Lando Norris took victory by eight and a half tenths in an incident-packed sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and extends his championship lead to nine points after his teammate and title rival Oscar Piastri spun out after being caught on a damp track. The Englishman kerb spraying water over the track, thus leading to Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto spinning out, leading to an early red flag.<\/p>\n
Norris stayed out of the drama and never appeared to come under major pressure from the two Mercedes, with him finishing nearly eight tenths ahead of Kimi Antonelli as he never appeared to be threatened, as he aced both starts. At the restart, he held off the Italian beautifully as George Russell pulled of a move to pass Max Verstappen for third.<\/p>\n
Antonelli then was able to retake the position briefly after losing out to Russell at the restart and finish nearly a second and a half ahead of his teammate. But was unable to go after Norris.<\/p>\n
Mercedes has looked to be the closest rival to McLaren this weekend, however, the eight-tenths victory is decent for Norris, given the red flags and safety cars. Norris once again looking to be making a serious bid for his maiden championship, while his biggest rival, Piastri once again faltered.<\/p>\n
Norris wins the sprint, said, \u201cIt was tough, it makes the win a little bit more rewarding when you have a race like this, especially with Kimi Antonelli, he was certainly not making my life easy. It’s one of those ones where you have to push because you know the guy behind is going to push a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Antonelli, who finished second, added, \u201cIt was a very fun race, it was tricky conditions, especially at the beginning, but we tried to keep the pressure on Lando. Yeah, just came short, but tyre deg was quite big and the wind was picking up during the race, but it was a fun race.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the exit of Curva do Sol (Turn Threes), Piastri went onto the slippery kerbs while running third, which sent him spinning into the wall and water splashing on the circuit.<\/p>\n
Piastri\u2019s fifth major error in five race weekends since his crash-filled weekend in mid-September in Baku. It was also his second retirement in two sprint races, having crashed out at the start of the sprint three weeks ago in Austin.<\/p>\n
Shortly after, Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto ran over the damp patch, sending them on course for a much heavier contact with the wall, damaging the barrier. Colapinto was joined on the sidelines when his fellow South American, Gabriel Bortoletto, was caught out by a damp patch at the breaking point for Senna (Turn One), where he nearly collected the Williams of Alex Albon.<\/p>\n
Bortoleto was trying to pass Williams’ Alex Albon but appeared to hit a wet patch on the track as he braked. He smashed into the inside wall and then spun wildly across the track into the barriers on the outside. Sauber have confirmed that following medical checks, Bortoleto is “OK and uninjured”.<\/p>\n
The predicted hurricane force winds and rain appeared overnight to miss the city of S\u00e3o Paulo, but there has been flooding and heavy rain in other parts of the state The risk of rain remains, but will decrease throughout the rest of the weekend.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen finished fourth the Red Bull driver finishing twelve seconds ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, which could suggest that the Italian team may be struggling on race pace in the mixed conditions. Leclerc making a late pass to finish just under two seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton was three tenths further behind.<\/p>\n
However, Verstappen continued as he had been on Friday to be struggling with a lack of grip, leading once again to tense exchanges between him and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.<\/p>\n
Hamilton had made a late pass on Pierre Gasly as he made up places after being knocked out in SQ3, once again the seven-time champion showing strong race pace. Gasly was four and a half seconds ahead of Lance Stroll as the Frenchman took the final point. While Isack Hadar completed the top ten, almost a second and a half ahead of the Haas duo.<\/p>\n
Esteban Ocon finished over three and a quarter tenths ahead of his teammate Ollie Bearman. Liam Lawson was six and a half seconds ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, with Carlos Sainz fifteenth.<\/p>\n
Nico Hulkenberg was fifteen seconds ahead of Alex Albon, with Bortoleto classified as finishing eighteenth but a lap down following his collision with Albon.<\/p>\n