RACING LINES
Damien Smith
Piastri’s safety car gamesmanship cost him the Silverstone win
Twelve races done, 12 more to go. At the halfway mark of the Formula 1 season, Oscar Piastri leads McLaren team-mate Lando Norris in the world championship by just eight points. In their wake, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is an increasingly distant next-best, 69 points adrift of Piastri – which suggests F1 will almost certainly crown a new champion this year. It looks to be exclusively between the McLaren drivers, and given how equally matched they have proven so far in 2025, we should be in for a fascinating second half – along with a duel to rate against the best from the world championship’s 75 years.
PIASTRI’S BRITISH GP GIFT