Norris

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.

The contrast to the outcome of a very similar incident in Canada two races ago between Mercedes’ George Russell and Verstappen was notable.

In Montreal, after the stewards took no action, Red Bull lodged a protest, but it was dismissed out of hand.

Piastri said: “Going back to Canada, I think he had to evade more there than he did today. So, yeah, I’m a bit confused to say the least.”

There was also the feeling within McLaren that Verstappen may have ‘gamed’ the system by exaggerating how much it affected him.

“I don’t think he had to evade me,” Piastri said. “He managed the first time.”

Team principal Andrea Stella said: “We’ll have to see also if other competitors kind of made the situation look worse than what it is.

“Because we know that as part of the race-craft, some competitors definitely have the ability to make others look like they are causing severe infringement when they are not.”

Verstappen said: “The thing is that it happened to me now a few times, this kind of scenario. I just find it strange that suddenly now Oscar is the first one to receive 10 seconds first.”

Was that because because there was no difference from what Russell did in Canada?

“Well, to the stewards, yes, (there was),” Verstappen said.

The end result was that Norris has moved himself on to four wins for the season, one short of Piastri.

“I felt like I drove a really strong race,” Piastri said. “Ultimately, when you don’t get the result you think you deserve, it hurts, especially when it’s not in your control.

“I will use the frustration to make sure I win some more races later.”

Both have two weekends off to reset and refresh before battle recommences at the Belgian Grand Prix, the start of the second half of the season.

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.

The race started on a wet track after a soaking wet morning, but with the sun out and more rain heading towards Silverstone.

Verstappen held the lead through a brief challenge from Piastri off the line but he could not shake the McLarens, and Piastri was soon challenging him hard for the lead.

Before he could try a move, though, a virtual safety car was deployed after Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto crashed at Turn Two on lap four.

The race was restarted on lap seven, and Piastri was past Verstappen on the Hangar Straight before two laps were over, building a 2.9-second lead after just one lap.

It was then Norris’ turn to challenge the Red Bull, but Verstappen gifted him the position when he slid off at Becketts on lap 11, just as heavy rain started.

That brought the drivers into the pits for fresh intermediates. By then, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had gained time by an earlier change to soft tyres when the track was drying and emerged in fourth place, with Hulkenberg in fifth after stopping for inters on lap 10, so benefiting when others had to drive on a wet track on slick tyres and then pit.

The rain became heavier and a safety car was deployed on lap 14. The race restarted on lap 18, but a second safety car was sent out within a lap after Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar ran into the back of Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes at Copse because he could not see him in the spray.

When the race restarted for the last time on lap 22, with Verstappen spinning from second down to 10th, Piastri started to try to build a lead but he was not able to get more than four seconds ahead before Norris came back at him – he was less than two seconds back by the time Piastri pitted to serve his penalty with nine laps to go.

Stroll was unable to hold on to his third place, soon being passed by Hulkenberg and then Hamilton and eventually dropping down to seventh place.

Behind Verstappen, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who was fifth at the restart, lost places to Hamilton and the Dutchman but was able to secure sixth place.

Williams’ Alex Albon was eighth, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was frustrated by his team’s strategy costing him places in the topsy-turvy early part of the race, and then pitted a couple of laps too early for slick tyres as the track dried in the closing stages.

That dropped him to last, but he recovered to take ninth, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who also stopped early for slicks for the final time.

Verstappen said he “had to commit a lot” in the high-speed corners because of the low-downforce set-up the team had chosen, which made the car on edge in the demanding corners.

The low wing levels come with pros and cons – it gives faster speed on the straight but makes the car more difficult through the corners and potentially increases tyre wear.

Verstappen said: “We looked a bit slow on the other wing plus it was understeering to the moon, and I needed to get rid of that understeer. It was light on downforce but it seemed to work.”

Piastri was quickest after the first laps of qualifying but he failed to improve on his second lap, at least partly because of a couple of slides of the rear out of the final corner, Club.

The championship leader said: “I was happy with the first lap. It was mega, to be honest. I was trying to think of how I would go faster and I didn’t.

“The second lap was a bit messy but it has been tight all weekend; a little on the table, but we’ll never know if it’s enough.”

Piastri said he was “not that surprised Max is quick here”, it’s quite similar speed and conditions to Suzuka,” where Verstappen won from pole.

Norris, who trails Piastri by 15 points going into the race, which marks the halfway point of the season, said: “Good qualifying. I am not going to be unhappy with third, would love to be pole but Max did a good job, a fun qualifying today. Not the top but still a good day.

