Today's f1 news as lando norris shows true colours and sad lewis hamilton claim

THE FALLOUT FROM SUNDAY'S SPANISH GRAND PRIX CONTINUES AS LANDO NORRIS REACTS FOLLOWING HIS NEAR MISS IN BARCELONA, WHILE LEWIS HAMILTON LOOKS BACK BLEAKLY ON HIS EXPERIENCE TOM

SUNDERLAND Sports Writer 15:36, 02 Jun 2025 Oscar Piastri clinched his fifth victory of 2025 at the Spanish Grand Prix to strengthen his lead as Formula 1 leader. Lando Norris settled for

second behind his team-mate as McLaren claimed their third one-two result of the year so far. Norris' response in the aftermath underlined the title hopeful's character as he sits

a close second to Piastri in the standings. But the same perhaps can't be said for Red Bull's Max Verstappen after he suffered a 10-second penalty following a clash with George

Russell's Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton also minced no words after describing Sunday's event as the "worst" race of his distinguished career. That was amid more key

developments in the F1 championship as it approaches the halfway stage of the 2025 season. NORRIS ADMISSION AS PIASTRI THRIVES Piastri managed to extend his lead over team-mate Norris and

now sits a comfortable 10 points ahead in the table. Reigning champion Verstappen is trailing 49 points behind in third place, while Ferrari's Leclerc, who rounded out the podium, has

slightly closed the gap to Russell in fourth. Norris graciously admitted defeat by saying he "lost out to the better guy" on Sunday. He cited the challenging "dirty air"

as an obstacle in catching up to his colleague but spoke highly of Australia's leading sensation. "I did, yes. Oscar drove a very good race today," Norris said after the race

when asked if he gave his all to win. "[I] didn't quite have the pace to match him, but we gave it our best shot. Article continues below "It's a long race, anything

could have happened at the end. We both got pretty sideways with the safety car restart. It was a good, fun race, and for us as a team to finish one-two is even better." Amid the heat

of the championship chase, Fernando Alonso snagged his first points this season with an admirable ninth-place finish in his homeland. That feat was particularly noteworthy considering his

Aston Martin team-mate, Lance Stroll, was out of action due to injury and wasn't replaced. Emerging Racing Bulls talent Isack Hadjar maintained his streak of strong performances by

securing seventh, marking his third consecutive top-10 finish. And in what was arguably the weekend's most striking drive, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg clinched a season-best fifth,

propelling him to 11th in the driver rankings. HAMILTON'S 'WORST EVER' RACE Hamilton was notably reticent in dissecting the details of his race, which he described as

"the worst" he's experienced. The 40-year-old got off to an encouraging start by overtaking ex-team-mate Russell and moved up to fourth. Nonetheless, he found himself lacking

pace on the straights and ultimately finished seventh, though Verstappen's penalty promoted him to sixth post-race. Sky Sports commentators pointed out Hamilton's likely

frustration at being told to let quicker team-mate Leclerc pass on Lap 10, and he was terse when questioned about his performance. "That was the worst race I've experienced,"

the seven-time world champion said in an interview session he cut extremely short. "Ever." Even if Hamilton had maintained his initial seventh-place finish, it was far from being

his worst result of the year thus far. That's considering he placed 10th in Australia, eighth in Miami and was disqualified in Beijing. The veteran currently occupies sixth in the

drivers' standings, while Leclerc is firmly in fifth, 23 points ahead for the time being. Although Hamilton is likely proud of his team-mate's consecutive podiums, it also

underscores to him that he has the potential to achieve much more. HORNER SHOOTS DOWN VERSTAPPEN CRITICISM Nico Rosberg didn't shy away from voicing his views on Verstappen's

dangerous manoeuvre in Spain. And the former Mercedes driver supported current Silver Arrows star Russell after their pivotal encounter in the closing stages of the Grand Prix. In the

aftermath of a late safety car, Red Bull's engineers attempted to protect Verstappen from his own competitive spirit by advising him to allow Russell to overtake. However,

Verstappen's spurred attempt to defend a position destined to be lost saw him garner a significant sanction and three additional penalty points from the stewards post-race. "He

needs to get black flagged," said 2016 world champion Rosberg while providing analysis for Sky Sports F1. "He just crashed into Russell on purpose just to prove a point. "That

was horrible. That did not look good. That's bad, bad, bad. That is seriously bad. He just rams him, full on. You need to black flag that. There's no other way."

Subsequently, Rosberg didn't mince words as he described the move as "very intentional retaliation" and deemed it "extremely unacceptable" behaviour from the

titleholder. Despite the criticism, Red Bull team boss Horner showed a more circumspect stance on the incident. "Nico's quite sensational in the way he commentates, so we'll

leave it there," he said when asked about the incident. He noted his driver's frustration and indicated the need for an internal discussion prior to making any public comment on

Rosberg's critique. "Yeah, that's his opinion. He can have his opinion," added Horner. When questioned if Verstappen had "deliberately turned" into Russell, he

countered: "No. I think it was a misjudgement." VERSTAPPEN BAN THREAT LOOMS LARGE Verstappen's latest penalty means he now has 11 points on his licence over the past year.

This leaves him teetering on the brink of a race ban if he receives just once more, which would substantially boost McLaren's championship ambitions. The stewards' review

clarified: "From the radio communications, it was clear that the driver of Car 1 [Verstappen] was asked by his team to give the position back to Car 63 [Russell] for what they perceived

to be an earlier breach by Car 1 for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage. "In fact, we had later determined that we would take no further action in relation to that

incident. The driver of Car 1 was clearly unhappy with his team's request to give the position back. "At the approach to turn five, Car 1 significantly reduced its speed, thereby

appearing to allow Car 63 to overtake. However, after Car 63 got ahead of Car 1 at the entry of turn five, Car 1 suddenly accelerated and collided with Car 63. The collision was undoubtedly

caused by the actions of Car 1. We therefore imposed a 10-second time penalty on Car 1." Kevin Magnussen remains the sole F1 driver to have reached the dreaded 12-point limit so far,

serving a suspension at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last season before his F1 exit. This situation undeniably places Verstappen in a position where he must now manage his fiery nature more

cautiously than ever. Article continues below He'll be obliged to keep on the straight and narrow at the forthcoming Canadian Grand Prix on June 15 and the Austrian Grand Prix on June

29. This is due to the fact that only after June 30 will the oldest of his 11 penalty points expire, providing him a measure of relief. 2025 F1 DRIVERS' STANDINGS TOP SIX (POINTS) *

Oscar Piastri - McLaren (186) * Lando Norris - McLaren (176) * Max Verstappen - Red Bull (137) * George Russell - Mercedes (111) * Charles Leclerc - Ferrari (94) * Lewis Hamilton - Ferrari

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