Oscar Piastri extends F1 championship lead with Spanish Grand Prix victory

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McLaren's Australian driver Oscar Piastri celebrating on the podium after winning the Formula One Spanish Grand Prix. PHOTO: AFP

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McLaren's Oscar Piastri passes the chequered flag to win the Spanish Grand Prix. PHOTO: REUTERS

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UPDATED Jun 02, 2025, 04:21 AM

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BARCELONA – Oscar Piastri drove with exemplary calm and control in a torrid race on June 1 to beat rival and teammate Lando Norris as McLaren claimed their first Spanish Grand Prix victory since 2005 with a resounding one-two triumph.

The 24-year-old Australian came home 2.4 seconds clear of Norris for his fifth win in 2025 to extend his lead over his teammate in the drivers’ championship to 10 points, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finishing third after a dramatic finale.

Said Piastri: “A bit of a surprise to see Max (Verstappen) try the three-stop and it nearly worked for him. A great weekend overall.

“The pace was really good, we can turn it on when we needed to. Just very proud of the work we did this weekend. It’s a nice way to bounce back from (third place in) Monaco. A superb weekend.”

Four-time champion Verstappen of Red Bull, who made four stops in total and ended up on the slower hard tyres against rivals on softs, collided with Leclerc and twice with Mercedes’ George Russell after the safety car restart.

The angry Dutch driver was given a 10-second penalty added to his overall time for the second Russell collision that was clearly his fault.

He and Leclerc also faced a post-race investigation for their clash that could lead to further sanctions. Leclerc said: “I tried to push him to the left, there was a bit of contact but fortunately no consequences.”

Verstappen claimed the Monegasque had rammed into him and should have given back the place.

Russell finished fourth after eventually being let through by Verstappen, who reluctantly did as his team told him.

Said the Briton: “I was as surprised as you guys were. I’ve seen those sort of manoeuvres before on simulator games and go-karting, but never in F1. Ultimately we came home in P4 and he came home in P10. I don’t really know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment, so it felt surprising.”

When asked if his collision with Russell was intentional, Verstappen told Sky Sports: “Does it matter? I prefer to speak about the race than just one single moment.

“If there are any (drivers’ title hopes), we are way too slow anyway to fight for the title, I think that was clear again today.

“We tried to do a three-stop, I thought it was quite good and it was quite racy, and we also needed it because we had quite a bit of degradation on the tyres.”

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri leads at the start of the race. PHOTO: REUTERS

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg finished a surprising and morale-boosting fifth for the future Audi team after passing Ferrari’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap.

Hamilton was a disappointing sixth, Isack Hadjar seventh for Racing Bulls and Pierre Gasly eighth for Renault-owned Alpine.

Home hero Fernando Alonso scored his first points of the season with Aston Martin, who had only one car on the grid due to Lance Stroll’s withdrawal through injury after qualifying on May 31.

Piastri led away cleanly at the start with Verstappen seizing second from Norris, while Hamilton and Leclerc moved up to fourth and fifth as Russell lost out.

Hamilton let Leclerc through on Lap 10 of 66 after the two Ferraris had run nose to tail.

Norris took back second place from Verstappen on Lap 13, the Dutch driver making no attempt to defend against the quicker McLaren and pitting in the next lap for fresh tyres.

Verstappen took the lead again on Lap 23 after Piastri pitted, with Norris making his first stop on Lap 21 and coming out behind the Red Bull, but that lasted only until Verstappen pitted for a second time on Lap 30. He came in for a third stop on Lap 47, but Norris pitted the lap after to defend second place.

A safety car deployment on Lap 55, after Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli beached his Mercedes in the gravel, bunched up the field and triggered a rash of stops.

The McLarens came in together for fresh tyres, double-stacking. and resumed ahead of Verstappen, who questioned the switch to a set of hards but was told that was the only option available.  AFP, REUTERS

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