F1 Brazil GP: Lando Norris wins sprint as Oscar Piastri crashes out

Norris gains eight crucial points on McLaren team-mate Piastri as the Australian crashes out of the Formula 1 Brazil Grand Prix sprint

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.

F1 Brazilian GP - Sprint race results

SPRINT

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	L. Norris McLaren	4	24	53'25.928		116.060	1	8		McLaren	Mercedes
2	A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes	12	24	+0.845 53'26.773	0.845	116.029	1	7		Mercedes	Mercedes
3	G. Russell Mercedes	63	24	+2.318 53'28.246	1.473	115.976	1	6		Mercedes	Mercedes
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	24	+4.423 53'30.351	2.105	115.900	1	5		Red Bull	Red Bull
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	24	+16.483 53'42.411	12.060	115.466	1	4		Ferrari	Ferrari
6	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	24	+18.306 53'44.234	1.823	115.401	1	3		Aston Martin	Mercedes
7	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	24	+18.603 53'44.531	0.297	115.390	1	2		Ferrari	Ferrari
8	P. Gasly Alpine	10	24	+19.366 53'45.294	0.763	115.363	1	1		Alpine	Renault
9	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	24	+23.933 53'49.861	4.567	115.200	1			Aston Martin	Mercedes
10	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	24	+29.548 53'55.476	5.615	115.000	1			RB	Honda
11	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	24	+31.000 53'56.928	1.452	114.948	1			Haas	Ferrari
12	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	24	+31.334 53'57.262	0.334	114.937	1			Haas	Ferrari
13	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	24	+38.090 54'04.018	6.756	114.697	1			RB	Honda
14	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	24	+38.462 54'04.390	0.372	114.684	1			Red Bull	Red Bull
15	C. Sainz Williams	55	24	+38.951 54'04.879	0.489	114.667	1			Williams	Mercedes
16	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	24	+42.349 54'08.277	3.398	114.547	2			Sauber	Ferrari
17	A. Albon Williams	23	24	+55.456 54'21.384	13.107	114.087	2			Williams	Mercedes
dnf	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	23	+1 Lap 52'37.568	1 Lap	112.925	1		Spun off	Sauber	Ferrari
dnf	O. Piastri McLaren	81	5	+19 Laps 6'14.059	18 Laps	206.774			Spun off	McLaren	Mercedes
dnf	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	5	+19 Laps 6'28.286	14.227	199.198			Spun off	Alpine	Renault
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