'Long way to go' – Piastri cautions title talk after pivotal Dutch Grand Prix victory and Norris retirement

Dutch Grand Prix winner Oscar Piastri claims "there is a long way to go yet" in his quest for a maiden Drivers' title, having taken a substantial points lead over McLaren team mate Lando Norris after his retirement.

Piastri took a lights-to-flag victory at the Zandvoort Circuit, leading all 72 laps from pole but having faced constant pressure from behind by Norris.

The pivotal moment came on Lap 64, as Norris stopped out on track with smoke coming from the back of his McLaren having reported an issue over the radio.

With Norris out, Piastri rattled off the remaining laps for his seventh win of the season and now has a 34-point lead in the Driver's Championship with just nine races remaining.

"I controlled the race when I needed to and obviously 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," he said.

"It was a bit of a different race to 12 months ago so very happy with all the work we've done to try and improve around here. Very satisfied to come out on top."

The result was dramatically different from last season, with Norris having taken victory by 22 seconds while Piastri had to settle for fourth.

Piastri also seemed on the back foot this weekend compared with his team mate and title rival initially, but peaked at the most crucial moment to take pole position on Saturday.

"Nothing special, just trying to improve everywhere we can," when asked what had changed from 12 months ago.

"At the start of this weekend it was looking like a difficult one and managed to get it together in Qualifying and then I was happy with the pace I had today.

"Very happy, obviously a couple of Safety Cars that spiced it up a little bit and we weathered it all so very proud of the whole team.

"It wasn't just myself that improved to get here it was the whole team around me, without them none of this is possible. It's a big team effort."

While Norris' retirement has handed Piastri a healthy lead in the Drivers' Championship in the first race after the summer break, the Dutch GP victor stated: "Starting out on top is a good way to go so if we can keep it running then that would be great, but there's a long way to go yet and keep doing it one race at a time."