BARCELONA, Spain -- Oscar Piastri beat Lando Norris to victory at the Spanish Grand Prix as Max Verstappen appeared to intentionally drive into George Russell in the closing stages.
Piastri's faultless drive out in front helped him extend the title lead over Norris to 10 points and reclaim the momentum after his teammate's Monaco Grand Prix victory seven days earlier.
But the story of the race was dictated by the reigning world champion, with the best and worst of Verstappen on show at either end the race.
For the first chunk, Verstappen's brilliance had been on display as he took the fight to McLaren with an aggressive three-stop strategy which appeared to put the orange cars under legitimate pressure.
But a late Safety Car period turned his race on its head, with Red Bull putting him on the less fancied hard tyre and leaving him exposed to his rivals behind.
At the restart, Verstappen nearly lost control of his car completely, before losing a place to Ferrari's Charles Leclerc down the main straight -- after the cars touched -- and then coming into more contact at Turn 1 with Mercedes' Russell. Verstappen kept the position, but only by taking the Turn 1 exit road.
After being told to give fourth back to Russell, Verstappen appeared to slow, only to drive back into the side of the Mercedes driver when he got alongside.
Russell got past a couple of corners later.
The stewards did not waste much time deciding the punishment, handing Verstappen a 10-second penalty as he crossed the line which dropped him to 10th.
"I've seen those moves before on simulator games and in go-karting but never in Formula 1," Russell told Sky Sports. "Ultimately we came home in P4 and he came home in P10, so I don't really know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment.
"Max is such an amazing driver and so many people look up to him, it's just a shame things like that continue to occur. It's totally unnecessary and it never seems to benefit himself."
Verstappen's penalty elevated Sauber's Nico Hlkenberg to an unlikely fifth position.
Hulkenberg had passed Lewis Hamilton, who had an anonymous race in the other Ferrari, on track in the laps after the restart.
Isack Hadjar continued his strong season with a drive to seventh ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly.
Local favourite Fernando Alonso finished ninth, scoring his first points of the season in the process, a welcome positive for Aston Martin following the unexpected withdrawal of teammate Lance Stroll on Saturday evening.
