Norris Wins 2024 Sao Paulo Sprint

Lando Norris won the 2024 Sao Paulo Sprint to cut his title deficit to Max Verstappen. 

Piastri led from pole position until the threat of an eventual virtual safety car (VSC) on lap 22 prompted him to give the lead and victory to Norris.

Verstappen settled for third ahead of Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, George Russell plus Pierre Gasly, whilst Sergio Perez recovered from 13th on the grid to finish eighth.

The reigning three-time champion though was demoted to fourth after he exceeded his delta time under the VSC.

In the drivers’ standings, Verstappen’s title lead over Norris was trimmed to 44 points going into the Grand Prix tomorrow (3 November).

Pre-Sprint, Aston Martin opted to start both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll from the pit-lane following changes under parc ferme, of which Sauber too made changes to Guanyu Zhou’s car and he too started in pits.

At lights out, Piastri led Norris as the top eight held position whilst Nico Hulkenberg made up three positions to ninth, but he lost positions to Oliver Bearman and Sergio Perez on lap nine.

Perez then passed Bearman two laps later for ninth.

Up front, Piastri provided DRS support to Norris as the Brit fought off Leclerc and Verstappen, of whom squabbled until Verstappen made the overtake round the outside of turn 4 on lap 18.

Hulkenberg suffered an exhaust failure on lap 21 which prompted McLaren to swap Piastri and Norris around into turn 4 on lap 22, thereby putting Norris into the lead before the VSC was deployed.

Norris eventually clung on for victory from Piastri as McLaren claimed a first one-two finish in the sprint races, as Verstappen finished third ahead of Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, Gasly and Perez.

Verstappen however was demoted to fourth with a five-second time penalty after he exceeded his delta time under the VSC, as he attempted to past Piastri for second on the restart.