Oscar Piastri has made a giant step towards becoming Australia's first world F1 champ for 45 years by winning the Dutch Grand Prix as the hopes of his devastated McLaren teammate Lando Norris went up in smoke at Zandvoort.
The title race took a huge and potentially decisive twist in the Australian's favour on Sunday (Monday AEST) when Norris, running in second with a fifth straight McLaren 1-2 looking a certainty, was forced out when his car broke down with only seven laps left.
Norris had been chasing Piastri, determined to narrow the Aussie's lead in the championship race from nine to just two points. Instead, with smoke pouring from the back of his McLaren, he had to stop, surely contemplating how his second DNF of the season could prove fatal to his chances.
