Motorsports

McLaren’s Lando Norris avoided early mayhem to cruise to a dominant Mexico City Grand Prix win and retake the Formula One championship lead by a single point from teammate Oscar Piastri on Sunday.

Australia’s Piastri, who started the race seventh and 14 points clear of the Briton, finished fifth after a virtual safety car in the last two laps denied him a shot at fourth after a thrilling chase.

Charles Leclerc was runner-up for Ferrari, a hefty 30.3 seconds adrift of Norris, while Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen took third – just 0.7 behind the Monegasque driver.

Norris, who started from pole position and led every lap, now has 357 points to Piastri’s 356, with Verstappen on 321 and four rounds remaining.

“What a race. I could just keep my eyes focused and forward and focus on what I was doing,” said Norris, who was booed by the home crowd for reasons that remained unclear.

“A pretty straightforward race for me, which is just what I was after. A good start, a good launch, a good first lap, and I could go from there.”

Norris turns championship frontrunner

Norris last led the drivers’ standings in April, a gap of 189 days, and had not won a race since Hungary in early August. Sunday was his sixth victory of the season, one less than Piastri, and his 10th career win.

“I felt like the whole race I was right behind someone and struggling with the dirty air. That was pretty difficult,” said Piastri.

“Today was about trying to limit the damage, but also trying to learn some things about that. If I’ve made some progress with that, I’ll be happy.”

Oliver Bearman was fourth for Haas, a best result for the Briton and also the US-owned team, and was 1.1 seconds clear of Piastri at a chequered flag waved by former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield.

“I held off Max in the first stint, I held off the Mercs in the second, and I held off the McLaren in the third one,” the rookie said.

“I spent more time looking in my rearview mirrors than in front. But that’s sometimes how it has to be.”

Kimi Antonelli was sixth for Mercedes, with teammate George Russell seventh and Lewis Hamilton eighth for Ferrari after a 10-second penalty dropped him from third and dashed his hopes of a first podium for the team he joined in January.

Esteban Ocon was ninth, making a double points finish for Haas, and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto took the final point.

Ferrari moves back into second place

The top three all completed the race on a one-stop strategy, while Bearman, Piastri and the Mercedes drivers all pitted twice.

Ferrari moved back into second place, a point ahead of Mercedes, in a constructors’ championship already won by McLaren but with a tight scrap for the runner-up slot.

Norris made a clean start from pole when the lights went out, but was caught in a four-way tussle down the long run to turn one, with Verstappen cutting the corner and bumping over the grass.

Leclerc then cut turn two, giving the place back to Norris, who emerged from the chaos ahead, while Verstappen gained a place in fourth to the intense irritation of Russell.

“I got squeezed like crazy,” said Verstappen over the team radio as Russell, who started fourth, called in vain for the four-time world champion to hand the place back.

A scary incident saw Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, who came in for a new front wing on lap three, accelerate out of the pits as two marshals ran across the track in front of him.

Verstappen and third-placed Hamilton made contact on lap six as they went side by side with the Red Bull driver trying to go past at turn one, but ending up cutting the next corner.

Hamilton went off at turn four, cutting back across the grass, and was handed a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Bearman, meanwhile, climbed to fourth, from ninth at the start, and looked on for a podium once Hamilton took his penalty on lap 24, only to be reeled in by Verstappen.

While Norris enjoyed a calm afternoon in the sunshine, Piastri had to fight back from a low of 11th after his first stop, passing Antonelli in the pits and Russell on track.

The virtual safety car was deployed after Williams’s Carlos Sainz, last year’s winner for Ferrari, spun and stopped on track on the penultimate lap with smoke coming from it.

Verstappen’s wire-to-wire victory in Austin narrows the drivers’ championship gap to 40 points behind Oscar Piastri, with six races remaining.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated the US Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday, leading every lap to take another significant chunk out of Oscar Piastri’s Formula One championship lead on a perfect weekend in Texas.

McLaren’s Piastri finished fifth with his teammate and closest rival, Lando Norris, seconds after passing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, last year’s winner, five laps from the chequered flag.

Piastri now leads Britain’s Norris by 14 points, with five rounds and two sprints remaining, while Verstappen has slashed his gap to the Australian to 40 after being 104 behind at the end of August.

Verstappen also won the Saturday sprint from pole position at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas, while the McLarens collided and retired, on a weekend of maximum points for the four-time world champion.

McLaren has already sealed the constructors’ title.

Verstappen says the title chance is there

“For sure, the chance is there,” Verstappen said of the title battle. “We just need to try and deliver these weekends until the end.

“We will try whatever we can. It’s exciting,” he added after his third win in the last four races and 68th of his career.

Piastri said he still had full confidence in his ability to become Australia’s first champion since Alan Jones in 1980.

“I’d still rather be where I am than the other two,” added the 24-year-old.

Norris lost out to Leclerc at the start and then took 21 laps to find a way back past as the Monegasque, on the faster but less durable soft tyres, held a defensive masterclass.

Leclerc then battled with Lewis Hamilton, who started on mediums, before pitting on lap 23 and coming back out in ninth place, with his teammate moving up to third and Piastri to fourth.

Verstappen, by then, was 10 seconds down the road from his closest rival.

Once the rest of the frontrunners had made their pitstops, Leclerc was again second on the road – but more than six seconds behind Verstappen – with Norris third and having to overtake all over again with a track limits warning hanging over him.

Job done, Norris pulled away and finished 7.9 seconds behind Verstappen and 7.4 ahead of the Ferrari.

“It was tough. We did everything we could,” he said of a battle that gave the fans some excitement as Verstappen completed lap after lap largely absent from the global television feed.

“I expected a slightly easier second attempt to get through, but it wasn’t the case. Charles drove a very good race. It was good fun, good battles. So we have to take second. Not a lot more we could’ve done today.”

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said, however, that Norris could have fought for the win had he not been held up by the Ferrari.

Hamilton was fourth, with Piastri just 1.1 seconds behind, and George Russell – the winner last time out in Singapore – taking the chequered flag in sixth for Mercedes.

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh, ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Haas’s Oliver Bearman. Fernando Alonso took the final point for Aston Martin.

The virtual safety car was deployed on lap seven when Mercedes’ Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli and Williams’ Carlos Sainz collided, with the Spaniard retiring after trying to overtake on the inside for seventh place.

Stewards handed Sainz a five-place grid penalty at next weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix, plus two penalty points, for causing the collision.

Sainz’s teammate Alex Albon had also been caught up in a first corner collision with Sauber’s Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

The weekend was declared a heat hazard, although the air temperature during the race was lower than feared at about 28.6 degrees Celsius (83.5 Fahrenheit).

Red Bull’s Verstappen finished second, and McLaren’s Norris, finishing third, now has a 22-point lead in the drivers’ standings.

George Russell of Mercedes has won the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, as McLaren clinched the Formula One constructors’ championship.

Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen and the two McLarens were to fight it out for the other podium spots on Sunday as Briton Russell took the chequered flag under the lights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit to claim his second victory of the season.

“It feels amazing,” said Russell. “We don’t really know where this performance came from, but really, really happy.

“I was really nervous at the beginning when I saw Max on the soft [tyres], but that first stint was great from us.”

Norris put pressure on Verstappen towards the end of the race, but had to settle for third ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, the pair earning enough points to seal a second consecutive constructors’ title for the team.

“It was a tough race,” said Norris. “Max didn’t make any mistakes. I gave it my all today, and got close.

“I’m happy with today. I got forward two positions. We won as a team, the constructors’ once again.”

Piastri’s lead over Norris in the drivers’ standings was cut to 22 points, while Verstappen is 63 points behind the Australian with six races remaining in the season.

“I think second was the maximum result today,” said Verstappen.

“I think the whole race was quite difficult, more difficult than I hoped for, for a lot of different reasons.”

The celebrations for the constructors’ title in the McLaren garage might be muted, however, with Piastri fuming at the way Norris forced his way past his teammate on the opening corner.

Kimi Antonelli was a distant fifth in the other Mercedes with Charles Leclerc sixth ahead of his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, while Haas driver Oliver Bearman and Carlos Sainz, who started at the back of the grid after the Williams cars were disqualified from qualifying, took the final points in ninth and 10th.

The crown is secured 👑🔐

McLaren win their second consecutive Constructors’ Championship, but it’s still all to play for behind 👇#F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/QOIH6jfKEr

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 5, 2025

Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer won his first career MotoGP after newly crowned world champion Marc Marquez and polesitter Marco Bezzecchi collided on opening lap.

Rookie Fermin Aldeguer earned the first victory of his fledgling MotoGP career at the Indonesia Grand Prix, while newly crowned champion Marc Marquez crashed out and was injured after a crunching collision with Marco Bezzecchi.

Gresini Racing rider Aldeguer surged past KTM’s Pedro Acosta to take the lead on the 10th lap, eventually finishing well clear of the competition on Sunday.

The win will have helped Aldeguer erase the pain of his second-placed finish in Saturday’s sprint, where he led for most of the 13-lap race before finishing second behind Bezzecchi.

Acosta finished second, with Aldeguer’s teammate Alex Marquez completing the podium.

Aldeguer is the first rookie to win a MotoGP race since Jorge Martin achieved the feat at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2021. His victory at the Indonesian Grand Prix makes the 20-year-old the second youngest MotoGP winner in history.

Marc Marquez crashes, suffers collarbone injury

Pole-sitter Bezzecchi had an awful start to the race, finding himself in sixth place after the first two turns, and the Aprilia rider was a touch too forceful in his desperation to climb back up into the lead.

As he charged back into the fray, Bezzecchi nudged the rear of Marquez’s Ducati and the pair hurtled into the gravel at high speed, with Marquez appearing to be in significant discomfort after the fall.

The Spaniard, who won his seventh MotoGP championship at last week’s Japanese Grand Prix, was hunched over on the side of the track for a couple of minutes before staggering to his feet and lurching away while clutching his shoulder.

The crash continued a dreadful streak of luck for Marquez at the Mandalika International Circuit, where he has never been able to finish a Grand Prix in four attempts.

There did not appear to be any bad blood between Bezzecchi and Marquez, however, as they shared a quick handshake before Marquez was taken to the medical centre.

Post race, it was revealed that Marquez had suffered a collarbone injury as a result of a collision with Bezzecchi, the team said.

“As a result of today’s crash at Indonesian GP, Marc Marquez has suffered an injury to his right collarbone,” Ducati said in a statement on social media.

“The Spanish rider will travel tonight to Madrid (Spain) for further medical tests and to decide on the treatment to follow.”

The injury was on the shoulder of the arm Marquez fractured in the 2020 July season-opening Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez, which ruled him out for an extended period and required several surgeries.

Ducati’s afternoon then went from bad to worse a few laps later when two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia’s bike slipped out from underneath him and dumped him onto the asphalt.

The Italian, who has endured a torrid campaign this year, cut a frustrated figure as he looked up to the sky and gestured angrily with folded hands.

Earlier on Sunday, KTM Ajo’s Jose Antonio Rueda won the Moto3 race in Indonesia to clinch the 2025 title.

Marquez’s latest victory means he can clinch a seventh MotoGP world title at the next race in Japan in a fortnight.

Ducati’s Marc Marquez resisted a spirited challenge from Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi to win the San Marino Grand Prix on Sunday, taking his revenge after crashing out of the lead in Saturday’s sprint, and inching closer to the MotoGP title.

Bezzecchi had inherited victory in the sprint when Marquez crashed out. This time, however, the determined Spaniard overtook the Aprilia rider on lap 12, having started on the second row of the grid, and never looked back.

Marquez’s 11th race victory of the season takes him to 512 points – a record tally for a MotoGP rider in a single season – and he celebrated his victory by unzipping his leathers and holding his red suit up on the podium like a matador.

Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez finished a distant third, and brother Marc, with a 182-point lead, can clinch his seventh title at the Japanese Grand Prix this month.

“Today I gave everything I had. It’s true that the mistake from yesterday gave me extra concentration, extra power, extra energy,” an exhausted Marc Marquez said.

“I was just there following him [Bezzecchi], trying to push him always super close, because it’s impossible to do 27 laps without any mistake. And in the end, he did a small mistake on turn eight, and then I led the race.

“Super important for Ducati; I felt the pressure this weekend.”

Six more rounds remain, but Marc Marquez can now win his first title since 2019 if he outscores brother Alex by just three points in Japan.

Superb launch

At the start, Marc had a superb launch off the line and he veered to the outside to quickly move up to second behind polesitter Bezzecchi while Alex was pushed down to third.

As the top three streaked away, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo found it difficult to maintain that pace, and he was soon battling with KTM’s Pedro Acosta, who eventually found his way past the former champion to chase the leading pack.

But Acosta’s hopes of fighting for the podium went up in smoke when he retired with a broken chain, with the young Spaniard furiously wagging his finger at the bike after he stopped on the side of the track.

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia had another race to forget in a nightmare season for the twice champion, who crashed out of seventh place, his third place in the championship now seriously under threat from Bezzecchi.

Up front, Marc continued piling the pressure on Bezzecchi, and the Aprilia rider finally buckled on lap 12 when he was a breath late on the brakes and went wide, opening the door for the red Ducati to ease past him and into the lead.

Unrelenting Bezzecchi

Bezzecchi gave chase, unrelenting and eager to reclaim the lead. But Marc remained calm and the Spaniard was in no mood to crash out of the lead twice in one weekend.

Bezzecchi shook his head in frustration with six laps left as Marc set the fastest lap of the race.

Marc tried his best to shake off the younger Italian, who found an extraordinary late race pace to challenge for the lead. But the Ducati rider responded once again as they traded fastest laps and left third-placed Alex more than six seconds behind.

“Besides [missing out on] the victory, this is maybe the best race of my life, because I was super competitive all weekend – pole position, sprint win, second place,” Bezzecchi said.

“I was close to Marc, who is at the moment the strongest on the grid. I’m very happy, I gave my all, I’m destroyed!”

VR46 Racing riders Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio finished fourth and fifth, respectively, while Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer was sixth.

The four-time world champion earned his third Italian Grand Prix at the famous track and is the first driver to win from pole position at Monza since 2019.

Max Verstappen claimed a dominant victory at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday ahead of title contenders and McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

It was a first win since May for Verstappen – and only his third of the season – and capped a wonderful weekend at Monza for the four-time world champion, who had posted the fastest lap in Formula 1 history at the track on Saturday to claim pole position.

“That was unbelievable, guys! Well done, everyone,” Verstappen said on team radio. “We executed that really well. What an unbelievable weekend. We can be really proud of that.”

Norris was second, nearly 20 seconds behind Verstappen, to trim the gap to Piastri in the title race to 31 points. He had started the day 34 points behind the Australian driver, who was not happy after he was ordered to let his teammate past towards the end of the race.

The switch came after Norris had a slow pit stop, which appeared to put his title chances further in jeopardy when he came out behind his teammate. But McLaren ordered Piastri to let the British driver past, which he did despite grumbling about the decision on team radio.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton had solid performances at the team’s home race. Cheered on by the passionate, red-clad “Tifosi” fans, Leclerc finished fourth while Hamilton surged through the field at the start to cross the line in sixth – after starting from 10th following a five-place grid penalty.

Norris was desperate to rebound from a disastrous Dutch GP, where he retired with a rare engine problem. Starting from second at Monza, he tussled with Verstappen from the start and was forced off into the grass at the first corner.

“I always know it is going to be a good fight with Max, and it was,” Norris said. “One of those weekends where we are a bit slower, but a good fight, and I enjoyed it.”

Verstappen was told to give the place back and duly did so, but the Red Bull driver reclaimed the lead at the start of lap four, diving past Norris into turn one.

From there, it was almost a procession to victory for Verstappen. He briefly found himself behind the McLarens after pitting on lap 38, but retook the lead when Piastri was brought in on lap 46, followed by Norris a lap later.

The six-time MotoGP world champion is undefeated since June and is rapidly closing in on another riders title.

Ducati’s Marc Marquez has delivered a masterclass at the Balaton Park Circuit, winning the first Hungarian Grand Prix in 33 years to secure his seventh straight sprint and main race double and stretching his championship lead to a commanding 175 points.

KTM’s Pedro Acosta and Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi joined Marquez on the podium on Sunday as reigning champion Jorge Martin came fourth – his best finish on the Aprilia since his return from injuries.

Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez, second in the championship behind his brother, could manage only 14th place after an early fall on the opening lap.

Against the picturesque backdrop of the largest lake in Central Europe, pole-sitter Marc Marquez lost the lead on lap one to drop out of the podium positions, but his tyre strategy proved decisive.

Having clinched his 13th sprint victory of the season on Saturday, Marquez had another good launch to lead into turn one.

But Bezzecchi took the lead on the next turn, as Marquez made contact with the Aprilia and lost speed to drop to fourth.

“Luckily for both of us, I was able to save the crash, and he just continued his way. But from that point, the race changed a bit,” Marquez said.

Bezzecchi and then-second-placed Franco Morbidelli were on soft rear tyres while Marquez was on the medium compound with the Spaniard easily climbing to second once his tyres were fully warmed up.

Acosta also made a smooth overtake on Morbidelli to move up to third, but he had a gap of nearly two seconds with Marquez, who had virtually erased Bezzecchi’s lead as they continually exchanged overtakes.

Marquez pounces

Marquez patiently bided his time, staying on Bezzecchi’s rear wheel. The inevitable moment came on lap 11 when he pounced, using the Aprilia’s slipstream to reclaim the lead before streaking away.

“When I saw that the soft rear tyres started to drop – I was with the medium – I started to attack,” he said. “I had a super nice rhythm. I was flowing on the track.”

Five laps later, Acosta attacked Bezzecchi on the same straight heading into turn one, guiding his KTM past the Aprilia on the inside and carrying that momentum into the next turn to take second.

“I needed the extra grip from the soft [tyre] in braking, so I risked it with the soft. But for us, maybe it was better [to use] the medium,” Bezzecchi said.

Although Acosta had Marquez in his sights, the six-time champion found another gear towards the end of the race and extended his lead to more than three seconds to secure the victory.

However, the second-year MotoGP rider was happy with second place after destroying his bike in a qualifying crash.

“I just want to thank every one of them because yesterday they were working until 2am in the morning to just bring two completely new bikes for this [race],” Acosta said.

The Aprilia garage was all smiles when Martin, who started 16th on the grid, set a fastest lap before finishing fourth – suggesting that injury struggles are now behind him.

Marquez continues his dominance of the 2025 season with a first Austrian GP crown as he closes in on the riders title.

Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez has marked the 1,000th premier class race in history by winning the Austrian Grand Prix for the first time in his career to take a mammoth 142-point lead over his brother Alex in the championship.

Having won Saturday’s sprint from the second row, Marquez claimed the sprint-race double on Sunday for the sixth Grand Prix in a row. The Spaniard has been unbeaten since the British Grand Prix in May.

Not since 2014 had Marquez claimed six consecutive Grand Prix wins as he moves closer to a seventh MotoGP crown with nine rounds remaining in the 2025 season.

Gresini Racing rookie Fermin Aldeguer found late race pace to finish second while Aprilia’s pole sitter Marco Bezzecchi, who kept Marquez at bay for as long as he could, finished third. Alex Marquez finished 10th after serving a long-lap penalty.

“Super, super happy to finally take the first victory here in Austria,” Marc Marquez said.

“I’m happy with six victories in a row, but [I need to] keep focus. Next week, we have another race.”

Bezzecchi had claimed his first pole with Aprilia on Saturday, and despite finishing fourth in the sprint, this time he had the perfect launch to lead Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez into turn one.

The two Ducatis went side by side on lap one when Marc Marquez briefly overtook his teammate, but Bagnaia did not relent and took the place back to stay in second.

However, Marc Marquez made the same move on the next lap to take second and set his sights on Bezzecchi, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce.

“In the first part he [Bezzecchi] was super strong, but then I just waited. I tried in the beginning, but it was too risky. Then I preferred to wait and attack in the end,” the winner added.

Alex Marquez had a poor start, and with a long-lap penalty to serve for causing a crash at the Czech Grand Prix, the younger Marquez sibling fell out of the top 10 when he rejoined the field.

Marquez pressure

Bezzecchi soaked up the pressure, but the Aprilia rider was unable to shake off the red Ducati hunting him down.

Bagnaia was struggling with his bike, and he eventually faded, giving way to KTM’s Pedro Acosta and Aldeguer as the two youngsters fought for third.

Bagnaia had been undefeated in Austria for three years, but he was a shadow of the ringmaster who had dominated at the Red Bull Ring since 2022 as he was bumped down to eighth.

Marquez finally attacked on lap 19 and squeezed past the Aprilia, but Bezzecchi put his head down and took first place back from the Spaniard, eager to deny him a first victory at the Red Bull Ring.

But Marquez was on the ascendancy, and he finally broke Bezzecchi’s resistance on the next lap, using the Aprilia’s slipstream to dive into turn one and take the lead.

As Bezzecchi made a futile attempt to reel Marquez in, Aldeguer made a play for second place, and the Gresini rookie made his move with five laps to go on turn one to slot in behind Marquez.

Marquez responded to the challenge and kept Aldeguer at bay to take the chequered flag, but the rookie was over the moon with his best result in MotoGP.

“I’m super happy because at the end, Austria is not one of my favourite tracks like Le Mans,” he said. “Making two podiums on bad tracks for me is incredible.”

The 14th round of the MotoGP world championship will be held at Balaton Park in Hungary next weekend.

United Kingdom’s Lando Norris holds off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri of Australia to win Hungarian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris has held off McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on a one-stop strategy and slash the Australian’s Formula One lead to nine points going into the August break.

Norris completed 39 of the 70 laps on Sunday at the Hungaroring on a single set of hard tyres while Piastri stopped twice and closed a 12-second gap to just 0.6 at the finish with a nail-biting chase to the chequered flag and a near-collision.

George Russell took a distant third, 20 seconds down the road, for Mercedes and his fifth podium of the season.

“I’m dead. I’m dead. It was tough,” gasped Norris, who started in third place – with Piastri second – and then went down to fifth after being squeezed at the start.

“We weren’t really planning on the one stop, but after the first lap, it was kind of our only option to get back into things.

“I didn’t think it would get us the win. I thought it would get us maybe into second.”

The win was Norris’s fifth of the season and third in the past four races to Piastri’s six. It was also McLaren’s seventh one-two in 14 races.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was a frustrated fourth after starting on pole position but losing out with a two-stop strategy and a five-second penalty for erratic driving as Russell challenged.

Fernando Alonso finished fifth for Aston Martin ahead of Sauber’s sixth-placed Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto.

Lance Stroll was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson with Red Bull’s reigning champion, Max Verstappen, and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli completing the top 10 scoring positions.

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, an eight-time winner in Hungary, started in 12th place for Ferrari and finished there.

The Briton was lapped by the leaders six laps from the chequered flag.

Oscar Piastri controlled the rain-delayed race, extending his F1 Championship lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Oscar Piastri passed McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris with a bold early move to win the rain-delayed Belgian Grand Prix and extend his Formula One lead to 16 points.

Charles Leclerc was a distant third for Ferrari on Sunday, as reigning champions McLaren celebrated their sixth one-two finish in 13 races and the third in a row.

The race at Spa-Francorchamps was red-flagged after an initial formation lap and delayed by an hour and 20 minutes due to the weather, with standing water and heavy spray affecting visibility.

Piastri was in no mood for hanging around when the racing got going with a rolling start after four laps behind the safety car to check conditions.

The Australian slipstreamed Norris through the daunting Eau Rouge section of the track and then scythed past down the Kemmel straight into Les Combes in a move of total commitment in the treacherous conditions.

“I knew lap one would be my best chance of winning the race. I got a good exit out of Turn One; lifted as little as I dared out of Eau Rouge,” he said.

“The rest of the race we managed really well. I struggled at the end. Maybe the mediums were not the best for the last five or six laps. We had it mostly under control.”

The win was his sixth of 2025, making the 24-year-old the first Australian – on a list that includes past world champions Jack Brabham and Alan Jones – to win that many races in a single F1 season.

Norris had a slight battery issue, with the Briton asking over the radio why he had “no pack”, before his race engineer assured him it was coming back, but he was not looking for any excuses afterwards.

“Oscar just did a good job. Nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge, and had the slipstream and got the run,” he said.

“So, nothing to complain of. He did a better job in the beginning, and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point. I would love to be up top, but Oscar deserved it today.”

Two-horse race

Piastri now has 266 points to Norris’s 250. The Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen is third but 81 points off the lead. The championship is more than ever a two-horse race, with Hungary up next weekend before the August break.

McLaren lead the constructors’ standings, with 516 points to Ferrari’s 248, while Mercedes fell further behind their Italian rivals on 220.

Piastri pitted on lap 12 of 44 to switch from intermediates to medium tyres on a drying track. Norris followed a lap later, but he opted for the hards and rejoined nine seconds behind.

The Briton might have hoped Piastri would have to pit again, but the Australian made the tyres last to the chequered flag on a one-stop strategy.

Piastri crossed the line 3.415 seconds clear of Norris, who had been chasing a third win in a row, and managed to reduce the gap in the final laps before late mistakes left the ever-calm Australian under no pressure.

Saturday sprint winner Verstappen finished fourth in his team’s first Grand Prix since the dismissal of team boss Christian Horner, with George Russell fifth for Mercedes.

Williams’s Alex Albon held off Ferrari’s seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton – last year’s winner with Mercedes – to secure sixth.

Hamilton had been one of four drivers due to start from the pit lane, but given a big boost by the switch to a rolling getaway and a fresh engine installed overnight.

The Briton was also the first to make the decision to switch to slicks and pit, gaining six places.

Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls, with Gabriel Bortoleto ninth for Sauber and Pierre Gasly securing the final point for Alpine.

Six-time MotoGP world champ continues his supreme 2025 season, becoming first Ducati rider to win five consecutive GPs.

Marc Marquez has won the Czech MotoGP for his eighth victory in 12 races this season and his fifth in a row, extending his commanding lead in the world championship.

The factory Ducati rider beat Marco Bezzecchi on an Aprilia by almost two seconds on Sunday while Pedro Acosta on a KTM came in third in his first podium finish of the season.

Marquez had a fifth straight perfect weekend, winning both the sprint on Saturday and Sunday’s race.

The 32-year-old Spaniard now leads the world championship with 381 points, 120 ahead of his younger brother, Alex, who crashed, and 168 ahead of Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia.

“It has been a super first part of the season and especially these last races,” Marc Marquez said.

“I feel better and better, and I’m riding super good,” he added.

Marquez outpaces his rivals

Bagnaia started from pole on a sunny Sunday at Brno but retained the lead only until the second lap when Bezzecchi eased past him, and Marc Marquez followed suit soon afterwards.

Acosta did the same to settle down in third after getting a boost from a third-place finish in Saturday’s sprint.

Marquez glided past Bezzecchi on lap eight as the runaway trio kept building up their lead and, as so often this season, kept widening the gap comfortably.

The three stayed put until the finish line although fourth-placed Bagnaia gave Acosta a hard time, pressing from behind.

“The first lap was unbelievable,” Bezzecchi said.

“I had so much fun in the first half of the race, but unfortunately, when Marc passed me, I immediately saw that he had something more.”

“I tried to attack, but he was strong. Anyway, I made a fantastic performance. I’m very, very happy,” the Italian added.

Reigning world champion Jorge Martin collected his first points after finishing seventh in the first race he has completed this year.

Martin sat out the first three races after two preseason crashes, and when he returned at Qatar in April, he crashed heavily again and missed the next seven events.

Brno returns faster than ever

Marc Marquez took 40 minutes 04.628 seconds to complete the 21 laps on the resurfaced 5.4km (3.4-mile) Brno circuit, which returned to the MotoGP calendar after a five-year break due to financial woes.

The enhanced on-track results of the Brno resurfacing were evident with lap times this year several seconds under the previous lap record.

Bezzecchi crossed the line 1.753 seconds adrift of Marquez, while Acosta trailed the six-time MotoGP champion by 3.366 seconds.

Almost 220,000 fans were in the stands for the weekend as Marquez recorded his fourth MotoGP win at Brno after victories in 2013, 2017 and 2019.

Alex Marquez retired after crashing on lap two to leave Brno without a point after a disappointing 17th spot in the sprint race.

He took out Joan Mir, who also walked away from the gravel safety area, just like Enea Bastianini a lap later.

Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami was ruled out of the race after suffering a knee injury in a crash in Saturday’s sprint.

The MotoGP circus will now take a break and resume with the Austrian GP on August 15-17.

“Now it’s the summer break but still 10 races to go. Time to relax, but in Austria I [will] keep the same mentality with the same intensity,” Marc Marquez said.

He is eyeing his seventh MotoGP world title – and first since 2019 – which would put him level with Valentino Rossi and one behind the legendary Giacomo Agostini.

Marc Marquez stages a lights-to-flag victory to record his ninth German MotoGP victory as podium contenders crash out.

Marc Marquez proved once again why he is known as the “King of Sachsenring” when the Ducati rider marked his 200th MotoGP start by winning the German Grand Prix in a race that became a test of survival after only 10 of 18 riders finished.

Marquez’s ninth MotoGP victory at the Sachsenring stretched his championship lead over brother Alex, who finished second, to 83 points while Marc’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia finished third to sit 147 points behind.

Alex Marquez had started fifth on the grid and took second in his 100th MotoGP start despite still recovering from a fractured hand he suffered at the Dutch Grand Prix two weeks ago, which required surgery.

Several riders crashed over the course of the race, especially at turn one – including VR46 Racing’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi when they were in second place.

But the day belonged to Marc Marquez as he marked his latest triumph at his favourite hunting ground by standing on his bike and doing a jig as he passed the chequered flag – a fourth straight weekend where he had won both the sprint and the race.

“One more [win at the Sachsenring] was super special. From the beginning, I felt good, the confidence when I started the weekend was super high because we were coming from three victories in a row,” he said.

“We are in an incredible moment. Now we can say that half the season is done. Now [the second] half we still need to be super concentrated.”

More riders fall in the challenging conditions

Pedro Acosta became the third rider to crash early on after Lorenzo Savadori and Miguel Oliveira, with the young Spaniard gesturing at his fallen machine in frustration.

Di Giannantonio had broken the lap record in Friday’s practice and given Marc Marquez a tough time early in the sprint race on Saturday.

But the Italian was unable to push any harder to catch up to Marquez, who found a comfortable rhythm and pace to surge more than two seconds ahead despite easing off the throttle on two laps to conserve his tyres.

As Marquez’s lead stretched to more than three seconds, Di Giannantonio’s challenge came to an end on the downhill braking zone on turn one when he lost control and crashed, with his bike tumbling across the gravel while he escaped unhurt.

LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, who started second on the grid before getting pushed down the order, crashed at the same turn seconds later.

Bezzecchi had moved up to second, but the Aprilia rider also bit the dust on the very next lap at turn one, moving Alex Marquez up to second while Bagnaia suddenly found himself in the podium positions.

