Russell before the end of the race and finished 10th.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Independent
Oscar Piastri wins Spanish Grand Prix as Lando Norris slips back in title fight
Lando Norris lost ground in the championship race after McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri produced a flawless performance to win Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. Norris started second and finished in the same position – despite losing out to Red Bull's Max Verstappen off the line – taking the chequered flag 2.4 seconds behind Piastri. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc completed the podium after he fought his way past Verstappen following a late safety car re-start. However, Verstappen accused Leclerc of driving into him as the two made slight contact on the straight and then fell off the road as he attempted to defend from George Russell. Verstappen was advised to give the position to Russell to avoid a penalty, and while he seemed set to let Russell through, he appeared to drive into the Mercedes. 'What the f***'?' Russell said on the radio, with Verstappen later making way. Russell crossed the line in fourth, with Verstappen fifth. However, Verstappen was hit with a 10-second penalty by the stewards, demoting him to 10th. Lewis Hamilton finished a poor seventh after he was passed by Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg in the closing stages. Piastri's win, which came despite a late safety car, marked his fifth of the nine rounds so far to extend his title advantage over Norris from three points to 10. After failing to land pole position, Norris knew his best chance of beating Piastri would arrive at the long run to the opening corner. However, rather than battle Piastri for top spot, the slow-starting Englishman was left scrambling to keep hold of second with Verstappen drawing alongside in his Red Bull. Norris occupied the centre of the track, but Verstappen, with the advantage of sitting on the racing line, was able to stamp on his brakes later than the British driver to catapult ahead at the first corner. It was the worst possible start for Norris, who had been hoping to build on the momentum of taking just his second triumph of the season in Monaco a week ago. Instead it would be damage limitation, with Verstappen launching an early challenge on Piastri for the lead. It did not last long with Piastri 1.5 seconds clear at the start of lap four. Further back, and Hamilton, who out-qualified Leclerc for the first time since the Chinese Grand Prix in April, was up one place to fourth after he moved round the outside of Russell at the start. But the seven-time world champion was soon struggling for speed, and, for the second time in his short Ferrari career, was asked to move aside for Leclerc. Hamilton duly obliged on lap 10 and by the start of the next lap had already fallen more than a second behind his team-mate. Norris, in his superior McLaren, made light work of Verstappen at the start of lap 13 to take second place, but by now Piastri was already 4.2 seconds up the road. In came Norris on lap 21 for a change of tyres with Piastri in on the following lap. That promoted Verstappen into the lead before the four-time world champion pulled in for his second change of tyres on lap 29. Hamilton's sub-par race then suffered another setback in the pits when he lost time with a sticky front-right tyre. Piastri looked on course to cruise to victory only for Kimi Antonell's engine to expire on lap 55 of 66, and, with the Italian rookie stranded in the gravel at Turn 10, out came the safety car. A six-lap shootout followed but, despite the chaos behind, it was Piastri who held his nerve to keep Norris at bay and land another dent to the Briton's title tilt.
