Lando Norris has won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to extend his championship lead to nearly a race victory as he finished ten seconds ahead of Kimi Antonelli. The McLaren driver delivered a brilliant controlled drive to put himself in pole position for a maiden championship with four weeks and three Grands Prix remaining.
Norris taking McLaren’s first Grand Prix win at Interlagos in twelve years as he once again stepped up a gear with a dominant weekend with two poles and two wins. Oscar Piastri had looked on course to finish second, but the ten-second time penalty effectively ended his chance to limit his teammate’s championship lead.
The Englishman now leads by twenty-four points, with eighty-three still remaining, but this weekend Norris has appeared to taken control of the championship. On a weekend where he took maximum points, winning both the sprint and the Grand Prix.
His ceasing of the championship began at the start, Norris got away well and kept it clean following a collision at Pinheirinho (Duck’s Bill, Turn Nine) on the opening lap between Gabriel Bortoletto and Lance Stroll led to a safety car. While further drama followed with Piastri, Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, which led to Leclerc’s retirement and earned Piastri his penalty.
Antonelli drove another solid race as he just managed to hold off Max Verstappen after a brilliant drive following a pit lane start to finish just half a second behind Mercedes. The Italian started to show the promise that Mercedes believed in after a tough first half of the season, as he fended off the four-time champion who got in DRS range during the closing laps.
Verstappen elected to start from the pitlane after being knocked out in Q1 on Saturday and take a new power unit. In the race he opted and executed a long opening stint, which brought him into the points that allowed him to stop later.
But despite his brilliant drive which was similar to his victory last season which saw him effectively take his fourth title, his chances of a fifth are effectively over as he slipped forty-nine points off the lead, with eighty-two remaining.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he reiterated that he considers his title challenge to be over. Saying, “We lost already way too many points in the beginning of the season to the middle of the season. That we were in that up until now already was quite a surprise, but we have to be realistic, over the whole season we haven’t been good enough.”
Verstappen while he was never going to be a threat for the win, the four-time champion produced a stirring drive featuring a highlight reel of overtakes to get in amongst the front-runners, before chasing down Russell with a barnstorming final stint to get onto the podium for a seventh successive grand prix.
Norris gets his seventh win of the season: “I was pushing, it was an amazing race and it’s nice to win here in Brazil. It’s an amazing track and amazing fans. This was for one of my mentors Gil [de Ferran] growing up a couple of years ago, so this one was for him, I’m sure he would be very proud about it all. A perfect weekend.”
Antonelli, who finished second in Sao Paulo: “I don’t know where this guy (Max Verstappen) came from, to be honest, and I didn’t see it coming. I was lucky to come away with the restart with the contact, need to check with the car as I felt a bit weird afterwards, but still a good race. The last was very stressful with Max coming with fresher tyres, but luckily, with free air, we were able to maintain a decent pace and finish on P2.”
Verstappen, who started from the pit lane and finished third: “The race was quite full on and a lot of action, I had to overtake some cars coming from the pit lane. I think our pace was quite strong over all the stints because sometimes it’s difficult to know fully with traffic and stuff. To be on the podium from the pit lane I didn’t expect that at all, even with a puncture as well at the beginning of the race.”
But he was always set to lose the lead to Norris, given the McLaren’s pace and fresher rubber when he made his second stop. He was earlier forced out of sequence because of an early puncher before overtaking George Russell, who couldn’t find a way back past, and holding off Antonelli in the drag race from Jucao to the finish line on the last lap.
Norris’s final stop came a lap earlier, which allowed him to undercut the Red Bull and cover off any threat from Antonelli and Russell. That was key as Russell then dropped and finished four and a half seconds behind Russell. Meanwhile, Verstappen losing out to Antonelli is effectively the end of his bid for a fifth championship, though he remains mathematically in contention.
Norris’s teammate and other championship rival, Oscar Piastri, finished half a second behind Russell, but his hopes of narrowing his gap to Norris fell apart after trying to overtake Antonelli at the restart resulted in a ten-second penalty at his first pit stop. Then, in the closing stages, he was unable to find a way passed Russell.
Piastri was found to be at fault for the collision with Antonelli and Leclerc on the opening lap at Senna S (Turn One), where he bravely dived down the inside. Though it was a brave and bold move, the incident caused him to lock up and go into Antonelli who then went into Leclerc, breaking the Ferrari’s front suspension.
Piastri also suffering a setback in his championship with another tough weekend, where he also crashed out of the sprint race, followed by the collision. This will only increase the pressure on the Melbournian, who championship campaign has been derailed since a error and crash screwed weekend in Baku, in September.
Asked by Sky Sports, if he had any regrets over the incident, Piastri said: “No, I don’t think so. I had a very clear opportunity, I went for it. The other two on the outside braked quite late. There was obviously a bit of a lock-up into the corner but that’s because I could see Kimi was not going to give me any space.”
Ollie Bearman delivered another strong race for Haas, finishing best of the rest in sixth, matching his best result two weeks ago in Mexico City, the Haas driver finishing twenty-three seconds ahead of the two Racing Bulls, with Liam Lawson two tenths ahead of his teammate Isack Hadjar. There was an incident between the two on the last lap, but no further action was taken.
Nico Hulkenberg finished the race nearly six tenths ahead of Pierre Gasly, as they completed the top ten. Alex Albon missed out on the top ten by half a second, after the Williams drivers split by Esteban Ocon, who was half a second behind Albon and ahead of Carlos Sainz by seven tenths.
Sainz was ahead of his fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso by nearly three and a half tenths. Franco Colapinto was fifteenth following contact with Lewis Hamilton, who misjudged an overtake and sheared off the Alpine front wing. The Ferrari retired after floor damage and his involvement in the opening lap incident resulted in a ten-second penalty, as well as an incident where he missed tagged Sainz.
Stroll finished the race ten seconds ahead of Yuki Tsunoda as they completed the finishers. Bortoletto, Leclerc and Hamilton retiring.
Related
- Sao Paulo GP – Qualifying Result
- SAO PAULO GP – Lando Norris beats Kimi Antonelli by a tenth with Oscar Piastri fourth, in an intriguing qualifying
- Sao Paulo GP – Sprint Result
- SAO PAULO GP – Lando Norris wins an incident-packed sprint eight and a half tenths ahead of Kimi Antonelli as Oscar Piastri crashes out
- Sao Paulo GP – Sprint Qualifying Result
- SAO PAULO GP – Lando Norris beats Kimi Antonelli by a tenth to take sprint pole
- SAO PAULO GP – Lando Norris leads Oscar Piastri by a quarter of a second in practice, as they look to have half-second advantage
- Welcome to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix
- PRIXVIEW – São Paulo Grand Prix
