David Croft loved Oscar Piastri’s one-word radio message that shows he’s ‘fully in control’ of Lando Norris battle

Max Verstappen’s 10-second penalty at the Spanish Grand Prix hasn’t quite ruled him out of championship contention yet but would have given McLaren an additional reason to celebrate after the race.

Oscar Piastri has now opened up a 49-point lead over Verstappen after dominating the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Australian took pole position and controlled the safety car restart, which was the only possible moment of jeopardy for the 24-year-old.

It means Piastri can concentrate fully on defeating McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who followed him home at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Norris was leapfrogged by Verstappen once again, going into the first corner, but the superior pace of his McLaren meant the Red Bull star had no chance of retaining second place.

Piastri admitted McLaren’s development throughout the weekend was vital to achieving a positive result.

They weren’t impacted by the technical directive as much as any of their rivals would have liked, and increasingly the drivers’ championship looks like it’s going to be decided between Piastri and Norris.

David Croft was commentating on the race and thinks he spotted the moment Piastri knew he had the upper hand on his teammate during the race weekend.

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Oscar Piastri’s ‘cheeky’ Spanish Grand Prix message highlights his McLaren dominance

Croft was a guest on The Fast and The Curious Podcast after the race in Barcelona.

He was speaking about the performance of the two McLaren drivers and said: “So, where it all went wrong for Lando was qualifying really.

“Where it went right in Monaco, it went wrong, and this impressed me a bit with Oscar as well, because Lando got a tow to get provisional pole at the start of Q3. We can all see that.

“Oscar was told about it and his response [was], ‘Cheeky,’ and with that cheeky comes, oh, did he? All right.

“There’s two things here. A, I’ll make sure he doesn’t get a tow next time. And B, have I got him rattled enough that he’s trying to pick up a tow because he thinks that’s the only way he’s going to get pole position?

“This is what will be going through Oscar’s brain on that one.

“So he kind of thinks, I’ve stolen a bit of a march here, but he also has the confidence going into his final run that he has produced some super laps already around Barcelona.

“He’s fully in control of what he’s doing and all things being equal, he’ll go out and get that pole position.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Oscar Piastri has ironed out race management issues to lead the F1 drivers’ championship

Piastri may be less experienced than Norris, but that doesn’t appear to be impacting him under the most high-pressure situations he’s faced this season.

Norris taking pole position and winning in Monaco was a vital result for the British driver and should have given him the momentum heading into the Spanish Grand Prix.

However, Piastri managed to reset immediately and while Nico Rosberg was worried while watching Norris race, believing him to be overdriving at times, his teammate never looked flustered.

Rosberg believes Piastri has developed his race management skills and the safety car restart was arguably the perfect example of this.

He slowed the pack down as much as possible, not allowing Verstappen to warm up his fresh hard compound tyres.

That move alone guaranteed McLaren’s one-two finish and he never looked under threat from Norris at any point during the race.