Oscar Piastri stretched his championship lead and McLaren's dominance with a commanding Spanish Grand Prix victory Sunday, taming a late safety car and outclassing the field for his fifth win in nine races.
The 23-year-old Australian launched flawlessly from pole, shrugged off early pressure from Max Verstappen, and never looked back.
Teammate Lando Norris recovered from a sluggish start to seal second, giving McLaren its third one-two finish of the season and seventh win overall.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc completed the podium, sliding past a faltering Verstappen after a Lap 55 safety car shuffled the late order. Verstappen, once poised for a podium, spiraled down the leaderboard and was slapped with a 10-second penalty for colliding with George Russell, finishing a distant 10th.
"It’s been the kind of weekend I’ve been searching for all year," Piastri said. "It’s a lot of fun winning races right now."
The result extends Piastri’s championship lead to 186 points, 10 clear of Norris. Verstappen, who had won the past three races at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, dropped 49 points off the lead and conceded, "I never said I was in a championship fight."
Sunday’s race revolved around tire strategy. McLaren nailed it. Red Bull didn’t. Verstappen initially surged from third to second off the line but soon faded on hard compounds, leaving him vulnerable to DRS attacks and tire degradation.
Norris roared past on Lap 12, reclaiming second and holding position to the flag. "Oscar drove a very good race today," Norris said. "I didn’t quite have the pace to match him, but we gave it our best shot."
The turning point came when Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli’s car spun into the gravel, triggering a late safety car. Piastri and Norris coolly navigated the restart. Verstappen did not. Leclerc and Russell capitalized, with the Dutchman later penalized for veering into Russell after being ordered to yield.
The collision capped a miserable day for the reigning champ and marked the first time since 2013 that neither Verstappen nor Lewis Hamilton won in Spain.
Hamilton, still winless in Ferrari red, was forced to yield to Leclerc early and later lost a place to Nico Hulkenberg, who charged from 15th to fifth in a standout drive.
Home hero Fernando Alonso thrilled local fans by bagging his first points of the season in ninth for Aston Martin.
His teammate Lance Stroll withdrew due to wrist pain.
Rookie Isack Hadjar (7th) and Pierre Gasly (8th) rounded out the top eight, while Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda recovered from last on the grid to 13th.
The celebrity-studded crowd included England stars Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, and Cole Palmer, fresh off arriving for World Cup qualifying duty.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Brazil legend Roberto Carlos were also seen mingling in the paddock.
Up next: Canada in two weeks, where McLaren looks to tighten its grip, and Verstappen will be desperate to halt the orange tide.
