'We executed everything': Why nobody is talking about Oscar Piastri despite moment of perfection in Barcelona

Oscar Piastri took a dominant win in the Spanish Grand Prix, but barely anyone is talking about him.

And that's because he had all but won the race about 13 seconds after the lights went out when he made the apex of the first corner with a lead of several car-lengths.

Much of the post-race discussion has centred on Max Verstappen's brain fart on George Russell, and rightly so. But out in front, Piastri showed once again why he is the form driver on the grid.

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Starting on pole, the 24-year-old got a sensational start while his teammate Norris got a shocker - caught out by a rapid starting sequence that saw the race begin less then a tenth of a second after the final light went on.

Verstappen was able to draw alongside, and they were briefly three-wide when George Russell stuck his Mercedes down the inside, but bailed out of it the braking zone.

It meant Piastri could brake comfortably on the racing line where grip levels are highest, take the optimal line through the opening two corners, and comfortably break away from the pack.

And that was basically all she wrote. From there, the Melburnian was able to control his pace and his tyre temperatures, and then comfortably dealt with a late-race safety car restart to take his fifth race win of the year.

"It was a great weekend overall," a typically nonplussed Piastri said after the race.

"I think the pace was really good, we could turn it on when we needed to and just very proud of the work we've done this weekend.

"It wasn't the best first practice, and then we got our stuff together. It's a nice way to bounce back from Monaco. ... a superb weekend."

In Monaco, Piastri qualified and finished third on a weekend his teammate Norris had the better of him and was able to trim his lead in the championship to just three points.

Leaving Barcelona, it's back out to 10.

"Very hard to complain ... this weekend's been exactly the kind of weekend I was looking for," he said.

"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.

"I've been enjoying it, and I hope the team are too."

F1 commentary has well and truly moved on from earlier in the season, where such a drive would have earned him mass coverage - and perhaps if it wasn't for the Verstappen-Russell clash it still might have - but strapped to his stunning early season form, expectations on him have skyrocketed. He's more or less expected to win if he's starting from pole.

The same would likely be said if Norris had taken pole. McLaren seemed to be not at all affected by the introduction of new rules governing front-wing flexibility, and their advantage at the very least remained stagnant.

The nature of the Barcelona circuit - with several fast and medium-speed corners - means it's incredibly difficult for cars to follow each other closely. The reduced downforce from the dirty air means the tyres get too stressed, overheat, and lose grip. The issue is often compounded by the usually hot and sunny weather condition on the Iberian peninsula. Track temperature across the weekend often reached 50C.

But from the lead of the race, Piastri had none of that to worry about. He could just concentrate on driving smoothly, hitting his marks and winning the race.

DRS allowed Verstappen to have half a look down the inside into turn one at the start of lap three, but that was as close as he got. By the end of the lap, Piastri had stretched the gap well beyond the one-second DRS range and he was barely seen again.

Verstappen said McLaren are "unbeatable "when they get their things right", as they did in Barcelona.

Piastri's win was the first at Barcelona in a decade for any driver other than Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton. Verstappen had won the last three. The addition to the calendar of a street race in Madrid has the future of the Barcelona track under a cloud.

The Spanish race was the third and final of a triple-header, and the sport will take a week off before reconvening in Montreal for the standalone Canadian Grand Prix in a fortnight.