#F1 #BrazilGP: @LandoNorris takes crucial #SaoPauloGP #F1Sprint victory.

Norris Brazil Sprint Victory – McLaren’s Lando Norris took a crucial Sprint victory at the Brazil GP as team-mate Oscar Piastri let the Briton by with two laps remaining for the extra two points to bring the gap down to 45 points in his title-battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who came home third. However, Verstappen was given a five-second penalty by the race stewards for a VSC infringement demoting him to fourth and promoting Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to the final podium place.

The result sees McLaren increase their lead in the Constructor’s Championship over Ferrari to 34 points.

When the 24-lap F1 Sprint began, pole-sitter Piastri got a solid getaway to cover team-mate Piastri into the Senna S, behind them Leclerc covered the inside line into the Senna S complex to remain in third.

Behind them, Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton lost a handful of positions.

On the beginning of lap two, Piastri had a 0.550 second gap over team-mate Norris with Leclerc a further 1.846 behind in third, Verstappen fourth as Sainz completed the top five.

On the following tour, after a solid exit out on Juncao, Verstappen had DRS assistance on Leclerc into turn one, the Ferrari driver covered the Dutchman and once again kept the Red Bull at bay down into turn four.

Race engineer Giampiero Lambiase told Verstappen: “Take your time Max, you know the game.” As the championship leader was all over Leclerc in the fight for third.

Norris’s tells race engineer William Joseph: “Yeah I’m close.” As the Briton kept within 0.650 seconds of his leading McLaren team-mate Piastri.

Joseph also told Norris to keep a close eye on third-placed Leclerc who posted the fastest lap of the Sprint.

On the seventh lap, Piastri held a 0.851 second gap over Norris with Leclerc third, Verstappen closely behind in fourth, Sainz fifth as Mercedes’ George Russell rounded out the top six.

A tour later, race leader Piastri dropped Norris out of DRS range making it 1.3 seconds as both Leclerc and Verstappen pulled closer to second-placed Norris.

Joseph told Norris: “Keep doing what you’re doing.” To which Norris responded: “Yeah mate, whatever.”

The top four were all within DRS range of each other meanwhile further behind Haas’s Oliver Bearman overtook team-mate Nico Hulkenberg to take ninth as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez also made his way past the German to snatch tenth.

Race leader Piastri was told to give team-mate Norris DRS, as both Leclerc and Verstappen kept within DRS range of the McLaren driver.

Behind them Perez picked off Bearman with DRS assistance and a move on the inside into the turn four left-hand corner to move up into ninth place.

On lap 13, Verstappen with the slip-stream and DRS on the back straight had a look on the back of Leclerc’s Ferrari, but could not force his way in-front.

With ten laps remaining, Piastri’s lead over Norris was at 0.506 seconds with Leclerc 0.526 seconds off in third, Verstappen closely behind in fourth as Sainz completed the top six runners.

Further behind them Perez with DRS assistance overtook RB’s Liam Lawson into turn one before the latter forced his way back ahead of the Mexican who ran too deep into the corner to keep the final points place.

On the next tour, Verstappen was all over the back of Leclerc in the battle for third as out-front Norris was right behind Piastri with the team order swap looked close to happening.

Norris was told they will swap placed at the end of the Sprint.

A lap later with DRS assistance, Verstappen made a move around the outside of Leclerc who was struggling on his mediums and got the move done just before turn four to jump into third place.

On lap 19, Piastri’s lead over team-mate Norris was at 0.786 seconds with Verstappen unleashed in third as Lambiase tells the Dutchman: “C’mon mate, let’s get them.”

In the battle for eighth place on lap 20, Perez forced his way with DRS assistance down the inside of Lawson into the opening corner to take the position.

Piastri was told that Verstappen was: “Faster than Leclerc.” But at that moment was not close enough to the top two.

Double-waved yellows were waved in sector two as Hulkenberg pulled over with an exhaust issue.

On the following lap on the back straight, race leader Piastri let Norris into the lead as later on in the tour the Virtual Safety Car was deployed for Hulkenberg’s Haas VF-24 entry, which was parked at turn 10.

On the final tour VSC was ending as Verstappen was right on the rear of Piastri and attempted to make the move on the McLaren, but the Dutchman was kept at bay.

Norris crossed the line to win the Sprint by 0.593 seconds over team-mate Piastri in a McLaren one-two as Leclerc completed the top three after .

Verstappen was hit with a five-second time penalty.

Race control firstly noted a VSC infringement of Verstappen and then penalised the Dutchman following the post-Sprint investigation.

In the FIA decision document it stated: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 1 (Max Verstappen), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, timing, telemetry evidence. Article 56.5 states in part ‘All cars must also be above this minimum time when the FIA light panels change to green.’ The driver was 0.63 seconds below the minimum time at VSC End when the FIA light panels changed to green. This indicates a sporting advantage gained under VSC. The driver explained that as he was awaiting VSC to end and he got the notification that he was below the minimum time, he attempted to correct the error but failed to do so by the point that the panels turned green. This is a breach, and the standard penalty is applied for the advantage gained at that time. The net effect of this put the driver ahead of where he was at the start of the VSC and not as a result of the car in front falling back.” Credit to FIA for the quote.

Verstappen was fourth after the penalty application and ahead of Sainz who followed in fifth as Mercedes’ Russell ended the Sprint sixth.

BWT Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took seventh as Red Bull’s Perez rounded out the final points place.

RB’s Lawson ended the Sprint ninth as Williams’ Alexander Albon placed tenth.

Mercedes’ Hamilton finished outside the top ten in 11^th place and in-front of Williams’ Franco Colapinto who was 12^th and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who came 13^th in the classification.

Haas’s Bearman dropped to 14^th after struggling on his mediums towards the end as RB’s Yuki Tsunoda reached the chequered flag 15^th.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu followed in 16^th and 17^th respectively as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Sao Paulo Grand Prix 2024 F1 Sprint Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2024/races/1249/brazil/sprint-results

2024 Brazil GP F1 Sprint – The Top Three

2024 Brazil GP F1 Sprint Winner – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – 8 Points:

“Not proud about it but we worked well as a team so thanks to Oscar. Oscar deserved it, but we are doing what we have to do. Great pace, so looking forward to the race tomorrow. The dirty air costs you a lot of lap time, but it felt good – I think we were clearly quicker than the guys behind.”

2^nd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – 7 Points:

“Was a bit tricky to be honest, the racing line was incredibly narrow, and you missed it by a tyre’s width you were in all sorts of trouble. The pace looked okay, but the Ferrari was quick at the start and Max was quick at the end. We are in decent shape.”

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-24 – 6 Points:

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Click here for the 2024 Formula 1 World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings