Lando Norris scored valuable championship points by winning the sprint race at Interlagos following team orders from McLaren to switch position with Oscar Piastri.
Piastri was saved from a late race challenge by Max Verstappen by a virtual safety car.
However, the Red Bull driver faces a post-race investigation for his actions as the VSC was ending on the final lap.
At the start, polesitter Oscar moved across to cut off Lando’s run to the inside at Turn 1, where the McLarens held their positions and Verstappen locked up unsuccessfully attacking Charles Leclerc’s third position.
The McLaren duo moved slightly clear in the early laps, before Leclerc – who was unmoved by an early look from Verstappen into Turn 4 at the end of the track’s second straight – and the world champion closed back up.
Norris suggested he thought Piastri should have let him by in the opening quarter of the 24-lap sprint, but the only order in the first half was for the leader to give his teammate DRS after the second McLaren had fallen slightly away as the first ten laps ended.
Leclerc perused the McLarens closely through the next stage before a moment at the Senna S on lap 13 meant he had to defend against Verstappen to Turn 4 and the McLarens finally snapped the DRS threat from behind.
But, just as McLaren was telling Norris it expected to swap positions late in the race, Leclerc’s pace dipping meant Verstappen was finally able to fight by at Turn 4 with DRS on the outside line on lap 18.
Max quickly gained on Lando’s lead ahead, as he continued to lap regularly within a second of his team-mate.
The McLaren pair in the pulled a two-second gap to Verstappen as lap 20 kicked off, before the Red Bull then closed in by a few tenths.
Then when Nico Hulkenberg pulled off at Turn 8 in his Haas, McLaren suddenly had to urgently swap the lead in fear of the VSC that eventually came.
On lap 22, Piastri obeyed the instruction to let Norris by, with Verstappen suddenly all over the now second McLaren and threatening massively in third.
But just before the penultimate lap kicked off, the VSC was activated and the race neutralised.
There was to be one last moment of action when the VSC ended as Norris made it to Turn 4 on the final lap, with Verstappen pulling out from behind Piastri’s slipstream as if to attack with the neutralisation still active.
When it went green, Norris powered clear easily to win by 0.5 seconds, while Verstappen did not get to make his move as by this stage he and Piastri and reached Turn 4.
Soon after the race ended, it was announced that Verstappen’s actions are being investigated for a possible infringement. Post sprint, the stewards added a five-second time penalty for not obeying the VSC and getting too close to Piastri on the restart. This drops Max to fourth and promoting Charles to P3.
Ferrari’s expected race pace advantage never materialised, as Leclerc dropped back towards teammate Carlos Sainz by the end – the Mexico race winner having been dropped quickly in the early laps.
George Russell was the lead Mercedes in sixth, with Pierre Gasly an impressive seventh for Alpine, while Sergio Perez fought his way up from SQ2 exit to finish eighth and claim the final point.
Lewis Hamilton recovered a few spots from losing badly at the start, while in the other Haas Oliver Bearman also dropped back from running at the end of the top 10 early on.
So a tense race from McLaren due to the radio messages to switch positions. In the end, the places was swapped and Lando Norris scored the maximum points which is valuable in terms of the championship.
Sao Paulo Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 29:46.045
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.593s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +5.656s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +6.497s*
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +7.224s
6 George Russell Mercedes +12.475s
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine +18.161s
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull +18.717s
9 Liam Lawson RB +20.773s
10 Alexander Albon Williams +24.606s
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +29.764s
12 Franco Colapinto Williams +33.233s
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine +34.128s
14 Oliver Bearman Haas +35.507s
15 Yuki Tsunoda RB +41.374s
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +43.231s
17 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +54.139s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +56.537s
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +57.983s
Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF
*Five-second time penalty
Lando Norris has taken victory in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with McLaren opting to switch their drivers two laps from the finish which allowed the Briton to lead team mate Oscar Piastri in a one-two result.
Piastri enjoyed a strong start when the lights went out, drawing clear of Norris while Max Verstappen tried to chase Charles Leclerc for third. But as the 24-lap event headed towards its close, the squad opted to put championship hopeful Norris in front, handing him the maximum of eight points.
Verstappen completed the top three behind them, the Red Bull crossing the line hot on the tail of Piastri – though the Dutchman was noted for a Virtual Safety Car infringement afterwards – while Charles Leclerc took fourth for Ferrari ahead of team mate Carlos Sainz in fifth.
Mercedes’ George Russell and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly were sixth and seventh, with Sergio Perez working his way forwards to add to Red Bull’s tally in eighth.
