Norris boosts title bid with F1 São Paulo GP win as Verstappen charges to third

Lando Norris won the São Paulo Grand Prix, managing a tense and high-pressure victory from pole position to extend his world championship lead over his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, who finished fifth. The race was marked, however, by a magnificent comeback drive from Max Verstappen to finish third from a 19th-place start in the pit lane and in so doing keep his title hopes just alive.

Kimi Antonelli took a superb career-best second for Mercedes, with his teammate, George Russell, in fourth and Haas’s Ollie Bearman an excellent sixth.

Norris had to be at his very best at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace with Verstappen and Red Bull having found the pace that eluded then all weekend after taking a new engine and employing a new setup following a dire qualifying. As he scythed through the field Norris had to hold his nerve and control out in front and did so with great self-assurance.

Piastri, however, suffered another blow to his title hopes. Starting from fourth he took a 10-second penalty for causing an early collision and although he delivered a strong performance to recover, he still dropped further behind his teammate in the title fight.

After scoring the maximum possible points with victories in the sprint and the GP, Norris now has a 24-point advantage over Piastri while Verstappen is 49 points behind, with 83 still to play for in the final three meetings: Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

After taking pole Norris acknowledged that he had addressed weaknesses in his performances this season and crucially was now expressing a quiet confidence in how he was driving. Norris can, he admits, be a glass-half-empty character, unafraid of self-criticism. The fact he now feels on top of his game is telling and was obvious from his control in a strategic test in Brazil.

The victory has also piled pressure on Piastri who had enjoyed the drivers’ championship lead for so long but has now been forced into playing catchup just as the opportunities to do so are diminishing. When Norris failed to finish at the Dutch GP and fell 34 points behind his teammate, the Briton felt he would have to throw his all into the chase and take risks to do so. In the space of only six races the tables have been turned.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came from the pit lane to finish third. Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

Norris now enjoys not only the lead but it appears the same calm assurance Piastri had in the early part of the season. Norris has made it clear he understood his task was in his own hands, with a simple requirement to finish in front of both Piastri and Verstappen and this weekend went about it with calm and impressively ruthless efficiency.

Verstappen had said he could “forget about” his chances of fighting for the title after qualifying and the sprint race, when he was left 39 points behind Norris and in a car that he found all but unmanageable.

However, having opted to take the penalty and start Verstappen from the pit lane in an effort to address the issues which had left him struggling, Red Bull’s boldness paid off and Verstappen executed with clinical precision. He came through the field repeatedly after three pit stops, including one for a slow puncture that demonstrated he is not quite ready to forget the championship quite yet.

Norris burst from the blocks on the dash into turn one and held his lead as Piastri just managed to hold on to fourth place from a charging Isack Hadjar but a restart on lap six was costly for the Australian.

Norris held his place but Piastri clashed with Antonelli as the Australian went up the inside and locked up at turn one. The Italian was pushed sideways into Charles Leclerc who took a big hit and lost his left front wheel. Piastri had gone up the inside for a legitimate gap but had nowhere to go when he locked up and was given a 10-second penalty.

Verstappen, meanwhile, had charged up to 13th but then pitted to deal with a puncture and take the medium tyres, taking him once more to the back of the field in 18th from where he would make two more stops and come right back into contention.

In a tight strategic battle McLaren pitted Norris for his second stop on lap 51 to take medium tyres, coming out behind Verstappen and Piastri. The latter stopped again a lap later leaving Norris to chase down Verstappen with an eight-second deficit.

With fresher tyres, he moved up swiftly on the world champion, who pitted for his third stop on lap 55. On the soft tyres he came out in fourth behind Russell, with Piastri moving up to fifth behind him, setting up a dash to the flag.

Verstappen was 13 seconds off Norris but with the two Mercedes drivers in front of him. He caught and passed Russell on lap 63 to take third. He gave his all to catch Antonelli and on the final lap was on his gearbox but could not quite make it as Norris took the win.