The crashes did not end there as Trackhouse Racing’s Ai Ogura lost his balance on turn one and ended up taking out Honda’s Joan Mir in the process, leaving only 10 of the 18 starters.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo finished fourth ahead of Alex Marquez’s Gresini Racing teammate Fermin Aldeguer.

Christian Horner has been sacked as Red Bull team principal with immediate effect after 20 years, the Red Bull Racing Formula One team announced on Wednesday.

The 51-year-old oversaw a period of dominance by the team, winning the drivers’ championship eight times – including the past four titles with Max Verstappen  – and adding six constructors’ crowns.

Who will replace Horner at Red Bull Racing?

Horner, who has been in charge of Red Bull since the team was formed in 2005, will be replaced by the principal of sister team Racing Bulls, Laurent Mekies.

A motorsport aerodynamics specialist, the French-born Mekies entered Formula One in the early 2000s and had stints working with Arrows, Minardi, Toro Rosso and Ferrari before joining Racing Bulls as team principal in 2024.

“I think he has a very, very good understanding of the business, having started as an engineer and then worked at the FIA,” said Fred Vasseur, current F1 team principal at Ferrari, when Mekies left the famous Italian team in July 2023.

No reason given for Horner sacking

Horner was sacked as Red Bull’s team principal with immediate effect.

The team’s official media statement, released on Wednesday, reads:

“Red Bull has released Christian Horner from his operational duties with effect from today [Wednesday, July 9, 2025] and has appointed Laurent Mekies as CEO of Red Bull Racing. Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO Corporate Projects and Investments, thanked Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years.”

“We would like to thank Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years,” said Mintzlaff. “With his tireless commitment, experience, expertise and innovative thinking, he has been instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula 1. Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history.”

Martin Brundle, an ex-F1 driver, current race commentator and friend of Horner, told Sky Sports News:

“I am due to speak to Christian later. I put a message to him saying, ‘I am sorry to read this, can we have a chat before I am due to go on TV because I want to know more about it from his point of view’.

“He wasn’t able to do that. What he did say was that no reason was given to him as to why he is being released.”

A difficult 18 months for Horner

Horner’s dismissal follows a challenging period on several fronts for the team principal.

His exit from the team comes nearly a year-and-a-half after it was leaked that a female employee had accused Horner of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour. Horner was twice cleared of the claims by Red Bull headquarters, situated in Austria.

At the same time, Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, called for Horner to leave his position and claimed that the Briton’s presence could tear the team apart in a March 4, 2024, interview.

Jos told The Daily Mail that “there is tension while he remains in position”, referring to Horner.

He added, “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”

The early-2025 departure of Adrian Newey – the former chief technology officer of Red Bull Racing and widely considered one of the greatest motorsport designers in F1 – to rival team Aston Martin was a huge loss to the Milton Keynes-based team and to Horner personally.

Newey had joined Red Bull in 2006, just months after Horner’s appointment, with the pair forming one of the most successful F1 management partnerships in history.

How successful was Horner as Red Bull boss?

Under Horner’s leadership, Red Bull won their first world championship in 2010, with German driver Sebastian Vettel taking the first of four consecutive drivers’ titles.

Following a multiyear period of dominance by archrival Mercedes, Red Bull, this time with Max Verstappen of the Netherlands as their star driver, entered a second championship window, winning four more drivers’ titles consecutively from 2021 to 2024.

In 2023, Horner presided over the most dominant season in Formula One history, with the team winning 21 of 22 races, and Verstappen setting a new F1 record with 10 consecutive victories.

Will Max Verstappen stay at Red Bull Racing?

At the midway point of the 2025 season, Verstappen trails McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the drivers’ standings and has all but conceded the drivers’ title for this season.

As far back as April 13, Verstappen was already pessimistic about the prospects of winning a fifth straight drivers’ championship.

“McLaren are not my rivals right now. I am just taking part in this world championship,” Verstappen said, as quoted by nl.motorsport.com.

When pressed further if he meant he doesn’t see himself competing for the 2025 drivers’ title, he replied: “No, I don’t.”

In recent days, and not for the first time, Verstappen has been linked with a move to rival Mercedes, possibly as soon as next season.

Brundle told Sky Sports News that Horner’s exit from Red Bull may defuse tensions, resulting in Verstappen re-signing with the only F1 team he has ever driven for.

“It makes it more likely that Verstappen will stay,” Martin Brundle said. “It became personal in Team Verstappen.”

Lando Norris becomes 13th British driver to win home Grand Prix while Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg makes his first podium after a record 239 races.

Lando Norris won his home British Grand Prix for the first time in a McLaren one-two with Formula One leader Oscar Piastri on a wet and chaotic race day littered with safety cars, crashes and incident.

“This is a dream, winning at home. It’s beautiful,” Norris told the team over the radio. “Thanks for the memory. I’ll remember this more than anything.”

Nico Hulkenberg took an astonishing third place for Sauber, the German veteran making up 16 places to shed his unwanted record of the most starts without a podium in Formula One history – Sunday being his first in 239 starts in an F1 career that began in 2010.

“I don’t think I can comprehend what we’ve just done,” said the stunned German before wild pitlane celebrations with his teammates.

“It feels good. It’s been a long time coming, hasn’t it? But I always knew we had it in us, I have it in me, somewhere.”

Piastri was handed a 10-second penalty for a safety car infringement that ultimately cost him the win and allowed Norris to slash the Australian’s advantage to eight points at the midpoint of the season.

Piastri was unhappy with his penalty, signalling he believed it was a legal move.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton finished fourth with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fifth after starting on pole position.

Pierre Gasly was sixth for Alpine, Lance Stroll seventh for Aston Martin and Alex Albon eighth for Williams.

Fernando Alonso gave Aston Martin a double points finish in ninth at their home race and George Russell bagged the final point for Mercedes.

Hulkenberg’s podium for Sauber was the first for the Swiss-based team since 2012.

Norris’s victory at Silverstone was his eighth career GP win.

The Belgian Grand Prix is the next race on the F1 calendar on July 27.

Lando Norris’s seventh career GP victory cuts Oscar Piastri’s championship lead from 22 to 15 points after 11 rounds.

Lando Norris has held off a race-long challenge from his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Austrian Grand Prix and lift his Formula 1 title hopes.

Norris and Piastri battled for the lead in the early stages of the race on Sunday with the Australian briefly in the lead before Norris took the position back. A rash lunge by Piastri nearly caused a collision soon after.

