Lando Norris dominated the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to open a commanding 24-point championship lead after an in-race penalty restricted title rival Oscar Piastri to fifth place.
Norris took the start well and perfectly managed a subsequent safety car restart on lap six – which required the crashed Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto – to keep himself out of reach of the rest of the field and dictate the pace from the front. While he only made short runs around his two pit stops, his margin of victory was a comfortable 10 seconds, completing a perfect weekend of results following Saturday’s sprint victory.
The newly inflated championship margin allows him to finish second behind Piastri in the three remaining Grands Prix and the final sprint without ceding the title leadership.
“McLaren is doing a great job and has given me a great car,” he said. “We push hard every weekend and I push hard away from the track.
“Perfect weekend.”
Kimi Antonelli finished a career-best second in a final-lap drag race to defend the place ahead of a great Max Verstappen, who drove a phenomenal race after starting from the pit lane due to line-up changes following a dismal qualifying result. The defending champion and winner of Sao Paulo rode to 13th place on the first lap, but a puncture after the safety car restart saw him drop to 18th on lap eight.
A ferocious first stint saw him climb as high as third and make mincemeat of the midfield before making a late first scheduled pit stop on lap 34. He had inherited the lead at the end of his thrilling second stint and momentarily looked poised to force Norris to pass him for the win. Red Bull Racing forced him to do a final set of softs, dropping him to fourth place, which earned him a grandstand spot for the podium places.
He latched onto George Russell’s gearbox on lap 63, with the Briton’s brakes suffering from the heat, and passed the Mercedes with ease on the outside of the first corner. Antonelli was next on the road but the Italian, who enjoyed the best weekend of his career, was up to the challenge as Verstappen’s soft tires lost their grip. The Italian’s only mistake was a wide moment through the infield, but a perfect exit from Turn 12 was enough to secure a career-best second place by just 0.362 seconds
“Honestly, I don’t know where this guy came from,” Antonelli said. “Very stressful now that Max is coming with the new band. … As he got closer, I increased the pace, started pushing a little more and found my rhythm.
“Fortunately, with the free air we were able to maintain a different pace and finish in P2.”
Verstappen’s third place was a remarkable recovery from the back of the field, but he fell to 49 points off Norris’s title lead, almost extinguishing his championship hopes.
“To finish just ten seconds off the lead, I think it’s incredible for us,” he said. “To be on the podium from the pit lane, I didn’t expect that at all. … Incredible result for us. I’m very happy with that and also very proud of everyone in the team.”
George Russell beat Piastri in a drag race out of Turn 12 to take fourth place by 0.482 seconds, compounding the former title leader’s misery by condemning him to a third consecutive fifth place and a sixth consecutive Grand Prix without a podium.
Piastri’s race revolved around a 10-second penalty for causing a collision on the safety car restart in a daring move at the first corner.
The Australian was running fourth where he started, but was much livelier when Norris put the power back on lap six, allowing him to drag himself around the inside of Antonelli, who in turn rode side by side with Charles Leclerc to his outside. Piastri was almost completely side by side with Antonelli when they hit the brakes, but his space at the top disappeared to nothing as the trio turned inside. He locked himself in to try to avoid a crash, but by then a collision was inevitable, with the McLaren tagging the Mercedes, which in turn tagged Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Piastri was able to get on track, while Antonelli rejoined via the run-off, both without damage. However, Leclerc immediately lost his left front tire during the incident and retired from the race.
Stewards penalized Piastri 10 seconds for the incident, immediately excluding him from the podium. His team put him on a compensated two-stop strategy that saw him pit later than his main rivals, but that wasn’t enough to keep him in the mix. It condemned him to a devastating title blow, widening his deficit to 24 points – almost a full race victory – with three rounds remaining.
Oliver Bearman finished an excellent sixth place in what ended a lonely race well behind the leaders – 23 seconds – and with a narrow lead for the final points.
Liam Lawson was victorious in that battle, finishing seventh, ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar, Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso in a peloton separated by just 3.1 seconds.
Franco Colapinto, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda followed last among the finishers.
Lewis Hamilton retired from Leclerc after suffering damage in a series of melees on the opening lap, with home favorite Bortoleto the only other retirement after being pushed to the curb by Stroll on the first lap and finding the barriers.
RESULTS
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