Oscar Piastri's manager Mark Webber is not popping the champagne yet as Lando Norris debacle hands 34-point lead to the Australian

Oscar Piastri's manager, Mark Webber, is not popping the champagne just yet, as the driver has now extended his championship lead to 34 points as Lando Norris suffered a DNF in the F1 Dutch GP. In what was an intense back-and-forth between the two drivers, the battle in the race saw Norris putting the pressure on Piastri while the Australian was being his measured self throughout.

Ultimately, the beginning of how the race panned out can be traced back to the moment when Oscar Piastri clinched pole position from Lando Norris by .012 seconds on Saturday. Throughout the race weekend, there wasn't much separating the two drivers, but the Brit had a slight edge over his teammate.

In the end, when it came to the crucial laps in Q3, Oscar Piastri got a surprise tow from a Racing Bull that would, in essence, help seal pole position.

In the race, on a track like Zandvoort, it is often difficult to overtake. This became even more evident in the race, where once Oscar Piastri got the lead, there was no looking back. Unfortunately for Lando Norris, however, his race ended when his power unit blew up, and hence the British driver is currently looking at a 34-point deficit to his title rival.

While the deficit is massive and many have started picking Oscar Piastri as the favorite, his manager is not willing to celebrate just yet. He told Sky Sports,

"Long way to go (in the title race). We’ve got races like Brazil, where it rains. We’ve got Singapore, Azerbaijan, which are street circuits where anything can happen. But like we say in cricket, we’d rather have the runs on the board than not. It’s a great day for him, he deserved the win and you’ve got to grab the points when you can. He’s had a few misses this year, out of his control, so good that he doubled down today."

Oscar Piastri looks back on the race win

Talking to Giedo van der Garde after the race, Oscar Piastri felt that most of the work was done yesterday. With overtaking a bit too hard on a track like Zandvoort, the Australian was just managing the race and bringing it home. He said,

"It feels good, obviously. I controlled the race when I needed to, and obviously it was incredibly unfortunate for Lando at the end. But I felt like I was in control of that one and just used the pace when I needed to. That was a bit of a different race to 12 months ago, so very happy with all the work we’ve done to try to improve around here, and very satisfied to come out on top."

With Piastri now winning the race in Zandvoort and Lando Norris suffering a DNF, we're looking at a title battle where the dynamics have now changed. The British driver would have to take the role of an aggressor, while the Australian would be trying to manage his points lead until the end of the season.