Motor racing-Piastri says Spanish win was just what he needed

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BARCELONA (Reuters) – Formula One championship leader Oscar Piastri said winning Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix was just what he needed after losing out to McLaren teammate Lando Norris over the previous two weekends.

“It’s been a great year and this weekend’s been exactly the kind of weekend I was looking for,” said the Australian after his fifth win in nine races.

“We executed everything we needed to when it counted and that’s all you can ask for. The team gave me a great car once again. It’s a lot of fun winning races at the moment.”

The victory, the seventh of the 24-year-old’s career, stretched Piastri’s lead over second-placed Norris to 10 points after the Briton reduced it to three with his triumph in Monaco last Sunday.

Norris also finished second at Imola, the race before Monaco won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Piastri third.

The Australian led from pole position in Spain, the top slot on the grid secured by the biggest margin of the year so far, after also topping the practice times at the Circuit de Catalunya.

“It’s definitely up there,” Piastri said when asked whether it was his strongest yet in Formula One.

“I don’t know if it’s the best one, but certainly it’s been a strong one. You know, it’s pretty hard to complain with the results we’ve had this weekend.

“Just the effort that’s gone in, and analysing some of the things from last week that we could have done better – I think we turned it around very nicely and got back to the form we wanted to be on.”

Norris, winner of two races this year so far, said he did not feel he had lost anything.

“I think Oscar drove a very good race today and had a good day yesterday. I had the pace to go with him but not enough to try and catch up and put him under threat,” he said.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)