F1 Brazil GP: Lando Norris wins sprint as Oscar…

Lando Norris reinforced his Formula 1 championship lead after winning a red-flagged sprint race at Interlagos, while title rival Oscar Piastri crashed out of third.

Norris started Saturday morning's 24-lap race from pole, with the Sao Paulo circuit still damp in places following overnight showers. The medium-shod Briton held the lead from soft tyre starter Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Piastri, who had also opted for mediums.

But Piastri crashed out of third on lap 6 after slipping on Turn 3's wet inside kerbs, veering into the outside wall. Behind the Australian, Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto followed his example with nearly identical spins, with Hulkenberg escaping with minor repairs to his Sauber while Colapinto's heavy smash in the Alpine brought out the red flag for barrier repairs.

Norris controlled his lead on a rolling lap 9 restart, while behind him George Russell briefly snatched second away from Mercedes team-mate Antonelli, before the Italian rookie retaliated into Turn 4.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen managed to fend off Fernando Alonso for fourth, after having passed the Aston Martin driver at the start of the sprint – Alonso unable to make his restart choice for the soft tyres pay off against the Red Bull on mediums.

But Verstappen, who had complained of his car's lack of grip throughout Friday, found similar struggles to get his RB21 to turn in, leading to a barbed exchange between the Dutchman and his race engineer.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari (Photo by: Nelson Almeida / AFP via Getty Images)

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton followed in sixth and seventh, with Hamilton having won several spots off the start after only qualifying in 11th on Friday.

At the front, Norris initially maintained easy control until he started losing the benefit of his fading soft tyres, with Antonelli's longer-lasting mediums allowing him to get within DRS range.

Following a poor lap from the leader, lap 21 of 24 was the first opportunity for Antonelli to start sniffing around Norris' gearbox. But that was about as close as the teenager would get, with Norris hanging on to his first sprint win of the season.

Russell was third behind Antonelli, followed by a frustrated Verstappen. On lap 22, Leclerc capitalised on a slide from Alonso to breeze past the Spaniard for fifth, 10 seconds behind Verstappen, with Hamilton seventh.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly grabbed the final points place from Lance Stroll late on.

Norris' eight points for the sprint win and Piastri's non-score means the Brit extends his drivers' championship lead from one to nine points ahead of Saturday afternoon's main qualifying session. Verstappen now trails Norris by 39 points in third.

Starting the final lap, home hero Gabriel Bortoleto crashed out to follow Piastri and Colapinto into retirement, the Brazilian dramatically spinning out under braking for Turn 1 and almost collecting Williams' Alex Albon.

F1 Brazilian GP - Sprint race results

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	24	-		1	8		McLaren	Mercedes
2	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	24	+0.845 0.845	0.845	1	7		Mercedes	Mercedes
3	G. Russell Mercedes	63	24	+2.318 2.318	1.473	1	6		Mercedes	Mercedes
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	24	+4.423 4.423	2.105	1	5		Red Bull	Red Bull
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	24	+16.483 16.483	12.060	1	4		Ferrari	Ferrari
6	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	24	+18.306 18.306	1.823	1	3		Aston Martin	Mercedes
7	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	24	+18.603 18.603	0.297	1	2		Ferrari	Ferrari
8	P. Gasly Alpine	10	24	+19.366 19.366	0.763	1	1		Alpine	Renault
9	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	24	+23.933 23.933	4.567	1			Aston Martin	Mercedes
10	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	24	+29.548 29.548	5.615	1			RB	Honda
11	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	24	+31.000 31.000	1.452	1			Haas	Ferrari
12	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	24	+31.334 31.334	0.334	1			Haas	Ferrari
13	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	24	+38.090 38.090	6.756	1			RB	Honda
14	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	24	+38.462 38.462	0.372	1			Red Bull	Red Bull
15	C. Sainz Williams	55	24	+38.951 38.951	0.489	1			Williams	Mercedes
16	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	24	+42.349 42.349	3.398	2			Sauber	Ferrari
17	A. Albon Williams	23	24	+55.456 55.456	13.107	2			Williams	Mercedes
dnf	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	23	1 lap		1			Sauber	Ferrari
dnf	O. Piastri McLaren	81	5	19 laps				Spun off	McLaren	Mercedes
dnf	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	5	19 laps				Spun off	Alpine	Renault
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