Lando Norris took a commanding victory at the São Paulo Grand Prix, extending his commanding championship lead by 24 points after a mid-race penalty limited title rival Oscar Piastri to fifth place.
Norris got off to a good start, perfectly managing the safety car restart that followed on lap six, rousing Gabriel Bortleto’s crashed out Sauber and putting himself out of reach of the rest of the field, leading the pace from the front. Although he only made a fraction of the progress around the two pit stops, he still had a comfortable 10 second margin of victory, completing a perfect weekend of results following his victory in Saturday’s sprint.
The newly expanded championship margin allows him to finish second to Piastri with three grands prix remaining and the final sprint without relinquishing the title lead.
“McLaren has given me a great car and is doing a great job,” he said. “We push hard every weekend and we push hard until we leave the track.
“Perfect weekend.”
Kimi Antonelli took a career-best second place in a drag race on the final lap and held on to his place ahead of the incredible Max Verstappen, who had an incredible race after starting from the pit lane due to a set-up change following a disastrous qualifying result. The defending world champion and Sao Paulo winner had climbed up to 13th place on the first lap, but suffered a puncture after the safety car restart and fell back to 18th place on the eighth lap.
A ferocious first stint saw him rise to third place, closing in on the midfield and delaying his first pit stop, scheduled for lap 34. By the end of a grueling second stint, he had taken over the lead and at one point it looked like Norris would overtake him for the win. Red Bull Racing committed him to a final set of softs, dropping him to fourth place and setting up a grandstand finish within the podium.
He locked on to George Russell’s gearbox on lap 63 and easily passed the Mercedes on the outside of the first turn, despite the Briton’s brakes failing due to heat. Antonelli then took the lead, but the Italian, who was enjoying the best weekend of his career, was also exposed to challenges when Verstappen’s soft tires failed to engage. The Italian’s only mistake was a moment when he missed the infield, but his perfect exit from Turn 12 was enough to earn him a career-best second place by just 0.362 seconds.
“To be honest, I don’t know where this guy is coming from,” Antonelli said. “It was very stressful because Max came in with new tires. … When he came up, I picked up the pace and started pushing a little more and found my rhythm.
“Fortunately, the free air allowed me to maintain a different pace and finish in second place.”
Verstappen’s third place was an incredible comeback from the back of the pack, but he fell to 49 points behind Norris’ title lead and his championship hopes were all but extinguished.
“I think it’s unbelievable for us to finish just 10 seconds off the lead,” he said. “I never expected to be on the podium from the pit lane. … It’s an incredible result for us. I’m very happy with it and very proud of the whole team.”
George Russell beat Piastri in a drag race out of Turn 12 and took 4th place by 0.482 seconds, but it was the former title leader’s third consecutive fifth place finish and sixth consecutive year without a podium finish, compounding the former title leader’s misery.
Piastri’s race revolved around a 10-second penalty for a bold move into the first corner that caused a collision when the safety car restarted.
The Australian was running fourth at the start, but Norris, who had lost power on lap six, regained more energy and pulled away from Antonelli on the inside, who caught up with Charles Leclerc on the outside. Piastri was almost perfectly lined up with Antonelli when he hit the brakes, but his space at the apex disappeared as the three turned in. He locked up trying to avoid a crash, but at that point a collision was inevitable and McLaren teamed up with Mercedes to beat Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Piastri was able to continue on track and Antonelli returned after a run-off, but neither was damaged. However, Leclerc instantly lost his front left tire in this accident and retired from the race.
Stewards penalized Piastri 10s for the incident and immediately removed him from contention for the podium. His team put him on an offset two-stop strategy, making him pit later than his main rivals, but that wasn’t enough to keep him in the pack and sealed him a devastating title win, with his lead swelling to 24 points with three rounds remaining, an almost outright race win.
Oliver Bearman finished an excellent 6th place, well behind the top 23, and ended a lonely race with a narrow lead to the final points.
Liam Lawson won the battle and finished seventh, just 3.1 seconds ahead of teammates Isaac Hajjar, Nico Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso.
Franco Colapinto, Lance Stroll, and Yuki Tsunoda followed in last place.
Lewis Hamilton also suffered damage in a series of melees on the opening lap and retired along with Leclerc. The only other retirement was home favorite Bortolet, who retired on the first lap after Stroll pushed him against the curb and got stuck in the barrier.
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