Piastri lost ground at the pit stops and was run wide onto the grass by Alpine’s Franco Colapinto while cutting through traffic. He soon made up ground on Norris but wasn’t quite close enough to try overtaking.

Over the radio, Norris called it a “beautiful one-two” finish for the team.

“We had a great battle, that’s for sure,” he added later. “A lot of stress but a lot of fun. A nice battle, so well done to Oscar.”

A two-horse race at the top

More than ever this season, the title fight focuses on the two McLarens after defending champion Max Verstappen was hit by Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap, ending his race. Antonelli was later handed a three-place grid penalty for the next race.

Overall leader Piastri leads second-placed Norris by 15 points with Verstappen still third but now 61 off the lead.

Piastri apologised to McLaren for the near-collision between the two, which came one race after Norris collided with him in Canada. The Australian said he regretted not making more of his few seconds in the lead earlier in the race.

“I hope it was good watching because it was pretty hard work from the car,” Piastri said. “I tried my absolute best and probably could have done a better job when I just got ahead momentarily. It was a good battle, a bit on the edge at times.”

Ferrari strong with third and fourth

Charles Leclerc was third for his third podium finish in four races, and his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton was fourth.

George Russell, who won the last race in Canada, was fifth for Mercedes and Liam Lawson sixth for Racing Bulls in his best result of the season.

Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin held off Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto for seventh. The second Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg was ninth, and Esteban Ocon finished 10th for Haas.

McLaren are 207 points clear of Ferrari – who moved back up to second in the absence of team boss Fred Vasseur, who had to return home for personal reasons – in the constructors championship.

Round 12 of the F1 World Championship takes place next weekend at the British Grand Prix.

Marc Marquez beats Marco Bezzecchi in a drama-filled race that claimed his brother Alex, who crashed out of the contest.

Marc Marquez delivered a clinical masterclass at MotoGP’s Cathedral of Speed to claim victory at the Dutch Grand Prix while his brother and closest contender Alex suffered a race-ending crash that left him with a fractured hand.

As Assen celebrated its centenary of motorcycle racing, the elder Marquez seized control on the second lap on Sunday and did not look back as he extended his championship advantage to a commanding 68 points over Alex as he seeks a seventh title.

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi finished second while Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia came third, with the two-times champion now staring at a daunting 126-point gap to his teammate after 10 rounds.

Bagnaia had won the last three races in Assen but despite taking the lead early on, he was pushed down to fourth place before he recovered to finish on the podium ahead of KTM’s Pedro Acosta.

Marc, who crashed hard twice on Friday, also equalled motorcycling great Giacomo Agostini with 68 premier class victories and now sets his sights on his former rival Valentino Rossi who finished his career with 89 wins.

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo had claimed pole position but crashed in Saturday’s sprint – where Marc claimed his ninth victory
of the season – and the Frenchman was slow off the line while Bagnaia made the perfect start.

Gresini Racing’s Alex was in second place but on turn one of the next lap, Marc made his move to overtake his brother and slot in behind his teammate, waiting patiently to pounce with 24 laps left in the race.

Alex briefly lost his concentration and Bezzecchi, sporting a new aero package on his Aprilia, squeezed his way past the Gresini rider while Acosta also made an overtake stick to push the younger Marquez down to fifth.

Alex Marquez crashes out

Up front, Marc found a gap before the final chicane on lap five to overtake Bagnaia and take the lead while his brother Alex crashed heavily when he leaned into Acosta and lost his balance when they made contact in a battle for fourth.

Alex appeared to lock his front tyre in the incident, which gave a puff of smoke as the bike tipped its rider straight onto the ground.

He was immediately taken to the medical centre where a left hand fracture was confirmed, with Gresini saying the 29-year-old would fly to Madrid for surgery later on Sunday. More information about Alex’s expected recovery timeline is expected to emerge on Monday.

Bagnaia seemed to be losing pace as both Bezzecchi and Acosta moved into podium positions. But the Italian Ducati rider snatched third place back from Acosta at the end of lap 14 to set his sights on Bezzecchi.

But whatever Bezzecchi did to put pressure on Marc, the six-times MotoGP champion did not budge as he managed his tyres and maintained his pace until he took the chequered flag.

The MotoGP calendar has a weekend off before they reunite for the German Grand Prix in a fortnight.

Six-time MotoGP world champ beat brother Alex and Fabio Di Giannantonio to sweep podium for local manufacturer Ducati.

Ducati’s Marc Marquez won the Italian Grand Prix after a dogfight for podium places at the Mugello Circuit, taking the chequered flag ahead of his brother Alex to maintain his iron grip on the MotoGP riders’ championship.

Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez briefly led the race early on Sunday before Marc took control, while Fabio Di Giannantonio of VR46 Racing claimed third place after snatching the final podium spot from his Italian compatriot Francesco Bagnaia.

Home favourite Bagnaia also led the race in the initial stages, but the factory Ducati rider, who had won the last three races at Mugello, was overshadowed by the Marquez brothers and could only finish fourth in front of his home fans.

Marc Marquez’s victory was also the 93rd win of his career across all classes, matching his motorcycle number, and the Spaniard celebrated by planting a Ducati flag in front of the home fans who once saw him as a rival when he was with Honda.

“Amazing feeling … three Ducatis on the podium, to win here [at Mugello] in the red,” said Marc, who now leads Alex by 40 points while Bagnaia is 110 points back in third.

“I already understood this morning that was super special for them, even for me, because I feel part of them. Super happy.

“We managed the race … I was calm and then when the tyres dropped a bit, I started to give everything. Happy to take the 37 points in this amazing weekend.”

Fresh from claiming his historic 100th career pole with a blistering lap record and Saturday’s unlikely sprint victory, Marc found himself locked in a fraternal battle with Alex – a running theme this season.

The opening laps unfolded as a masterclass in close-quarter racing between the two factory Ducati machines – their special Italian Renaissance livery flashing through Mugello’s sweeping turns – while Alex stayed on their tails.

Bagnaia denied victory at home race

The crowd erupted when Bagnaia briefly snatched the lead from Marc after turn one, but what followed was high-speed drama as they traded positions, occasionally making heart-stopping contact with each other.

Disaster nearly struck when Bagnaia, pushing his bike to the limit, touched Marc’s rear tyre as he was forced to brake hard and surrender his position to Alex.

