Piastri extends championship lead after Norris breakdown

OSCAR Piastri powered to victory at an incident-packed Dutch Formula One Grand Prix yesterday, with home favourite Max Verstappen claiming second place as Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris suffered a dramatic breakdown late in the race.

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Piastri led from pole to chequered flag at the Zandvoort circuit in a race that saw the safety car deployed three times to stretch his lead over Norris to 34 points in the championship race.

Racing Bulls’ 20-year-old French rookie Isack Hadjar finished third to become the fifth youngest podium finisher of all time.

It was Piastri’s sixth Grand Prix victory of the season and cemented the Australian's status as the man to catch in this year’s drivers’ championship.

“I felt like I was in control of that one and just used the pace when I needed to,” said Piastri.

“If we can keep it running then that'd be great but there's a long way to go yet and we keep doing it one race at a time,” added the Australian.

A thrilling start saw Verstappen, who started third on the grid, overtake Norris before briefly losing control of his Red Bull.

To the cheers of tens of thousands of his “Orange Army” fans, Verstappen recovered brilliantly to settle in behind Piastri, who got off to a clean start.