Australia’s Oscar Piastri has taken a massive step towards a first F1 world title after a stroke of awful misfortune for his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
The pair were on track for a 1-2 finish at the Dutch Grand Prix after Piastri’s 0.012-second qualifying edge proved enough for him to dominate the race from pole.
But with just seven laps left, Norris suffered an oil leak and engine failure forcing him to retire.
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“F***, I’m out, I’m out … unlucky, boys,” Norris said on team radio.
It was his second DNF of the season, while Piastri has only missed the podium twice in 15 races – a 4th in Canada after making contact with Norris, and a 9th in Australia after spinning out in the wet.
The retirement, combined with Piastri’s seventh race win of the season, produces a huge swing in the world title fight. The Melburnian is now a whopping 34 points ahead of his teammate, a particularly handy buffer after a track that was expected to favour Norris.
The next two races, at Monza and Baku, both went in Piastri’s favour last year.
The only concern for Piastri will be whether the retirement points to an issue with the McLaren engine which could strike his car later in the season.
It is not an insurmountable lead in the title fight by any stretch. Under the same points system Sebastian Vettel came back from 39 points behind with seven races left in 2012 (hitting the lead with three races left), and from 31 points back with six races to go in 2010, when he won the title in the Abu Dhabi finale.
“I controlled the race when I needed to. Incredibly unfortunate for Lando at the end but felt like I was in control of that one, just used the pace when I needed to,” Piastri said.
“A bit of a different race to 12 months ago (when Norris won with Piastri 27 seconds behind in fourth), so very happy with the work we’ve done.
“The start of this weekend was looking like difficult one.”
Piastri has now matched his manager, Mark Webber, with nine career race wins and surpassed Daniel Ricciardo’s total of eight.
No Australian driver has won seven races in a Formula 1 season until now. Piastri is now only behind local motorsport legends Jack Brabham (14 career wins, three world titles) and Alan Jones (12 career wins, one world title).
Home favourite Max Verstappen was promoted to second via Norris’ retirement with Isack Hadjar, the most impressive rookie of the season, taking a shock maiden podium.
Max Verstappen (right) prepares to pass Lando Norris (left) heading into turn three on the opening lap, with Oscar Piastri in front. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
On the opening lap at Zandvoort, Piastri moved to cover off Norris on the short dash down to turn one.
In the process he allowed Max Verstappen to complete a daring move into second – his Red Bull nearly spinning on the banked turn three yet masterfully recovering to get past the Briton.
While Norris only needed around nine laps to retake second place, it gave Piastri a handy early advantage. More importantly the Aussie had negated the greatest threat to his race, which was being passed at the start.
Light rain began to fall around lap 20 of 72 and helped cause a crash for Lewis Hamilton, his beached Ferrari bringing out the safety car on lap 23, allowing both Piastri and Norris to pit.
While this cost Piastri his three-second lead, it ensured there would be no issues in the pit stop phase.
Halfway through the race Norris was told he wouldn’t have an opportunity to pass Piastri on strategy alone, and would need to do it on track.
But around the narrow, rollercoaster track through the Dutch sand dunes this proved impossible, with Norris never really even threatening a move.
Both drivers pitted again on lap 54 when Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli understeered into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari at turn three, sending the Monegasque into the wall.
It continued a horror recent run for Antonelli as he copped a 10-second penalty for the incident, then another five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane during the safety car period.
On the second restart Piastri was assisted by Norris having to focus on holding off the challenge of Verstappen, who put on the soft tyres behind the two McLarens on hards.
Norris held that off but mechanical failure arrived soon after.
The other notable result of the day came from Haas’ Ollie Bearman who started in the pit lane but took advantage of the two safety cars to finish sixth.