Lando Norris scored seven points in his World Championship quest as Oscar Piastri claimed victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen made headlines with a bold move on George Russell.

For Norris, the race was a reality check following his previous win at Monaco. A challenging qualifying session meant he started from second on the grid, and he missed his opportunity to take the lead at the start of the race.

While Piastri made a strong start, Norris had a slow getaway and even lost a position to Verstappen, who was determined to challenge for the lead.

Norris was able to pass Verstappen on lap 13, his McLaren’s superior pace too much for the Red Bull. A breeze into second, where he finished.

Piastri, therefore, leads Norris by 10 points after nine rounds.

So the damage to Norris was contained but the outcome was the opposite of the ideal he required to maintain momentum established seven days before.

Norris has never won two races back-to-back during a season, a curious anomaly in such a fast car. 

His language coming into the weekend betrayed a lack of conviction. For example, he said that he did not necessarily need pole but just a strong qualifying performance. 

There is no such thing in a McLaren of such unmatched pace – it is pole or failure, a view underlined by the result of the race.

Imagine Lewis Hamilton making such a meek comment at the height of his brilliance. He would have rather gouged his eyes out than have ceded pole to Fernando Alonso in 2007 at McLaren (or anyone else at Mercedes).

Norris’s soul-searching led Nico Rosberg, the 2016 champion to whom Hamilton lost out in a psychological thriller, to say: ‘I don’t know if Lando has a mental coach. Does he work with a psychologist or not? He definitely should because there’s so much value in that.

‘I worked with one, just to help us understand the best possible approach. I did two hours every two days leading up to the season. It was more difficult than the physical training. It was insanely difficult and extremely valuable.’

As for Hamilton, he suffered the indignity of being told to allow Ferrario team-mate Charles Leclerc through just 10 laps into the 66.

This instruction has come his way on the two occasions he has outqualified Leclerc, here and in China. He finished sixth, passed by Stake’s Nico Hulkenberg, to Leclerc’s far more competitive third, with Mercedes’s Mr Reliable Russell fourth.

A safety car came out 11 laps from the end after Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes engine gave up on him and he slid across the gravel at Turn 10.

The leaders peeled into the pits to be reshod. On the restart, Verstappen wobbled off on the kerb while running third, was passed by Leclerc and Russell. 

The Dutchman ran off track and was told to hand his place back to Russell.

He screamed defiance, before finally appearing to move aside, but then turned into Russell. He was handed a 10-second penalty that plunged him back to finish 10th.

More to follow…