Piastri had played his cards perfectly at Silverstone as the capricious weather accentuated every stereotype about an English summer.<\/p>\n
From second on the grid on a track still soaked from pre-race rain, Piastri harried pole-sitter and four-time reigning world champion Max Verstappen through the spray in the early laps before overtaking the Red Bull star on lap eight and bolting to a seven-second lead by lap 11, by which time Norris had passed Verstappen for second place.<\/p>\n
Worsening rain saw the safety car deployed to neutralise the race, with Norris \u2013 who endured a slow pit stop \u2013 falling behind Verstappen before the race resumed three laps later, Piastri backing the pack up behind him as the safety car intervention ended before scampering away.<\/p>\n
Half a lap later, when an unsighted Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) ploughed into the back of Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), the safety car was called back into action, which proved crucial.<\/p>\n
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When racing resumed on lap 21, Piastri \u2013 caught by surprise by the safety car\u2019s lights switching off late in the lap to indicate the race was set to re-start \u2013 braked hard to warm up his brakes for the resumption; behind him, Verstappen moved to his right to take evasive action, and the cars behind Verstappen scattered to avoid running into one another in the spray.<\/p>\n
Race stewards immediately investigated the incident and Piastri \u2013 who was found to have braked from 218km\/h to 52km\/h \u2013 was deemed guilty of \u201cclearly\u201d breaching Article 55.15 of F1\u2019s sporting regulations, which states: \u201cFrom the point at which the lights on the [safety] car are turned out, drivers must proceed at a pace which involves no erratic acceleration or braking, nor any manoeuvre which is likely to endanger other drivers or impede the restarts.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Verstappen spun at the restart and dropped back to 10th, Norris sat behind his teammate in second place with both drivers needing one pit stop to complete the 52-lap distance; Piastri led until lap 40 when his final stop \u2013 where his car sat motionless for 10 seconds before his team could change tyres \u2013 handed Norris a lead he wouldn\u2019t relinquish.<\/p>\n
In a championship fight of such small margins \u2013 and for the fact Norris engineered a 14-point swing through nothing more than being the beneficiary of Piastri\u2019s momentary misjudgment and poor fortune \u2013 Piastri\u2019s mood was, in the moment, explainable.<\/p>\n
![\"Piastri](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/31adfbd01b95bdb1fea5072ba23c109c594dcbec.jpeg\")
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Piastri congratulates Lando Norris after the Brit won his home grand prix for the first time.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit the brakes [and] at the same time I did that, the lights on the safety car went out, which was also extremely late,\u201d he explained of the lap-21 restart.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, obviously, I didn\u2019t accelerate because I can control the pace from there. And, yeah, you saw the result. I didn\u2019t do anything differently to my first restart \u2013 I didn\u2019t go any slower.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a race in which he\u2019d mastered the tricky conditions and muscled his way past Verstappen with authority, Piastri was in no mood to celebrate a 10th podium in 12 races this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt obviously hurts at the moment,\u201d he said afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I deserved a lot more than what I got, I felt like I drove a really strong race. Ultimately, when you don\u2019t get the result you think you deserve, it hurts \u2013 especially when it\u2019s not in your control.\u201d<\/p>\n
A two-horse race for the title<\/strong><\/p>\n Piastri\u2019s post-race rancour is unlikely to linger; the Australian is far too practical for that, and the two-week break between Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps comes at an opportune time for a driver who, this time last year, was yet to win a Formula 1 race.<\/p>\n Fast-forward 12 months and Piastri has led the championship standings since round five in Saudi Arabia, his third victory of the season, coming on a weekend in which Norris crashed in qualifying and relinquished the advantage he\u2019d held since winning the season-opener in Melbourne.<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n For the past seven rounds, Piastri\u2019s margin over the rest has been as slim as three points (after Monaco, which Norris won), and peaked at 22 points after Norris ran into the back of Piastri and retired in Montreal \u2013 the only race this season where there hasn\u2019t been at least one McLaren driver on the podium.<\/p>\n With Verstappen a championship contender in name only \u2013 the Dutchman recovered to fifth at Silverstone, but is now 69 points off the championship lead, nearly the equivalent of three race wins \u2013 the 2025 season is now a Piastri v Norris intra-team fight for the title, given the pace advantage McLaren\u2019s MCL39 machine has over the rest, and the sweeping regulation changes set for 2026 that will act as a hard reset for the championship and see rival squads soon prioritise next season over this one.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a set of circumstances that means small slip-ups \u2013 Piastri running wide and getting stuck in the wet grass in Australia, Norris\u2019 Jeddah qualifying smash and his Canada collision with his teammate \u2013 carry big consequences for a team that hasn\u2019t had a drivers\u2019 world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.<\/p>\n Piastri\u2019s Silverstone penalty wasn\u2019t his first error of the season, and \u2013 given the stakes \u2013 isn\u2019t likely to be his last, with both of McLaren\u2019s drivers entering uncharted territory.<\/p>\n Momentum will ebb and flow. Norris bounced back after his Montreal gaffe to win the next two races \u2013 even if one of those victories was gift-wrapped by his teammate \u2013 and 2025 shapes as a season that will be determined by each driver\u2019s worst days, not their best ones.<\/p>\n \u201cThe car was obviously mega, and giving myself credit, I feel like I did a good job today,\u201d Piastri said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just makes it more painful when you don\u2019t win [but] it doesn\u2019t change much for the championship. I feel like I did a good job today, I did what I needed to. That\u2019s all I need. I\u2019ll use the frustration to make sure I win some more races later.\u201d<\/p>\n