Lando Norris swapped with Oscar Piastri in F1 Brazil GP sprint win as they finish crucially ahead of Max Verstappen in close fight.
There were only 17 cars to start the F1 Brazil GP sprint at Interlagos on the grid, with Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll along with Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu starting the pitlane after various changes made after sprint qualifying.
It was a clean getaway from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to lead F1 Brazil GP sprint from Lando Norris, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc maintained third despite an attempt from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Turn 1 where he had a lock-up to stop from crashing.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fifth from Mercedes’ George Russell, who had a small run-off moment but continued well. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was seventh as Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson climbed up to eighth in the Top 8 points position.
Even Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was up to ninth from teammate Oliver Bearman, who had a snappy moment in the early part. Williams’ Alexander Albon dropped to 11th with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez just behind after he managed to clear Williams’ Franco Colpainto.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton did not have a good first lap as he dropped to 14th. At the front, it was a tight situation for McLaren where they wanted to deploy the team order to let Norris through, but it was tricky as Leclerc and Verstappen joined the party.
The Dutchman tried to hustle the Monegasque but it didn’t work as the two hounded Norris. At the fag end of the Top 10, Bearman passed Hulkenberg for ninth in the quest to catch Lawson, but the German lost out to Perez in successive corners.
Perez made a fighting move against Bearman to be ninth in his quest to take the final point from Lawson. The Top 4, meanwhile, were close in the pack ahead. Norris was still trying to get by Piastri, with Verstappen trying the same on Leclerc.
After multiple attempts, Verstappen finally got through Leclerc in an aggressive push to take third and set in the chase of Norris. The Brit was told to wait for late but the Dutchman started to pile on the pressure and Hulkenberg started to slow.
The German stopped at the side of the track where the yellow flag was deployed and not neutralisation. McLaren finally took up the chance to let Norris through Piastri, as the VSC was deployed to clear the stricken Haas car.
It was a last lap dash to the line as Norris took the F1 Brazil GP sprint win and an extra point over title rival Verstappen, who couldn’t clear Piastri in the end. The Australian played the team game and ended up second by defending the Dutchman.
Verstappen was noted for a VSC infringement. Leclerc, meanwhile, was fourth from Sainz and Russell, as Gasly maintained seventh ahead of Perez, who took the final point from Lawson after a move on the Kiwi to take the place away at Turn 1.
Albon fended off Hamilton, who managed to clear both Colapinto and Bearman in the end.
UPDATE: Verstappen was called upon by the stewards for VSC delta time infringement and as a result, the Dutchman has been handed a 5s time penalty which drops him behind Leclerc in fourth, with the Monegasque gaining a place to third.
Verstappen was found to be 0.63s below the minimum time at the VSC end. The Dutchman admitted that he knew he was below the time and wanted to correct it, but he was too late by then. He also got one penalty point which takes it to seven in the 12 months period.
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