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 aced the start and perfectly managed an ensuing safety car restart on lap six – called for Gabriel Bortoleto’s crashed-out Sauber – to keep himself beyond the reach of the rest of the field and dictate the pace from the front. Headed only momentarily around his two pit stops, his victory margin was a comfortable 10s to complete a perfect weekend of results following victory in Saturday’s sprint.
The newly inflated championship margin allows him to finish second to Piastri in three remaining grands prix and the last sprint without ceding the title lead.
“McLaren are doing an amazing job giving me a great car,” he said. “We’re pushing hard every single weekend, and I’m pushing 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 tremendous Max Verstappen, who executed a phenomenal race after starting from pit lane owing to setup changes following a dire qualifying result. The defending world champion and Sao Paulo winner was up to 13th on the first lap, but a puncture picked up following the safety car restart dumped him back down to 18th on lap eight.
A ferocious first stint saw him rise as high as third, making mincemeat of the midfield, before making a late first scheduled pit stop on lap 34, and he’d inherited the lead by the end of his blistering second stint and briefly looked set to force Norris to pass him for victory. Red Bull Racing committed him to a final set of softs that dropped him to fourth, setting up a grandstand finish for the podium places.
He locked onto George Russell’s gearbox on lap 63, the Briton’s brakes ailing from heat, and passed the Mercedes with ease around the outside of the first turn. Antonelli was next up the road, but the Italian, enjoying the best weekend of his career, was equal to the challenge as Verstappen’s soft tires lost their bite. 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 0.362s
“I don’t know where this guy came from, to be honest,” Antonelli said. “Very stressful with Max coming with the fresh tire. … When he was closing in I raised the pace, I started to push a bit more, and I found my rhythm.
“Luckily with free air we were able to maintain a different pace and finish P2.”
Verstappen’s third place was a remarkable recovery from the back of the field but dropped him to 49 points off Norris’s title lead, all but extinguishing his championship hopes.
“To finish only 10s from the lead I think for us is incredible,” 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 just very proud of everyone in the team as well.”
George Russell beat Piastri in a drag race out of Turn 12 to take fourth place by 0.482s, compounding the former title leader’s misery by condemning him to a third consecutive fifth-place finish and sixth straight grand prix without a podium.
Piastri’s race pivoted on a 10s penalty for causing a collision on the safety car restart in a bold move into the first turn.
The Australian was running fourth, where he started, but was much more alive to Norris putting down the power on lap six, allowing him to haul himself down the inside of Antonelli, who in turn was side by side with Charles Leclerc to his outside. Piastri was almost fully side by side with Antonelli as they hit the brakes, but his space on the apex disappeared to nothing as the trio turned in. He locked up in a bid to avoid a crash, but by then a collision was inevitable, the McLaren tagging the Mercedes, which in turn whacked Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Piastri was able to continue on track, while Antonelli rejoined via the run-off, both without damage. Leclerc, though, lost his front-left tire instantly in the incident and retired from the race.
Stewards penalized Piastri 10s for the incident, instantly ruling him out of podium contention. His team put him on an offset two-stop strategy that saw him pitting later than his chief rivals, but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the mix, condemning him to a devastating title blow, his deficit blown out to 24 points – almost a full race victory – with three rounds remaining.
Oliver Bearman finished an excellent sixth in what ended a lonely race a long way behind the leaders – 23s – and ahead of a tight scrap for the final points.
Liam Lawson prevailed 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 pack separated by just 3.1s.
