Lando Norris extended his lead in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship with a sprint victory in Sao Paulo when teammate and main title rival Oscar Piastri crashed.
Norris started from pole and led comfortably from the start, while second-placed starter Kimi Antonelli held off an early attempt from Piastri.
Antonelli stayed within Norris’s DRS range early on, while Piastri used the DRS to keep in touch with the Mercedes driver, but on lap 6 he dropped a wheel on the wet inside edge of Turn 2 and spun into the outside wall of Turn 3, bringing an early end to his sprint.
Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto mirrored Piastri’s incident, with the red flag coming out for the stricken McLaren and Alpine. Hulkenberg was able to recover and return to the pits.
When the race resumed under rolling starting conditions on lap 9, Norris had switched from the medium tires he had started the race with to the soft tyres, while Antonelli and Mercedes teammate George Russell and Max Verstappen made the opposite change.
The change gave Norris some early pace, but as his rear tires started to fall off, Antonelli closed the gap. By lap 20 of the 24-lap race he was back within six-tenths of Norris and in with a chance of victory. Norris closed the gap and maintained a stronger pace in the middle sector, but Antonelli took advantage of his DRS to maintain the pace in the first and last sectors.
However, he couldn’t find a way out and when the race ended under double-waving yellow flags – a result of a huge first-corner crash by home hero Gabriel Bortoleto at Turn 1 – he eventually crossed the line 0.845 seconds ahead of Antonelli and became the first driver to win the sprint from pole in Sao Paulo. Russell finished third, with Verstappen fourth, while Charles Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari, having spent much of the race behind Fernando Alonso, who was told to take off and coast “for performance”, a curious request given the short nature of the sprint.
Alonso retained sixth place and claimed his first sprint points since Qatar 2023, with Hamilton seventh. Gasly took the final points-paying position in eighth place and took Alpine’s first points for eight weekends. Lance Stroll and Isack Hadjar completed the top 10.
Hadjar moved to the front after Bortoleto’s crash, which occurred when the Sauber driver tried to pass Alex Albon’s Williams with a late lunge in the first corner. Bortoleto ended up in the wall while Albon was slowed after collecting some of the loose bodywork from the Sauber crash, allowing the Racing Bulls rookie to sneak past.
The Haas cars of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman were next, ahead of Liam Lawson.
Ocon passed the Racing Bulls man at Turn 4 on lap 17, taking advantage of the DRS advantage on the drive there after setting up the move in the first set of corners. Bearman finished ahead of the New Zealander despite being spun after contact between the two at Turn 5 on the opening lap.
Yuki Tsunoda finished 14th for Red Bull, ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, while Hulkenberg recovered from his early incident to finish 16th ahead of the hobbled Albon.
RESULTS
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