Piastri wins in Spain, Verstappen on brink of a ban

BARCELONA : Formula One leader Oscar Piastri won the Spanish Grand Prix in a McLaren one-two with Lando Norris on Sunday while Max Verstappen was left on the brink of a ban after a clash with Mercedes' George Russell.

Polesitter Piastri won by 2.471 seconds to go 10 points clear of Norris with his fifth victory in nine races, and McLaren's seventh of the season.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc completed the podium in a race that left the drama to the end with a late safety car deployment.

"It's a nice way to bounce back from Monaco. A superb weekend," said Piastri, who finished third last weekend in a race won from pole by Norris.

Verstappen, who made four stops in total and ended up fighting on hard tyres against rivals with faster softs, collided with Leclerc and then twice with Russell after the safety car restart with six laps to go.

Stewards handed the four-times world champion a 10-second post-race penalty for the second collision with Russell, which appeared deliberate, dropping Verstappen from fifth on the road to 10th.

The Dutch driver was also given three penalty points to take his total tally to 11 for the 12 month period. One more before the end of June would incur a one-race ban.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 2016 world champion and now a pundit for Sky Sports television, said Verstappen should have been black-flagged for what looked to him like intentional retaliation for the earlier contact.

Another investigation into the clash with Leclerc drew no further action.

Russell finished fourth while Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg finished a surprising and morale-boosting fifth for the future Audi team after passing Ferrari's seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap.

Hamilton ended up sixth, Isack Hadjar seventh for