Piastri wins Dutch GP as Norris’s McLaren breaks down | Motorsports News

Norris’s title chances took a heavy blow when his McLaren broke down after smoke poured from the back of the car.

Oscar Piastri has won the Dutch Grand Prix to take a mighty 34-point lead in the Formula One championship as McLaren teammate and title rival Lando Norris saw his hopes go up in smoke.

On a day of drama, with both Ferrari drivers crashing out in separate incidents, McLaren had been heading for a record-equalling fifth successive one-two win until Norris suffered late despair on the track on Sunday.

After saying he could smell smoke in the cockpit, Norris slowed and retired from second place on lap 65 of 72 with visible evidence coming out of the back of his stricken car.

Norris was chasing Piastri late in the race when the British driver reported a “funny” smell in his cockpit.

“I don’t know if I’m on fire or not,” Norris said. Smoke poured from the back of the car, and he had to stop.

Norris ended the race standing behind a barrier at the side of the track with race marshals and his broken-down car.

Norris’s race engineer tried to console him by telling him how good his pace had been.

“Doesn’t matter,” Norris responded.

Piastri’s lead over second-placed Norris increased from nine points to 34 with nine races remaining.

The Australian’s win required him to manage three safety car restarts, holding off Norris twice and then keeping rival Max Verstappen behind him after Norris’s breakdown.

“Nicely done, everybody, nicely done,” Piastri told the team. “Obviously, sorry for Lando for what happened.”

Home hero Verstappen finished second for Red Bull, with Racing Bulls’ French rookie Isack Hadjar taking his first Formula One podium in third place and punching the air in delight.

Hadjar was lifted off the ground and slapped on the back by a crowd of jubilant team members as they celebrated the squad’s first podium result in four years.

“That was always the target since I was a kid, so this is the first step,” Hadjar said.

Both Ferraris ended up in the barriers in the same spot. Lewis Hamilton hit the wall during a rain shower in another disappointing race for Ferrari.

Teammate Charles Leclerc’s race ended when he was hit by Mercedes’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli and spun into the same barrier.

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