“It’s going to be fun tomorrow, a good fight, with the three of us, and probably with Lewis and Charles and George as well.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who suffered a blow to his already slim championship hopes when he was taken out of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, was only 10th fastest, complaining about the balance of his car.

Red Bull are one of a number of teams with revised floors for this event, the others McLaren, Aston Martin, Haas, Williams and Sauber.

At Aston Martin, Fernando Alonso used the new floor in the first session, to end up 11th fastest, while team-mate Lance Stroll ran the previous specification for comparison and ended up just one place behind.

In warm temperatures and in front of a large crowd, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto both had huge spins at the ultra-fast Copse corner, remarkably without going off track and damaging their cars.

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.

This season Piastri is in another league compared to his team-mate. The incident in Canada was a direct result of Lando making yet another mistake. McLaren need to prioritise Oscar for the rest of the season, surely? – Anon

To describe Piastri as “in another league” from Norris this year is a bit of a stretch, to say the least.

There’s no doubt Piastri has had a better season than Norris so far, and been the more convincing of the two McLaren drivers. Hence his advantage in the championship and in their head-to-head stats in both races and qualifying.

But in terms of outright performance, there is little between the two, and they are more or less swapping the position of the faster McLaren driver each weekend.

The key this year so far is that Piastri is delivering his best on a more consistent basis than Norris. The Australian is beating Norris, not only on the weekends when he is quicker, but also on some of the weekends when the Briton looks like he probably is, because of the errors he is making.

Canada was a case in point. Had Norris strung his qualifying together, he would probably have been ahead of Piastri on the grid, in which case he would likely have finished ahead of him as well.

The same could have been said of Saudi Arabia and Miami. In Jeddah, Norris crashed in qualifying, trying too hard. In Miami, he qualified ahead but tangled with Verstappen on the first lap, allowing Piastri past.

There is no doubting Norris’ speed, but it’s also undeniable that he is making too many mistakes this season. He knows it; the team know it. And they’re trying to help him with it.

Of course, the question is, why is this happening? Is he feeling the pressure from Piastri? Of being in the best car and this being his best chance of a world title so far in his career? A combination of both, and perhaps other factors as well?

Whatever it is, he certainly needs to get out of the headspace he is in and find a way to get into a place where things flow more naturally for him. Where, essentially, he is not over-striving.

As for the question of prioritising Piastri, that goes back to the first answer. Other than in specific circumstances, that’s not how McLaren go racing, and it’s hard to see a strong argument for it at the moment.

The McLaren is not the fastest car every weekend. But it is consistently the fastest car so far this year.

Their drivers are one and two in the championship, and relatively comfortably so. What would be the argument for them to prioritise Piastri in those circumstances?

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.

With the benefit of hindsight, this was one of two mistakes Red Bull made in the Spanish Grand Prix.

After the stewards launched an inquiry into the Verstappen-Russell incident in Turn One, Red Bull decided to order Verstappen to give the place back.

Team principal Christian Horner said the decision was based “on recent experience and looking at recent incidents”.

Verstappen had kept fourth position by taking to the escape road after the two had made light contact while Russell tried a passing move. He believed he was justified in keeping the place because he felt the Mercedes driver had barged him off the track.

Horner said Red Bull had contacted FIA race control and received nothing back and that, as it had gone to the stewards, “it looked for all intents and purposes that it was going to be a penalty”.

Horner added: “The argument is, was George under control at that point in time? Would he have made the corner? We’ve seen so many occasions this year where penalties have been given.

“You’re expecting to get a penalty, so that’s why it was, ‘OK, do you know what? We’re going to have to give this place up.'”

The stewards’ verdict was published some time after the race. It said that Russell had “momentarily lost control of the car and collided” with Verstappen, who “did not deliberately leave the track”. As a result, it said, they took no further action.

In other words, in their view, Verstappen could have justifiably kept the place.

There are two parts of the racing guidelines in play here. To be entitled to be given space – ie, to have been judged to have won the corner – the driver overtaking on the inside has to have his front axle “at least alongside the mirror of the other car prior to and at the apex”.

Russell seems to have complied with this.

But the car must also “be driven in a fully controlled manner particularly from entry to apex”.

This, the stewards decided, Russell had not. And that was also Verstappen’s opinion.

Horner said: “With hindsight, was it a mistake? Yeah, but I think that’s where it would be nice, as the referee, as a race director, to either say, ‘Play on,’ or ‘you need to give it back.’ It’s very hard for the team, subjectively, to try and make that call, because you’re going on historical precedents.”

The second decision Red Bull got wrong, Horner admitted, was the decision to pit Verstappen for fresh hard tyres under the safety car, one that Verstappen immediately questioned vociferously once he was back on track.

