F1 Results Today: Max Verstappen ruins title hopes with PETULANT late race actions

Oscar Piastri's fourth win of the Formula 1 season was overshadowed somewhat by a stunning end to the race between Max Verstappen and George Russell.

Piastri extended his championship lead over team-mate Lando Norris, who came second, but it was a late battle for fourth place which caught the eye - Verstappen appearing to deliberately drive into Russell's car after being told to give a place back for potentially gaining an advantage by leaving the track.

A long strategic battle kicked off when Verstappen moved onto a three-stop strategy shortly after his first pit stop. That meant a lot of projection and guesswork to try and figure out who would be fighting for the win and the podium places – and indeed if there was going to be one.

In the end, McLaren were able to cover off the undercut from Verstappen's final pit stop, leaving the reigning drivers' champion to spend the last 15 laps fruitlessly pursuing the bright orange car of the Brit.

The fight to be the best of the rest continued between Ferrari and Mercedes, with both teams headed by their long-term drivers while newbies (albeit at vastly differing ages) Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli scrapped it out behind.

That battle ended when Antonelli's car broke down and sent him into the gravel trap with 11 laps to go, bringing out a late safety car to bunch up the pack and prompt an extra pit stop for most drivers.

That made the last handful of laps far more tense than anticipated, with Verstappen put onto a pair of hard tyres for the final run-in and failing to fire them up fast enough to defend against Charles Leclerc and his lightly-scrubbed hard tyres at the restart.

A knock-down fight with George Russell ensued for fourth, with Verstappen going off-track to try and keep his position. When told to give the Mercedes his place back, the Dutchman exploded in incredulous rage on the radio, before ramming into the side of Russell as he came back past.

That moment of petulance saw him hit with a ten-second penalty, dropping him from fifth to tenth with the field bunched up from the safety car.

READ MORE: F1 Qualifying Results: Norris thrashed at Spanish Grand Prix as Verstappen trails again

F1 Results: Spanish Grand Prix 2025

Fastest Lap

Oscar Piastri

Who is the current F1 world champion?

Max Verstappen is the reigning F1 champion, won his fourth drivers' championship last year.

2025 rule change removes fastest lap point

Fastest lap points have been banished for 2025. Since 2019, drivers have picked up an extra point if they finish in the top 10 and achieve the fastest lap.

However, it did lead to some drivers abandoning their races to pit and fit a set of new tyres at the end in order to claim the fastest lap point, or to stop a rival from getting the extra point.

The most famous example of this in 2024 came during Daniel Ricciardo's final F1 race, when the Australian finished last but claimed the fastest lap on the final lap of the Singapore GP, taking the extra point away from Lando Norris and helping Max Verstappen's title bid.

READ MORE: Monaco Grand Prix winner Lando Norris offers verdict on future Indy 500 attempt

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