Antonelli marches on in Spain as Piastri suffers again
Ian Chadband |
Wonder boy Kimi Antonelli has roared ever closer to the world F1 crown with victory around the new Madrid street circuit — but there was nothing but gloom for McLaren as Lando Norris got unlucky and Oscar Piastri’s gloomy season continued with an eighth-place finish in a damaged car.
Antonelli took another huge stride towards becoming the youngest world champion ever with his Spanish Grand Prix victory, but even the 20-year-old was happy to concede he had got a bit fortunate on Sunday to beat third-placed Norris.
“I feel a bit bad for Lando,” admitted Antonelli, after he took full advantage of Lance Stroll putting his Aston Martin in the wall on the 14th lap to earn a free pit-stop during a Virtual Safety Car period.
Meanwhile, world champion Norris, who’d been looking unstoppable seven seconds ahead at the front, had just gone past the pit entry and missed his chance.
By the time he did stop on the next lap, a slow front-right tyre change then lost him even more time and, effectively, the race as Antonelli enjoyed a 20-second switch of fortune to then lead Norris by 13 seconds and control affairs on the new Madring circuit where overtaking is so difficult.
Despite his pace, Norris couldn’t get past Max Verstappen for second place, even though he claimed the Dutchman had illegally run off the road while defending his position on the penultimate lap.
So Verstappen finished runner-up, 4.3 seconds behind Antonelli, with polesitter Norris third, just seven-tenths back. George Russell was fifth as his Mercedes teammate Antonelli extended his advantage in the championship race with an eighth win of the year to 81 points with nine rounds remaining.
But once again, Piastri was not even in the shake-up once his McLaren got clipped on the opening lap by Russell’s Mercedes and he ended up having to battle through the race with a damaged front wing.
Having started seventh on the grid, he eventually finished a place further down after having dropped to 10th amid the melee on that opening lap. What will still dismay him was that he ended up a minute-and-a-half slower than his teammate.
Lewis Hamilton’s fading championship hopes also suffered further when he retired early on with a brake problem. He’s now 101 points behind Antonelli, 20 behind Russell and five ahead of fourth-placed Norris.
Charles Leclerc is fifth, Verstappen sixth and Piastri seventh, now a whopping 172 points off the lead.
AAP