Horner acknowledged they should have left him out on his soft tyres. “He would have got passed by the two McLarens. Would he have got passed by (Charles) Leclerc? But you can only go with the information you have to hand.”

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.

Although the hope behind the new rule was that it would add spice to the race, the spice was all theoretical as teams were on tenterhooks waiting for incidents that would require quick decisions.

But although Alpine’s Pierre Gasly crashed into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull early on and broke his suspension and Fernando Alonso retired his Aston Martin with an engine failure, there was not a safety car that led to a strategy scramble.

At the first pit stops, the only change in order saw Hamilton jump ahead of Alonso, who then dropped back from the Ferrari, managing his engine problem before retirement.

Alonso, still on zero points, has now had his equal-worst start to a season ever, matched only by McLaren-Honda’s dire 2015.

Behind Hamilton, Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar finished sixth, making two pit stops within a few laps of each other early in the race to end up on hard tyres and run to the end.

Haas driver Esteban Ocon was seventh, ahead of the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson and the Williams of Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Albon annoyed his good friend George Russell as he managed the traffic to manipulate the race to ensure he and Sainz could pit and both finish in the points.

Russell, complaining Albon was driving erratically, eventually cut the chicane to take the position and refused to give it back, saying he would “take the penalty”.

Russell was expecting a five-second penalty, but in fact he was given a drive-through, and he finished 11th, his race already ruined by the electrical problem in qualifying that left him 14th on the grid.

Lando Norris said his pole position at the Monaco Grand Prix was a “step in the right direction” and “quite a big thing” after being unhappy with his form since the start of this season.

The McLaren driver trails team-mate Oscar Piastri by 13 points in the championship after the Australian’s four victories to Norris’ one.

The pole was Norris’ first since the Australian Grand Prix at the start of the season, while Piastri has taken three.

Norris said: “To classify it as a breakthrough, you also need consistency of results.

“I can look at it both ways. It’s a breakthrough that I had a good Saturday. For me it’s at least a step in the right direction, which I’m very, very happy about.

“But it’s one weekend. Consistency is a big part of it, too, and I will be happier if I know and can get to that point where I am confident into every session that I can perform like I did today, because I think my performance was at a very, very strong level.

“If I go into Barcelona and Canada and the next few races and I can perform at this level, that is my goal.

But certainly today is a step in the right direction, whether it’s a small step or big step, it’s a step and that’s all I need for now.”

Norris beat Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.109 seconds in an exciting session in Monaco, as pole swapped between Norris and the Monegasque over their runs.

Leclerc did one flying lap, while McLaren chose to do two, staying out on track but cooling their tyres in between. Norris took pole, Leclerc snatched it from him, before the Briton grabbed it back again.

Norris has been working hard on improving his qualifying performance this season, after explaining that he has been finding it difficult to trust the McLaren car enough to be able to take it consistently to the limit in qualifying.

Asked to explain his step forward, he said: “Things from the car, just it being Monaco and a very different layout, a very different kind of style of driving that’s needed here. It’s a lot more risk commitment rather than just absolute car balance, in a way.

“And also things that I’ve been working on to improve, to do a better job.

“Never because I’ve not had the pace – just more that I’ve never put it together come Q3. today was probably the first time since Australia that I’ve really put it all together.

“It’s not like I’m driving quicker, it’s I’m driving in a better way, in a smarter way.

“But there’s been a lot of work that’s gone on. For me, even if I was pole in any other track, I think it probably would have been the pole that’s meant the most to me.

“It probably means even more that’s in Monaco, but more because of what’s happened over the last couple of months. It may not seem like a lot, but for me, it’s quite a big thing. So, yeah, like I said, a very, very good moment.”

He said he always believed he would get on top of the problem.

“I don’t think I have ever doubted what I can do,” Norris said. “I have got frustrated. I have been unhappy, because that’s normal if you don’t win, don’t get pole, you’re not going to be happy, especially when it’s where you should be. It’s what the objective is.

“Of course I’ve had those moments but I have never certainly this year doubted what I am capable of doing and having a day like today backs all that up so I’m happy with that.”

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen wins for the fourth straight time at Imola, defeating McLaren’s Lando Norris and F1 drivers’ standings leader Oscar Piastri.

Max Verstappen has given his Formula 1 title defence a big boost with victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a daring overtake on standings leader Oscar Piastri at the start.

The Dutch driver built a commanding lead on Sunday that was wiped out when the safety car bundled the field back up. He still held on to win ahead of Lando Norris, who overtook his McLaren teammate Piastri for second with five laps remaining.

