The China Mail - Piastri extends championship lead with victory at Dutch Grand Prix

Piastri led from pole to chequered flag at the Zandvoort circuit in a race that saw the safety car deployed several times to stretch his lead over Norris to 34 points in the championship race.

Racing Bulls' 20-year-old French rookie Isack Hadjar finished third to become the fifth youngest podium finisher of all time.

It was Piastri's sixth Grand Prix victory of the season and cemented the Australian's status as the man to catch in this year's drivers' championship.

A thrilling start saw Verstappen, who started third on the grid, overtake Norris before briefly losing control of his Red Bull.

To the cheers of tens of thousands of his "Orange Army" fans, Verstappen recovered brilliantly to settle in behind Piastri, who got off to a clean start.

But the faster race pace of the McLaren quickly told and Norris passed the Dutchman on his left-hand side in lap nine to restore the one-two for the papaya team.

The big unknown in the run-up to the race had been the weather at the famously unpredictable circuit just a stone's throw from the North Sea coast.

The first rain began to fall around lap 15 of 72 and just 10 laps later, claimed its first victim, as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton slid his Ferrari off the track into the barriers.

"I'm so sorry guys," said an unhurt Hamilton, who at the last Grand Prix had described himself as a "completely useless" driver who should be replaced.

The safety car deployment bunched up the field again but Piastri held off his determined teammate Norris, who in turn kept Verstappen at bay in third.

Behind the front-runners, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc pulled off an extraordinary overtaking manoeuvre on George Russell from Mercedes.

- 'Let's get Oscar' -

With the rain stopped and most drivers on fresh tyres, McLaren engineers on the Norris side of the garage told their man "let's go get Oscar".

Since Zandvoort returned to the Formula One circuit in 2021, the driver who started on pole has won every time, the track notoriously difficult for overtaking.

And Norris struggled to get close enough to his teammate Piastri, who kept a typically cool head to produce solid, error-free laps.

But with 18 laps to go, there was more drama as Leclerc and Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli touched wheels during an overtaking manoeuvre, sending the Ferrari spinning into the barriers to complete a catastrophic weekend for the scuderia.

With the cars bunched up again after the safety car, Piastri pulled out his fastest lap when it mattered to take control of the race once more.

Then with only six laps to go, Norris reported smoke in his cockpit, immediately crawling to a halt, his race over in heartbreaking fashion.

Piastri held off a last-ditch challenge by Verstappen in the closing laps to take the chequered flag.

The Grand Prix circus next moves to Monza in Italy on September 7 when the Ferrari fans will be out in their numbers, hoping for a better weekend for the team.

B.Chan--ThChM