F1 Brazil GP: Lando Norris wins to stretch points…

Lando Norris has extended his Formula 1 championship lead by winning the Brazilian Grand Prix ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with Max Verstappen completing a stellar comeback in third and Oscar Piastri only managing fifth.

Norris dominated a dry Interlagos race from pole, while behind him Verstappen marched from a pitlane start to third as Norris' other title rival Piastri suffered his latest setback.

Norris led the start from Antonelli, Charles Leclerc and Piastri - the championship leader having started on the medium tyre while Antonelli opted for softs.

The race was neutralised after two laps for a crash by Gabriel Bortoleto, who was crowded off the track at Turn 7 by Lance Stroll. After clipping the Aston Martin's left-rear wheel, the Sauber rookie veered into the wall at slow speed, enough to damage his suspension.

In the background there was also contact between Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto on the main straight, as Hamilton appeared to misjudge an overtake and sheared his front wing off against the rear of the Alpine, forcing him to pit for a new nose and landing him a five-second penalty. It was an action-packed start to the race for Hamilton, who had already traded a glancing blow with Carlos Sainz in Turn 1.

There was more drama on the lap six restart when fourth-placed Piastri went down the inside of Antonelli and Leclerc to make it three-wide into Turn 1. With Antonelli having nowhere to go in the middle, he and Piastri made contact, punting the Mercedes into the path of Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver came off worst suffering terminal damage, which brought out a virtual safety car. Meanwhile, pitlane starter Verstappen got up to 13th after the restart but used the following VSC period to change to the mediums due to a front right puncture.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes (Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images)

As the VSC was lifted on the start of lap nine, Piastri hounded Norris for the lead while stewards looked at the three-way incident, handing the Australian a 10-second penalty for triggering the melee.

Norris soon restored a comfortable gap as he continued his rampant form, and with Piastri out of the way the Briton's nearest competitors were Antonelli, who had escaped damage from the aforementioned contact, and the other Mercedes of George Russell.

They were eventually joined by Verstappen, who had lost ground due to his early VSC pitstop, but deployed much improved pace compared to Saturday thanks to his parc ferme set-up changes. Having gotten rid of his unfancied hard tyres early on, the Dutchman cleared the entire midfield on his next two medium-tyred stints.

Verstappen's impressive march was such that Norris emerged behind him after both of his pitstops, but the Dutchman eventually converted to a three-stopper that left him a net fourth, 14 seconds adrift of Norris, and also behind Mercedes duo Antonelli and Russell.

On his newer softs Verstappen was the fastest man on the track once more and swiftly closed the gap to third-placed Russell, passing the Briton into Turn 1 on lap 63 of 71. Verstappen then chased Antonelli for second, but just ran out of laps to overhaul the Italian rookie.

Norris cantered to his seventh grand prix win of the season with a 10-second margin on Antonelli, who recorded his best-ever F1 finish in second. Verstappen completed his frantic comeback race with a hard-earned third to retain a remote chance of a fifth world title.

In contrast to the Red Bull driver's impressive comeback, Piastri was stuck between a rock and a hard place given his 10-second penalty. In theory, his best option would have been a one-stop to mitigate the damage, but with Pirelli's harder C2 tyre not looking very competitive, medium starter Piastri had to be put on the soft tyres with 31 laps remaining and then needed a second stop to get back onto the mediums with 20 laps to go.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images)

Piastri then cleared Haas' midfield leader Oliver Bearman for fifth, but the Australian couldn't avoid falling behind title rival Verstappen and the Mercedes cars and stayed there until the finish.

Courtesy of another rapid race peppered with bold overtakes, Bearman took home sixth on another big day for Haas' constructors' aspirations.

A one-stopping Liam Lawson held on for seventh despite his pace dropping off severely towards the end. Lawson's strategy did help him stay ahead of Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, with a valiant Pierre Gasly taking a point for struggling Alpine.

As part of a long DRS train of midfield cars, Williams' Alex Albon and the second Haas of Esteban Ocon narrowly missed out on a points finish.

In the background Hamilton eventually retired from no man's land with suspected floor damage from his early incident with Colapinto, completing a disastrous day for the Scuderia with two DNFs.

In the championship Norris now leads Piastri by 24 points with three rounds remaining, with Verstappen now 49 points adrift.

Ferrari's non-score meant Mercedes reinforced its second place in the constructors' standings over the Italian squad.

F1 Brazil GP - Race results

RACE

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	71	-		2	25		McLaren	Mercedes
2	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	71	+10.388 10.388	10.388	2	18		Mercedes	Mercedes
3	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	71	+10.750 10.750	0.362	3	15		Red Bull	Red Bull
4	G. Russell Mercedes	63	71	+15.267 15.267	4.517	2	12		Mercedes	Mercedes
5	O. Piastri McLaren	81	71	+15.749 15.749	0.482	2	10		McLaren	Mercedes
6	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	71	+29.630 29.630	13.881	2	8		Haas	Ferrari
7	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	71	+52.642 52.642	23.012	1	6		RB	Honda
8	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	71	+52.873 52.873	0.231	2	4		RB	Honda
9	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	71	+53.324 53.324	0.451	1	2		Sauber	Ferrari
10	P. Gasly Alpine	10	71	+53.914 53.914	0.590	2	1		Alpine	Renault
11	A. Albon Williams	23	71	+54.184 54.184	0.270	2			Williams	Mercedes
12	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	71	+54.696 54.696	0.512	2			Haas	Ferrari
13	C. Sainz Williams	55	71	+55.420 55.420	0.724	2			Williams	Mercedes
14	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	71	+55.766 55.766	0.346	2			Aston Martin	Mercedes
15	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	71	+57.777 57.777	2.011	2			Alpine	Renault
16	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	71	+58.247 58.247	0.470	2			Aston Martin	Mercedes
17	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	71	+1'09.176 1'09.176	10.929	3			Red Bull	Red Bull
dnf	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	37	34 laps		4		Retirement	Ferrari	Ferrari
dnf	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	5	66 laps				Retirement	Ferrari	Ferrari
dnf	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	0					Retirement	Sauber	Ferrari
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