Verstappen took his second win of the season and first since last month’s Japanese Grand Prix and denied Piastri – who finished third – what would have been his fourth victory in a row.

Verstappen praised his Red Bull team’s “fantastic execution all round” as the team marked its 400th F1 race with a win.

“The start itself wasn’t particularly great, but I was still on the outside line, or basically the normal [racing] line, and I was like, ‘Well, I’m just going to try and send it round the outside,’ and it worked really well,” Verstappen said of his crucial overtake. “That, of course, unleashed our pace because once we were in the lead, the car was good.”

Norris’s late-race move on Piastri was almost a copy of Verstappen’s although Norris had the advantage of being on fresher tyres than his teammate.

“We had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself, which is always tense but always good fun,” Norris said, admitting that Verstappen and Red Bull were “too good for us today”.

Piastri’s lead over Norris in the standings was cut to 13 points. Verstappen rounds out the top three at nine points behind Norris.

Hamilton bounces back

Lewis Hamilton recovered from 12th on the grid to finish fourth in his first race for Ferrari in Italy.

Hamilton profited from a late-race fight between his teammate Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon of Williams.

Albon complained Leclerc had pushed him off the track as they battled for fourth, and Hamilton passed both drivers before Ferrari eventually asked Leclerc to yield fifth to Albon.

George Russell was seventh for Mercedes, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr in the second Williams.

Isack Hadjar was ninth for Racing Bulls, and Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda was 10th after starting last following a crash in qualifying.

An action-packed ‘farewell’ to Imola

Overtaking was expected to be rare in what could be F1’s last race for the foreseeable future at Imola. Instead, the Italian fans were treated to Verstappen’s spectacular move at the start and plenty of other overtakes.

The narrow, bumpy Imola track has been a favourite among drivers, who have relished its old-school challenge since it returned to the F1 schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, its status as Italy’s second race – only the United States also hosts more than one – makes its position vulnerable.

“If we don’t come back here, it is going to be a shame,” Piastri said on Saturday.

Sunday’s race was the last under Imola’s current contract, and while it isn’t officially goodbye yet, there has been no word about next year.

It was a fitting drive to mark Red Bull’s 400th grand prix.

The two caution periods led to a see-sawing battle between the McLaren drivers for second place.

Piastri had been on target to pass Norris when the Briton made his only pit stop and looked set to lead to a fight with Norris coming back at Piastri on fresher tyres.

Shortly after Norris’ stop, Esteban Ocon’s Haas stopped on the hill between the Tosa and Piratella corners, leading to a virtual safety car (VSC) period.

Norris was ahead after the VSC because Piastri stopped for fresh tyres to avoid being vulnerable to cars behind.

Then, officials decided to deploy a full safety car when Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes stopped in exactly the same place as Ocon had.

This time, Verstappen and Norris stopped for fresh tyres and Piastri did not – because he had no appropriate ones still available – and that put Norris back behind Piastri, but on 16-lap fresher tyres.

Behind the safety car, Norris suggested that Piastri’s tyres “looked pretty dead” and they should not fight if they wanted to challenge Verstappen for the win.

But McLaren chose not to apply team orders and the two battled for three laps before Norris finally swept by into the first chicane with five laps to go, by which time Verstappen was out of reach.

The closing laps were compelling viewing, with the field alternating position between drivers on old tyres and those on fresh.

This allowed Hamilton to move up. He had started on hard tyres and ran long, which allowed him to make his first stop under the VSC, and again for fresh tyres under the safety car.

He passed Albon’s Williams and Leclerc and was just 1.4 seconds behind Piastri at the flag.

Leclerc fought hard to hold back Albon but was adjudged to have forced the Williams off track when they were side by side through Tamburello and Ferrari ordered him to hand the position back, giving Albon fifth place.

The Anglo-Thai’s team-mate Carlos Sainz finished eighth, ahead of the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, scoring the final point after his heavy crash in qualifying.

And the timing of the two safety cars also wrecked the hopes of Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso, after his excellent fifth place on the grid.

An early pit stop and a limited tyre allocation boxed Aston and Alonso in, and he bemoaned on the radio that he was “the unluckiest driver ever” as he slumped to an 11th-place finish.

LANDO NORRIS has boycotted social media after falling behind McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in the F1 title race.

Despite Norris’ pre-season billing as the Championship favourite, the McLaren star has been outdone by the Aussie’s momentum in the opening six races of the season.

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And Norris has been subject to fresh hate and abuse since falling 16 points behind Piastri, who – despite playing second fiddle to the Brit last year – is the new bookie’s favourite.

