Oscar Piastri wins Spanish Grand Prix, equalling past Aussie greats

Ignoring the chaos unfolding behind him, Australia’s Oscar Piastri delivered a perfect drive to win the Spanish Grand Prix and extend his lead in the Formula One world championship.

Keeping his cool on the baking Catalunya circuit after Red Bull legend Max Verstappen lost his, Piastri held off his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to take his fifth win from the first nine rounds this year.

In doing so, Piastri equalled the longstanding record for the most victories by an Australian driver in a single F1 season, set by the legendary Jack Brabham when he won his second world title in 1960, then equalled by Alan Jones when he claimed the championship in 1980.

“It has been a great year and this weekend has been exactly the kind of weekend I was looking for, we executed* everything we needed to when it counted and that’s all we could ask for,” Piastri said.

“The team gave me a great car once again, it’s a lot of fun winning races at the moment and I’ve been enjoying it and I hope the team are too.”

With 15 rounds remaining, Piastri still has a long way to go before he can potentially become the third Aussie to win the biggest prize in motorsport but so far, he’s doing everything right.

“It was a great weekend overall,” he said.

“The overall pace was really good and we could turn it on when we needed to. I’m just very proud of the work we’ve done this weekend.

“It wasn’t the best first practice and then we got our stuff together, it’s a nice way to bounce back from Monaco*, it’s been a superb weekend.”

With his first victory in Spain and the seventh overall of his F1 career, Piastri took his points tally for the 2025 season to 186, 10 clear of Norris (176), who is starting to loom as his only real threat for the drivers’ title after Verstappen (137) dropped 49 points behind after being handed a 10-second penalty for colliding with George Russell.

Norris finished second in Spain to limit the ground he lost to Piastri after he had closed the margin to just three points by winning on the narrow streets of Monaco last week.

“Oscar drove a very good race. I didn’t quite have the pace to match him,” Norris said.

“We gave it our best shot. It’s a long race, anything could have happened at the end of the race.

“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.

“It’s been a good weekend. I lost out to the better guy this weekend.

“I know where I need to improve, I know what I need to do better. I feel confident that I can do it but, yeah, can’t win them all, as much as I want to. It takes time to progress and that’s what I’m working on.”

For the second week in a row, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got himself on the podium after he crossed the line third.

Apart from a brief period when he pitted for the first time, Piastri comfortably led the 66-lap race from the moment he made a perfect getaway from pole position*.

Managing his tyres on the tricky circuit, he maintained a comfortable lead throughout the race.

Norris did push Piastri hard at the restart before the 24-year-old Melburnian broke free of the DRS zone* and surged ahead to join Jones (1980) and Mark Webber (2010) as the only Aussies to win the Spanish Grand Prix.*

WATCH THE VIDEO

POLL

GLOSSARY

• executed: carried out, performed, put into effect, performed
• Monaco: a very small western European country on the Mediterranean, bordering France
• pole position: the best position and right at the front for the start of a car race
• DRS zone: the “drag reduction system” helps with overtaking as the rear wing’s flap opens up, reducing drag to increase speed

EXTRA READING

From go-karting kid to F1 crown

Piastri goes viral after Miami F1

Grand Prix crowns new F1 king

QUICK QUIZ

1. How many times has Oscar Piastri won this season, from how many Grand Prix races?
2. Who is his teammate and where did he finish in the race?
3. Who do the two F1 stars drive for?
4. Who currently leads the points tally for the world championship, and by how much after today?
5. How many racing rounds remain this season?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Follow the five Ws
Write down the key points from this Kids News article in short, succinct sentences:

Who:
What:
When:
Where:
Why:
How:

Possible headline for the article:

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Compare your five Ws with a classmate. Did you both have the same information or are your answers quite different? Discuss your choices and then work together to create a final record that you both agree reflects the main details a reader needs to know.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English

VCOP ACTIVITY
Exercise the body and the mind
Exercise is not only important for the body, but it’s a lot of fun as well. Let’s bring more exercise into classroom learning by creating a VCOP PE game.

You can add a VCOP challenge to pretty much any game, and it’s a great way to encourage the teacher to let the class play more games.

Here is an example to get you started, then you create one of your own.

VCOP dodgeball
The normal rules of dodgeball apply. Two teams throw soft balls at each other and if you get hit, you have to sit out. The team who knocks out all the players on the other team, wins.

VCOP challenge: when you get eliminated, collect a mini-whiteboard and a basic clause from the sidelines. Up-level the sentence (make it better) by adding VCOP. When you show the teacher your completed sentence, you can return to the game.

Play for a set amount of time and the team with the most players left on the court wins.

Support: use the “Up-Level It” card set – players have to complete one card from the set instead of completing all VCOP challenges.

What can you come up with?