Fans in the grandstand witnessed a spectacular moment when all three riders thundered into turn one abreast, a three-wide gamble that saw Alex briefly seize control, drop to third on the brakes and then reclaim the lead moments later on the exit.

But Marc eventually broke free, leaving brother Alex to doggedly defend second position against a relentless Bagnaia.

However, the Italian did not have the late-race pace to catch up, and he was soon forced to defend the final podium place, with Di Giannantonio looking to upstage his compatriot.

With two laps to go, Di Giannantonio made his move on turn seven as he squeezed past the two-time champion and raced away to claim his first podium finish at Mugello.

“I knew that I had to risk a lot to take him, but at the end, the last lap, I said, ‘OK, let’s go for it,’ and we’ve done it,” Di Giannantonio said.

“My first podium in MotoGP Mugello, in front of this fantastic group of fans.”

George Russell wins his fourth career GP while McLaren’s Lando Norris crashes out after touching teammate Oscar Piastri three laps from the finish.

George Russell won his first race of the Formula 1 season as the Mercedes driver held off defending race winner Max Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix.

It was the fourth victory of Russell’s career, and the race ended under a yellow flag when McLaren teammates Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris staged a wheel-to-wheel late battle that ended with Norris hitting the wall on Sunday.

Russell started on pole for the second consecutive year in Montreal and held the advantage most of the race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The British driver became the fourth race winner this year, joining Piastri, Norris and Verstappen, the four-time reigning F1 champion.

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished third behind Verstappen for his first F1 podium.

The two McLarens came together when Norris, then in fifth, attempted to pass Piastri multiple times on the 67th lap out of 70.

Norris ultimately ran into Piastri and bounced into the wall, drawing a safety car for the final laps.

Piastri finished fourth, ending an eight-race podium streak dating back to the second race of the season. McLaren as a team failed to reach the top three for the first time this year.

Norris, who ended at a standstill by the side of the track with no front wing and a broken car, was quick to blame himself.

“I’m sorry. All my bad. All my fault. Stupid from me,” he said over the team radio.

Piastri pitted as the safety car was deployed and rejoined with a tyre advantage over Antonelli that he could not use as the racing never resumed.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and sixth, with Fernando Alonso seventh for Aston Martin and Nico Hulkenberg bringing in more solid points for Sauber in eighth place.

Piastri stretches his lead over Norris in the drivers’ championship to 22 points after 10 of 24 races in the 2025 season.

The next race of the F1 season is the Austrian Grand Prix on June 29.

Oscar Piastri strengthens his F1 world championship lead, beating McLaren teammate Lando Norris, while Max Verstappen drops to 10th spot after post-race penalty.

Formula One championship leader Oscar Piastri has won the Spanish Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two to go 10 points clear of teammate Lando Norris in the world championship title battle.

The Australian’s win on Sunday by 2.4 seconds over Norris was his fifth in nine races this season and McLaren’s seventh.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the podium places on Sunday after passing Max Verstappen’s Red Bull six laps from the end following a safety car period that triggered the main talking point of the afternoon with the champion demoted from fifth to 10th place.

“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 on the slower hard tyres against rivals on softs, collided with Leclerc and twice with Mercedes’s George Russell after the safety car restart.

The Dutch driver was given a 10-second penalty – added to his overall time post-race – for the second Russell collision, which was clearly his fault.

He and Leclerc also faced a post-race investigation for their clash, which could lead to further sanctions.

“I tried to push him to the left. There was a bit of contact but fortunately no consequences,” Leclerc said. 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.

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 Saturday’s qualifying.

Piastri keeps his cool out front

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

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 with the Dutch driver making no attempt to defend against the quicker McLaren and pitting on the next lap for new tyres.

Verstappen took the lead again on lap 23 after Piastri pitted. Norris made his first stop on lap 21 and came out behind the Red Bull, but that lasted only until Verstappen pitted for a second time on lap 30.

Verstappen came in for a third stop on lap 47, and Norris pitted a lap later to defend second place.

A safety car was deployed on lap 55 after rookie driver Kimi Antonelli beached his Mercedes in the gravel, bunching up the field and triggering a rash of pit stops.

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

The next round of the 2025 season will be the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on June 15.

Lando Norris wins at Monte Carlo for first time, leading home Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and current drivers’ standings leader and McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris celebrated his first Monaco Grand Prix win from pole position and slashed McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri’s Formula One drivers’ championship lead to just three points in a race more about strategy than speed.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished runner-up in the home race he won last year, with Piastri third and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fourth – all four finishing in the order they started.

The Sunday afternoon race featured two mandatory pit stops for the first time, but hopes of more action around the cramped harbourside circuit fell short.

Drivers through the field played a waiting game, with Verstappen holding off his final stop until the penultimate lap and those behind biding their time while keeping out of trouble. Norris ultimately lapped all but four cars.

The win was the Briton’s second in eight races and first since the Australian GP season opener in March, as well as McLaren’s first at Monaco since 2008.

“Monaco baby!” Norris shouted over the radio as the chequered flag finally fell.

“The last quarter was stressful with Leclerc behind and Max ahead, but we won in Monaco,” he said.

“This is what I dreamed of when I was a kid, so I achieved one of my dreams.”

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was fifth, with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar sixth and Haas’s Esteban Ocon seventh.

Liam Lawson scored his first points of the season for Racing Bulls in eighth place, and Williams completed the top 10 with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Mercedes had a dismal afternoon in the Mediterranean sunshine, after a nightmare in qualifying, with George Russell 11th and Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli 18th and the last car still running.

The virtual safety car was deployed on the opening lap when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto went into the tyre wall at Portier, the turn before the tunnel, as Antonelli passed on the inside.

Bortoleto made it back to the pits and continued.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first retirement, the Frenchman crashing into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull car at the tunnel exit on lap nine and limping back to the pits with the front left wheel hanging off.

“Is he an idiot? What is he doing?” exclaimed Tsunoda.

Gasly, who said he had no brakes, almost took out Argentine rookie teammate Franco Colapinto as he careered through the Nouvelle Chicane.

Aston Martin’s double world champion Fernando Alonso was the second retirement, pulling off on lap 38 with a smoking car to continue his scoreless run for the season.

The Spanish Grand Prix is the next race on the F1 calendar and will take place on Sunday, June 1.