Oscar Piastri survives late scare to win Spanish GP as Max Verstappen erupts

Oscar Piastri has won the Spanish Grand Prix, taking his fifth win of the season.

The Australian converted his pole position into victory, but was met with a late-race scare following the deployment of a safety car.

However, the McLaren driver hung on to win ahead of team-mate Lando Norris.

Charles Leclerc bagged the final spot on the podium, capitalising on late errors for Max Verstappen who fumed over team radio at the restart.

The Dutchman was deeply unhappy with how others were racing him throughout the race, before having a bizarre collision with Russell while seemingly attempting to let the Mercedes driver through for position.

Verstappen was subsequently handed a 10-second time penalty, dropping him to 10th.

The opening phase

Piastri easily made the strongest start from the leading group and held his lead into the opening corner.

However, team-mate Norris wasn’t so strong and lost a position in the opening corner to Max Verstappen.

As the race passed the 10 per cent mark, Leclerc began to put pressure on team-mate Hamilton for fourth place as the seven-time champion struggled for pace.

On lap nine, Hamilton was instructed to let Leclerc by, which he did at Turn 1 the next time around.

At the same time, Norris closed in on Verstappen for second while Piastri bridged a gap to them both further ahead.

Verstappen complained he was struggling for grip, before Norris pounced at Turn 1 on lap 13, moving himself back to second place.

First pit stops

Verstappen was the first of the leaders to make a pit stop on lap 14, getting rid of his soft tyres for a fresh set of the red-walled compound.

Following his struggles on the soft tyre, Hamilton switched to the medium compound for his second stint after peeling into the pit lane on lap 17. Leclerc came in one lap later and retained position ahead of his team-mate.

Norris was the first of the McLarens to make a pit stop on lap 22 and dropped back behind Verstappen who swapped his tyres eight laps earlier.

Race leader Piastri was called in one lap later and also dropped behind Verstappen.

With both McLaren drivers running the medium tyre compared to the softs of Verstappen, the duo went in pursuit of the four-time champion.

Further down the order, contact was made between Lawson and Albon as they tussled for position - resulting in damage to the latter’s front wing, which added to the front wing injury he picked up on lap one.

Albon was handed a 10-second time penalty for gaining an advantage off the track, which he served in the pit lane before retiring the car.

Sprint to the flag

As the McLaren duo began to close down Verstappen, Red Bull called the Dutchman into the pit lane on lap 30 for medium tyres.

As Verstappen pushed on, so too did Norris. He started to narrow the gap to Piastri, who until that point, was comfortably lapping in the lead.

Lap 48 saw Verstappen make his third stop of the race, with Norris coming in on the following lap to keep hold of the runner-up spot.

Piastri pitted on the following lap and maintained his position in the lead of the race as it then became a sprint to the end.

However, lap 55 saw the deployment of a safety car after Kimi Antonenlli stopped in the gravel with a power unit failure. It saw a rush into the pit lane, with Verstappen switching to the hards - much to the Dutchman’s confusion.

At the restart on lap 61, Verstappen got loose on the exit and dropped off the podium with Leclerc moving into third.

He then came into contact with Russell after he was instructed to let him by for position, having previously overtaken him off the track at Turn 1.

Verstappen fumed over team radio at the call, having also been upset at being placed on the hard compound.

Up front, however, Piastri couldn't be denied as Norris followed him home to complete a 1-2 for McLaren.

Leclerc bagged another podium for McLaren while Russell and Verstappen came home in fourth and fifth.

However, the penalty for Verstappen dropped him to 10th, promoting Nico Hulkenberg into fifth following a sensational final stint.

Lewis Hamilton classified in sixth, crossing the line ahead of Isack Hadjar, Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso, with the latter scoring his first points of the year.