Rand Norris scored a fierce victory over Oscar Piastri, reducing the championship deficit to nine points ahead of the season’s break.
Norris bailed out from Piastri’s speculative moves and looked down after being killed by George Russell and Fernando Alonso in the first two corners, falling 3rd to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5th to 5
Briton made two laps to pass Aston Martin’s slow Alonso, but Mercedes’ Russell was fast enough to keep him leaning over the entire opening stint.
Norris was urged to consider switching to a one-stop strategy from McLaren, and Britton agreed that there was nothing to lose. Leclerc and Piastri were stopped at 19 years old and 18 laps respectively, but Norris went out until 31 laps before changing his only tires.
His pace initially looked poor, but by lap 34 he began to swing from the fastest lap, eating up the gap of the 19s by his leader.
The realization showed Leclair and Piastri that their battle for victory was no longer exclusive.
For Piastri, Norris was in a position to score in a big opposition to the championship lead, which was even more serious.
Leclerc stopped on lap 40 and gave the tires of 9 lap flatsian compared to Norris, but that also had no advantage. Monegasque was unable to impress the gap and opposed the team due to private issues that he lamented that he had not consulted before the race.
Piastri delayed the stop until lap 45, giving him a 14-lap tire advantage over his teammates.
He rejoined the race 5.2 seconds after Leclair, 12.2 seconds away from the lead. He only took six laps to easily pass by running around the outside of the Scarlet car on the first turn and catching a Ferrari on the later move.
On 19 laps, his deficit was 8.3 seconds, and Piastri carefully sliced it into less than a second, with five laps.
As they passed lap traffic, they left the Australian with three clean laps to attack their teammates.
With a better launch from the final corner, he charged twice on the first turn, but on the penultimate lap he over-driving himself and appeared in danger near the collision.
“Remember how we race,” he recalled to his engineer prior to the final lap.
The lockup cost a little piastry, but that was enough. He was a little too far away and his attack was spent as he had no chance around the narrow hangar rolling to try another slow charge on the final lap.
Norris survived the onslaught to claim one of his most famous victories and one of McLaren’s 200th victories.
“I’m dead,” he said. “We didn’t really plan a one-stop at first, but the first lap was the only option to get back to things.
“It was tough. I was pushed flat in the final stint on Oscar’s catch. That made it even more challenging. It was the perfect result for today.”
Piastri knew that the odds of victory were hit as soon as his teammates switched to a one-stop strategy.
“I pushed as hard as I could,” he said. “I knew I had to get off track and pass, which is much easier than I say.
“I think I need to get close to at least a tenth of the way.
The Australian wondered if his race would have ended differently if he didn’t try to undercut Leclair early in the race.
“I don’t know if Leclerc is the correct call in the end, but we can go through it after that.”
Russell finished an unlikely third after passing the ferocious Leclair late in the race.
Leclerc began to smoke on his second mission, making decisions made before the race, which he said was affecting the pace of the race.
The move was bewildered, with Leclerc trying to block Briton on lap 62 under the controversial brakes, but Mercedes’ pace was overwhelming, with Russell stripping the pole getter on the podium trophy and breaking through to get him down fourth.
“I’m really happy with today’s race,” he said. “This weekend was a bit surprising to everyone, but I’m very happy to be back on the podium.”
Leclerc was responsible for a 5S penalty for driving irregularly, but it didn’t affect his finishing position.
Alonso finished the strong fifth place he started after only one pit stop. The Spaniard lifted the entire midfield during the opening half of the race, setting his own pace, ensuring he would turn 39 before making the sole stop, making the most of the narrow hangar rolling and maintaining position.
Gabriel Boltreto scored a career-high sixth in Sauber’s third scoring result for the final four Grands Prix.
Lance Stroll completed Aston Martin’s second double-scoring season, and completed the seventh and second Grand Grand Prix on the final three grand prix.
Liam Lawson took eighth place in the Racing Bulls, the third scoring race from the final four rounds, and Andrea Kimmi Antoneri returned to points for the first time in 10th place since Canada.
Max Verstappen finished in ninth place after a late decision to abandon his one-stop strategy, but his position remains under the Investigation Cloud, with the incident overtaking Lewis Hamilton, who is planning to go before the stewards after the race.
Andrea Kimmi Antoneri returned to the points for the first time in 10th place since Canada.
Isack Hadjar finished 11th in 12th place ahead of Hamilton, and despite his one-stop strategy he was not in position.
Nico Fulkenberg was punished at the jump start, but finished 13th over Williams’ teammates Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon. Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Guthrie completed the finisher, while Oliver Baerman suffered the only damage.
result
