After taking victory in the Dutch Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri was sitting pretty at the top of the championship. Norris' retirement from second had put the Briton 34 points behind his team-mate, with Verstappen 104 points behind. A series of stellar victories in the early phases of the season had demonstrated Piastri's efficacy in a position of dominance, as he sought retribution from his ignominious slide off the circuit amid a downpour midway through the Melbourne season opener.
After a controlled display in China and third place in Japan, Piastri later bagged three victories in a row to bring himself into the lead of the championship over Norris; Bahrain offered a pole-fastest lap-win combo, and the Australian then forced Verstappen into passing him off-track in Jeddah and benefited from the Dutchman's subsequent penalty. He then put a move on the polesitting Red Bull in the opening half of the Miami race to extend that points lead further.
Barcelona then presented another illustration of Piastri's ability to suffocate a race at the front, and he then narrowly evaded damage from Norris's ill-placed onslaught in Montreal to further increase his championship advantage – making the most of his McLaren on the rare days it had struggled to perform. And, while Norris's form started to pick up, Piastri finished second to his team-mate in Austria, Silverstone (post-penalty for a safety car misdemeanour) and Hungary – but showed his teeth in a ruthless pass on Norris at the start of the Belgian GP.
Norris's Zandvoort failure ensured Piastri's championship lead was reaching a critical mass… but the wheels then started to fall off. A resurgent Red Bull and Piastri's horror show in Baku – crashing in qualifying and on lap one of the race – precipitated a nosedive, and poor results in Austin and Mexico cost the title lead to Norris; Piastri had to revise his natural driving style to find performance among the lower-grip circuits.
While Piastri returned to form in Qatar, a win was taken from his hands as McLaren's pitstop farrago cost him the lead. The damage was done.
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