MONTMELO, Spain (AP) — Oscar Piastri won the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris as McLaren continued its early dominance of the Formula 1 championship on Sunday.
Piastri flew away from his pole position and executed a flawless race to extend his lead in the driver standings.
Norris crossed behind him after he recovered from a bad start. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was third.
Max Verstappen crossed fifth but was dropped to 10th after he was given a 10-second penalty for colliding with fourth-place finisher George Russell late after he had been ordered to give back a place when he had overtaken the Mercedes by driving off course.
It was the third McLaren one-two of the season and the team’s seventh win in nine races, with Piastri taking five of those victories.
“Very hard to complain. It has been a great year,” Piastri said. “We executed everything we needed to. I am really enjoying it.”
Piastri has 186 points, ten more than Norris. Verstappen dropped to 49 points behind the leader.
“I never said that I was in a championship fight,” Verstappen said. “First of all, I think every race so far it’s been tough. You know when they get their things right, they’re unbeatable. And I think that’s quite clear this season.”
Verstappen’s run of three consecutive wins at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ended after he saw his Red Bull slowed on hard-compound tires that his team put on after a fourth pit stop following a late safety car.
Before the safety car he was third, but after the restart couldn’t stop Leclerc and Russell, who both passed him. The collision that cost him another five spots occurred when he appeared to be letting Russell pass on orders from stewards only to seem to steer into the Mercedes when the cars were side by side.
This was the first time in a decade that a driver other than Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton won the event held near Barcelona, whose future is in question with the addition of a race in Madrid next year.
Norris’ win in Monaco put the English driver fully back in the title fight after Piastri had gotten the jump on him with four wins in five races.
While McLaren is cruising to a second straight constructors championship based on the results earned by both cars, Verstappen can only hope that the two papaya-colored cars will take enough points off one another to let the four-time defending champion get back in it.
Next up is the Canadian GP in two weeks.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Joseph Wilson, The Associated Press