Speaking to reporters including SunSport in the McLaren motorhome at Imola, Norris opened up about his online detox ahead of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix this Sunday.

The 25-year-old admitted: “I’ve not been on social media for a few weeks now.It’s not something I enjoy. I don’t need to be on it. It’s my life and I can do what I like.

“I enjoy not going on my phone as much as I used to. I still text my friends.

“But I see social media as a waste of my time and energy. I don’t need it or want it. I don’t find it interesting.

“I’ve got more time to do things that I want to do, I play golf and train and want to be productive.”

Of course, it’s still too early to write any driver off with 16 more races up for grabs, but the feeling in the Norris camp seems somewhat bleak going into the European triple header.

Despite sitting second in the standings, Norris also revealed he feels “unhappy” with how his MCL39 feels and isn’t bothered about winning the title.

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Asked if he was thinking about the title standings, Norris said: “No, is the answer.

“I don’t care about it and won’t think about it. It is easy for things to change.

“Oscar has done a good job. But a lot of it is just focusing on myself.
“He’s just another competitor. Another guy, he’s just dressed in the same colours.

“It’s been clear that there have been differences from last year in how the car works, how it acts, and how I’m able to get lap time out of it and perform.

“I’m obviously not happy at the moment, but we will see with the upgrades this week.”

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, 40, unfollowed everyone on Instagram, including all of his Ferrari team, in the days after his played-down radio spat with team strategists in Miami last time out.

On this, Norris added: “Lewis can do what he wants, good for him.”

The Brit’s first season since leaving Mercedes has been a big let down so far, as the Scuderia were meant to be challenging for the title after finishing second in the Constructors race last season.

Instead, Andrea Stella’s team linger a staggering 152 points behind leaders McLaren in the, while Hamilton sits 90 points adrift of Piastri and behind both Silver Arrow drivers in seventh.

Lewis Hamilton, on the occasion of his first race for Ferrari in Italy, was 11th fastest in the second Ferrari after being fifth, and just 0.096secs from Piastri, in the first session.

The seven-time champion said he had been happy with the car early on but between the sessions he “changed two tiny things that shouldn’t have had any effect at all, the smallest change we’ve probably done this year and we had some brake issues that made a massive difference, so that was then a fight with that.”

Hamilton was vague on what specifically the problem was.

Asked whether it was to do with the change to a different brake manufacturer at Ferrari from the one he was used to with Mercedes for 12 years, he said: “It’s not the transition. It’s the performance of…” and then his voice trailed off.

In the pool interview, which is the only driver access provided to the media on Friday, he was not pressed for an explanation.

He added: “It’s a lottery. We will roll the dice. We put on one and it works, put another one on and it doesn’t and we’ll see. I hope tomorrow we figure something out. We’re working on it for sure.”

Russell, who has had strong qualifying form this season, said that the decision to bring the softest three tyre compounds to this race could have an influence.

Pirelli has widened its range to six compounds this season, introducing a softest tyre that was originally intended only for street circuits, where tyre degradation is usually low.

However, it has been decided to use it in Imola to try to add an extra dimension to the grand prix, hoping the softer range of compounds might shift the race away from from the standard one-stop strategy at the track.

Russell said: “There is a lot of tyre degradation. We have the softest tyres here for the first time this season and that spices things up a bit.

“But we know McLaren generally seem to extend their advantage in those conditions.

“I had Oscar in my sights and then I didn’t. He passed Max and then went off. That’s just where we are at the minute as a team. We know our fight is with Max and the Ferraris.”

Williams driver Alex Albon said he did not expect strategy to change, saying the medium tyre had proved “really good” with “pretty low deg”.

The race runs were interrupted when Isack Hadjar, seventh fastest overall for Racing Bulls, lost his car on the exit of the Tamburello chicane and spun into the barriers.

The car appeared to have escaped largely undamaged, but Hadjar became stuck in the gravel as he attempted to return to the track and the session was red-flagged.

It did restart, but only in time for some drivers to do a single flying lap.

Behind Hadjar in the list of fastest times, Yuki Tsunoda was eighth fastest in the second Red Bull, ahead of Albon and team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Lance Stroll, given the responsibility to test Aston Martin’s major upgrades, which included a new floor, was down in 17th.

Team-mate Fernando Alonso, in the previous-specification car for a back-to-back comparison, was three places higher and 0.121secs quicker.

Stroll said the car felt “the same”. And although it features a new floor and engine cover, the Canadian described the upgrade as “small changes”.

The first practice session had been brought to a premature end when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto crashed at the second Rivazza corner, flicking into the barriers pretty much front-on and damaging his front wing and nose.