McLaren driver Oscar Piastri wins F1’s Spanish Grand Prix

MONTMELO, Spain (AP) - Oscar Piastri won the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris as McLaren continued its early dominance of the Formula 1 championship on Sunday.

Piastri flew away from his pole position and executed a flawless race to extend his lead in the driver standings.

Norris crossed behind him after he recovered from a bad start. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was third.

Max Verstappen crossed fifth but was dropped to 10th after he was given a 10-second penalty for colliding with fourth-placed finisher George Russell late after he had been ordered to give back a place when he had overtaken the Mercedes by driving off course.

It was the third McLaren one-two of the season and the team's seventh win in nine races, with Piastri taking five of those victories.

"It has been a great year and this weekend has been exactly the kind of weekend I've been looking for," said Piastri, who has already developed a reputation for being a cool customer.

"It is a lot of fun winning races at the moment."

Piastri has 186 points, ten more than Norris. Verstappen dropped to 49 points behind the leader.

"I never said that I was in a championship fight," Verstappen said. "First of all, I think every race so far it's been tough. You know when they get their things right, they're unbeatable. And I think that's quite clear this season."

Verstappen's run of three consecutive wins at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ended after he saw his Red Bull slowed on hard-compound tires that his team put on after a fourth pit stop following a late safety car.

Before the safety car he was third, but after the restart couldn't stop Leclerc and Russell, who both passed him. The collision that cost him another five spots occurred when he appeared to be letting Russell pass on orders from stewards only to seem to steer into the Mercedes when the cars were side by side.

This was the first time in a decade that a driver other than Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton won the event held near Barcelona, whose future is in question with the addition of a race in Madrid next year.

Norris recovers from Verstappen overtake

Last year in Spain, Norris had started from pole only for Verstappen to jump past him on his way to winning. This time, Verstappen slipped past Norris to move from third to second after Turn 1.

But Norris only had to wait 12 laps before he closed down on Verstappen who told his team that he had "no grip" as he was sliding on his tires. Norris screamed past with the DRS boost on the straightaway to again put the orange cars in front.

"Oscar drove a very good race today, (I) didn't quite have the pace to match him but we gave it our best shot," Norris said about finishing second.

While McLaren is cruising to a second straight constructors championship based on the results earned by both cars, Verstappen can only hope that the two papaya-colored cars will take enough points off one another to let the four-time defending champion get back in it.

Another bad day for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton had another difficult day in his new Ferrari, being told to pull over for a faster Leclerc early on and then being passed by Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber on the final laps.

The seven-time world champion has yet to reach the podium in a grand prix since leaving Mercedes for the Italian team.

Hulkenberg had the drive of the day as he moved up from a 15th-spot start to finish a season-best fifth, right ahead of Hamilton.

"I saw Hulkenberg finished fifth, which is pretty impressive so well done to him," Piastri said.

Rookie Isack Hadjar was seventh for Racing Bulls, followed by Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

Fernando Alonso finally got in the points this season to thrill home fans with a ninth-placed finish for Aston Martin. Alonso's teammate Lance Stroll withdrew due to pain in his hand and wrist.

Verstappen's teammate Yuki Tsunoda started from last place after a disastrous qualifying session for Red Bull's second driver and managed to finish 13th.

Kimi Antonelli was in the points when his Mercedes appeared to have trouble and he ended up in the gravel, causing the late yellow flag and safety car.

The race attracted several soccer celebrities including members of England's soccer squad along with coach Thomas Tuchel. Among those in attendance, Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka and others toured the paddock shortly after they arrived in Barcelona to prepare for a World Cup qualifier against Andorra next weekend.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Brazil soccer great Roberto Carlos were also there, along with Barcelona players Ferran Torres and Éric García. Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski was in Red Bull's garage on Saturday for qualifying.

Next up is the Canadian GP in two weeks.