Lando Norris was helped by McLaren team orders to win Formula 1’s sprint race in Brazil ahead of Oscar Piastri
By taking victory, Norris gained three points on title rival Max Verstappen who was demoted one place to fourth post-race due to a five-second penalty for a virtual safety car infringement.
Piastri converted pole into the lead at the start by covering off the inside ahead of Norris into turn one, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc held off Red Bull’s Verstappen for third.
Leclerc resisted a further early challenge from Verstappen before closing in on the McLaren duo at the front. But a sideways moment on lap 13 dropped Leclerc out of DRS range and left him defending against Verstappen once more.
The Dutchman used DRS to eventually pass Leclerc into turn four five laps later, and he soon eradicated a two-second deficit to Norris. That threat prompted McLaren to instruct Piastri to let Norris by, with the Australian doing so on lap 22.
A VSC period was then called before Verstappen could mount a challenge to Piastri on the penultimate lap, and Norris cruised to victory once green-flag running resumed on the final lap.
Verstappen drew alongside Piastri moments before the VSC period before slotting back in behind and, following a stewards investigation, he was deemed to have infringed the regulations and handed a penalty which promoted Leclerc to third.
Carlos Sainz finished one place behind his Ferrari team-mate in fourth, with Mercedes driver Goerge Russell well behind in fifth. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was sixth ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
RB’s Liam Lawson was ninth ahead of Williams racer Alex Albon, while Lewis Hamilton was 11th for Mercedes following a difficult qualifying.
Featured image credit: F1 on X
