San Francisco Frontiers - Piastri extends championship lead with Spanish Grand Prix victory

The 24-year-old Australian came home 2.4 seconds clear of Norris for his fifth win this year 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.

Four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull went for a three-stop strategy that resulted in him losing third place in the final laps before being handed a 10-second penalty for crashing into Mercedes’ George Russell who finished fourth.

Nico Hulkenberg, who started 15th on the grid, was a surprise fifth for Sauber ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari, Racing Bulls’ rookie Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

Two-time champion and local hero Fernando Alonso finished ninth for Aston Martin with Verstappen classified 10th.

"It’s toasty out there," was Piastri’s description of the pre-race heat with temperatures of 32 degress celcius (air) and 51 degrees (track) ensuring high levels of tyre degradation and ice vests for the drivers.

Piastri rejected the soubriquet 'Ice Boy' on Saturday but made a super-cool start to pull clear as Verstappen attacked and passed Norris for second out of Turn One as both Ferraris passed Russell to take fourth and fifth ahead of the two Mercedes.

- Verstappen error -

Everyone started on soft tyres, other than Tsunoda, from the pit-lane, who was 19th in the absence of Lance Stroll, who was unable to drive his Aston Martin due to hand and wrist pain.

Norris finally passed Verstappen on lap 13 on entry to Turn One and began his pursuit of Piastri, as the expected stops began early with the Dutchman, taking more softs – leaving two McLarens leading two Ferraris.

Ferrari called Hamilton in for mediums, on lap 17, to "protect against the undercut". He rejoined ninth, to be followed in by Leclerc.

Norris and Piastri pitted in sequence for mediums on laps 22 and 23, gifting Verstappen the lead thanks to his early stop. He led until lap 30, when he stopped again for mediums, and rejoined fourth just ahead of Hamilton.

Restored as leader, Piastri led Norris by 5.6sec at half-distance with Leclerc, who had saved two sets of new mediums for the race, third until the rapid Verstappen swept by at Turn One and began pursuit.

The second round of stops began on lap 41 with Leclerc who rejoined sixth on his shiny new rubber followed by Russell, to softs, and Hamilton again, on lap 47 for a slow 4.2 seconds that saw him rejoin seventh.

Verstappen pitted on lap 49, for more softs, to chase Norris, who had also taken softs, for the final 15-lap sprint to the flag, and Piastri, who had followed him in.

The top three were separated by barely four seconds as they tangled with traffic amid a flurry of blue flags.

With 10 to go, on lap 56, Antonelli speared off with an engine failure to trigger a Safety Car that enabled Verstappen to stop for new hards, his only option, while the McLarens and Leclerc took used softs.

Verstappen made an error on lap 60, sliding as he exited the final corner allowing Leclerc to pass before a clash with Russell saw him take the escape road.

Red Bull told Verstappen to give position back to Russell but the Dutchman collided with him again to incur his penalty before Piastri cruised clear to take his seventh career victory ahead of Norris.

L.Ramos--SFF