Piastri | Pakistan

Lando Norris trimmed McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ world championship to just nine points on Sunday when he switched tactics to lead him home by just 0.698 seconds in a thrilling finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The 25-year-old Briton, who moved from a two-stop strategy to one stop, held off series leader Piastri, on fresher tyres, over the closing laps of a strategic contest to claim McLaren’s 200th victory and their record 13th win in Hungary. It was Norris’s first win at the Hungaroring in the event’s 40th race, avenging his ‘team orders’ defeat in 2024 when Piastri claimed his maiden success, his fifth victory of the season and the ninth of his career. The dominant McLaren pair finished 22 seconds clear of third-placed George Russell of Mercedes, with polesitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari fourth, grumbling at the Italian team’s poor planning after he slipped out of the leading position. “I wasn’t planning to do a one-stop,” said Norris. “But it was the only option to get back in...

Series leader Oscar Piastri grabbed an early lead and extended his title advantage on Sunday when he drove to a perfectly-controlled triumph ahead of McLaren team-mate and title rival Lando Norris at a rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Australian managed his tyres expertly to remain out of reach in the closing laps as the Briton, 25, who had started on pole, closed in on a harder-wearing compound, finishing 3.415 seconds clear as McLaren reeled off their sixth 1-2 in a dominant season. It was Piastri’s first win at the classic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, his sixth this season and the eighth of his career, extending his lead in the drivers’ championship to 16 points after 13 of this season’s 24 races. For McLaren, it was a 10th win this year. Charles Leclerc came a solid third for Ferrari ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, under the race leadership of new team boss Laurent Mekies for the first time, and Mercedes’ George Russell. Alex Albon clung on to finish sixth for William...

Lando Norris won the Austrian Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two on Sunday after fending off championship-leading team mate Oscar Piastri in an early wheel-to-wheel duel and then withstanding intense pressure to the end. The Briton’s third victory of the season cut Australian Piastri’s Formula One lead from 22 to 15 points after 11 of 24 rounds, with the two McLaren drivers locked in an increasingly private title battle. Charles Leclerc completed the podium for Ferrari with teammate Lewis Hamilton fourth and George Russell, last year’s winner in Austria, fifth for Mercedes. Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen suffered his first retirement of the season, in his team’s home race, after a first-lap collision with Mercedes’s Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli. The Dutch driver stayed third overall but is now 61 points behind Piastri in the championship standings. “Tricky, hot, tiring,” said Norris after stepping out of the car at the finish of the 70-lap race on a sweltering Sunday. “A l...

Formula One leader Oscar Piastri won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with Lando Norris on Sunday while Max Verstappen was demoted from fifth to 10th for a late collision with George Russell’s Mercedes. Piastri beat teammate and title rival Norris by 2.471 seconds for his fifth win in nine races this season, and McLaren’s seventh, to stretch his championship lead to 10 points. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the podium after passing Verstappen’s Red Bull six laps from the end of a race that saved the drama to the end. “It’s a nice way to bounce back from Monaco. A superb weekend,” said Piastri, who finished third last weekend in a race won from pole by Norris. Verstappen, who made four stops in total and ended up fighting on the slower hard tyres against rivals with softs, collided with Leclerc and then twice with Russell after a safety car restart with six laps to go. “I’ve seen those sort of manoeuvres before on simulator games and go-karting but never in F1,” said Russell,...