Max Verstappen’s penalty at the Spanish Grand Prix hasn’t completely ruled him out of this season’s Formula 1 championship race, but McLaren will be feeling increasingly confident that both trophies are heading to Woking this year.

Oscar Piastri opened up a 49-point lead over Verstappen by securing his fifth victory of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix.

He led McLaren teammate Lando Norris through nearly every session, including securing pole position by the biggest margin of the season.

Piastri reacted brilliantly to the five red lights going out much quicker than at any other point this season.

However, the slightest hesitation from Norris allowed Verstappen through and from that point onwards, the Australian’s win was all but secured.

David Croft pointed out how impressed he was with Piastri’s approach to the weekend, even when Norris managed to steal a slight tow from his teammate.

Very little seems to faze the 24-year-old and although his advantage over Norris stands at only 10 points after nine races, it has to be remembered that he was 23 points behind after the season opener in Melbourne.

Nico Rosberg is worried about Norris after conversations with the McLaren team, and Jolyon Palmer and David Coulthard have been discussing his battle with Piastri.

Coulthard now thinks he’s spotted a ‘problem’ for Norris in his fight to win the drivers’ championship that isn’t going to be easy to resolve.


Photo by Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Oscar Piastri’s ‘natural talent’ now causing Lando Norris ‘some problems’ this season

Palmer and Coulthard were discussing on Channel 4’s coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix the battle Norris faced to catch his teammate.

After clearing Verstappen, Norris tried to close the gap to the Australian before it became clear that he was capable of maintaining a lead over his rival even when he was in clean air.

Palmer said: “Norris is losing a lot of time now to Piastri, a second on the last lap, it’s half a second so far on this lap.

“Piastri, he’s very good at managing stints, isn’t he? Just when you think the battle might be on, he gets towards the pit stop window and manages to find that extra gear.

“He’s now putting in personal best laps of the race, [the] last lap he swept through here and he might be about to improve this lap as well.

“His race management has got very, very strong.”

Coulthard replied: “Yeah, that’s the evolution of experience. [As] we mentioned before, he’s put some good people in his corner.

“Former Grand Prix driver and winner Mark Webber, [an] old teammate of mine, he’s guiding him well.

“That natural talent though is really giving Lando Norris some problems.”

Oscar Piastri accused of traumatising Lando Norris during F1 title fight

Andrea Stella and Zak Brown will be delighted with the position they find themselves in this season.

Many of their rivals were pinning their hopes on the technical directive introduced in Spain slowing them down.

However, all it took was a new piece fitted to the front wing that cost in the region of £50 to fix.

It wouldn’t be a surprise if the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari more seriously considered shifting focus to 2026, leaving Norris and Piastri to fight it out for the 2025 crown.

Rosberg thinks Piastri has traumatised Norris given how well he’s driven this season.

Norris showed that he had plenty of the ‘natural talent’ that Coulthard alluded to during his impressive weekend in Monaco.

But more often than not, Piastri is the man who has put everything together over a race weekend.