Following just one practice session on Friday, Sprint Qualifying took place later in the day to decide the grid for the 24-lap, 100km dash, in which points would be awarded to the top eight finishers from a maximum of eight for P1 down to one for P8.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/norris-takes-victory-in-the-sao-paulo-sprint-ahead-of-piastri-after-mclaren.QHFcxKEzd9OoGvjJRTYNk
Max Verstappen is under investigation for a potential virtual safety car infringement during the Formula 1 sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The championship leader had seemingly minimised the damage to nearest challenger Lando Norris, who was waved past by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to take the win.
However, with Verstappen coming home third, the Red Bull driver had only dropped two points to Norris.
But he now faces scrutiny after the end of the 24-lap sprint race saw a virtual safety car deployed as the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg stopped at the side of the track.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said to Sky Sports F1 afterwards that he “didn’t see anything wrong” with Verstappen’s driving.
The Dutchman already has a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Brazilian GP after changing his engine outside of his allocation ahead of the weekend.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-investigated-for-potential-vsc-rule-breach-in-brazilian-gp-sprint/10669710/
Lando Norris says he cannot be proud of his win in the Brazilian GP sprint race after he was handed it on a plate by his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Piastri, who had taken pole, looked in command and nailed-on to take a routine win in Sao Paulo. However, in a reversal of the team instructions earlier in the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, McLaren asked Piastri to swap positions with Norris to boost the latter’s chances in the drivers’ championship.
The order came with just a few laps remaining with the looming threat of a safety car to recover Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken Haas, with Piastri pulling over to allow Norris to take the chequered flag.
Norris’ win cuts Max Verstappen’s lead in the championship to 45 points while Piastri was second, to claim a McLaren one-two finish.
Norris said: “We’re fighting for a constructors’ [title] and we’re fighting for our drivers’ [championships], and we want to help the whole team achieve both of these goals.
“Obviously, from a driver’s point of view, it puts us in a slightly different position.
“I’m not proud to win a race like I did today. It’s not how I want to…I’m not proud of it, basically. So I will work hard to go and do a better job in qualifying later and put myself in a better position for the race.
“We want to avoid it as much as we can. But at the same time we sign up for this.
“We have to work together as a team. We get told what to do. We have a boss, and we do the best we can to help each other out.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/norris-not-proud-of-sprint-race-win/10669727/
McLaren has admitted its approach to team orders is making life difficult for itself, but says there is no “easy solution” that does not risk upsetting one of its drivers.
The Woking-based squad successfully came through the Brazil sprint race with a 1-2 finish, having swapped its cars around to help Lando Norris’s quest to win the world championship.
But the situation was far from straightforward as, with Norris stacked up behind Oscar Piastri earlier in the race, the team risked the Briton being exposed to attack from Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen right behind him.
While the occasional window appeared to open up in the early stages of the 24-lap sprint to get Piastri to let Norris through, the team kept them racing until two laps from home – when the risk of a Virtual Safety Car for Nico Hulkenberg’s stranded Haas forced its hand in getting the swap done.
McLaren was fortunate that neither Leclerc nor Verstappen were able to stay right with Norris though, because having not switched its cars earlier there was a danger of it never having an opportunity to do so before the chequered flag.
Team principal Andrea Stella has admitted that the team orders situation is a difficult one to manage – but points out that there is no solution that will keep the team and both drivers perfectly happy.
“Making life difficult for ourselves is natural, because when you have two drivers that can win races and a car that can win races, this first thing you have to accept is there’s not an easy solution,” he told Motorsport.com.
“That already sets you in a good mindset to deal with the potential difficulties.
“But, like I have said already in the past, we have worked very hard to put ourselves in this difficult situation – and we are all on the same page: team and drivers.
“I always discuss with the drivers, and say that this is the most difficult thing we are going to face in our career, because this is the only thing that we cannot face by having our interests exactly matching.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-admits-no-easy-solution-to-f1-team-orders-headache/10669745/
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has been hit with a five-second time penalty following the Sao Paulo Grand Prix Sprint race, dropping him to fourth in the classification behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen beat Leclerc to third after some fierce battling across the 24-lap encounter, and then had his sights set on McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris until a late Virtual Safety Car scuppered those efforts.
After Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken Haas was cleared away, the track went green again, but Verstappen had just under a lap to try and make a move on Piastri – who had given the lead to title-contending team mate Norris – and could not quite do so.
Then, after the race, Verstappen was noted for a potential rule breach under the VSC conditions, related to staying above the minimum time set out by the FIA, with the stewards deciding that he should be penalised.
After their investigation, the stewarding panel handed Verstappen a five-second penalty, meaning he drops to fourth, behind Leclerc, and loses another point to title rival Norris – the Dutchman now leading by 44 points. He was also handed a penalty point on his racing licence, taking him to seven points in the current 12-month period.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-demoted-in-interlagos-sprint-after-vsc-infringement.64fJ6Nk9koqtKVdoAxmDeZ