Lando Norris triumphs at Interlagos, sinks Ferrari
Lando Norris triumphed in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix ahead of Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen. The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both retired.
At the start Norris, Antonelli, Leclerc and Piastri kept their positions, behind Hamilton crashed into Colapinto damaging the front wing, while Bortoleto crashed again and the safety car came on track, so the Ferrari Briton stopped to change the wing and was given a 5-second penalty.
On the restart, on lap 6, Piastri, who has been in total disarray for some time, rams Antonelli at the first corner who runs into the blameless Leclerc, the Monegasque has to retire and the McLaren’s Australian is given a definitely deserved ten second penalty. Antonelli continues behind the two Papayas.
In contrast, Verstappen, who started from the pit lane for changing the Red Bull’s power unit after the disastrous qualifying, pits under safety-car conditions and even climbs up to fourth place. At the end of lap 30, Norris pits to change his tires from medium to soft and re-enters the track behind Verstappen.
In two laps the Briton recovers the four-time world champion and passes him on the finishing straight. At the end of lap 34, second stop for Verstappen and first for Russell, while Antonelli had been the first of the big guys to stop. Piastri was missing, who stopped at the end of lap thirty-eighth also serving the penalty.
At about the same time Hamilton, who is sadly last, retires just as sadly. After the round of pit stops Norris is ahead of Antonelli, Russell, Verstappen and Piastri. But on the 47th and 48th passes, the two Mercedes stopped again, and on the 50th, it was Norris’s turn to find himself behind Verstappen and Piastri.
The Australian in turn stops the next lap and Verstappen on 54th and returns to the track in fourth position behind the Mercedes. Norris goes on to win his 11th career grand prix, his seventh of the season, ahead of a very good Antonelli, who wins his second career podium by containing the comeback of an incredible Verstappen, the Dutchman in the last ten laps drank up the Mercedes on soft tires but failed to overtake the Bolognese.
For Antonelli it is the best result in a rainbow Grand Prix, for Verstappen yet another outstanding race, fourth is Russell, fifth Piastri. Sixth a very good Oliver Bearman on Haas, seventh an equally good Liam Lawson on Racing Bulls, eighth his teammate Isack Hadjar, ninth Nico Hulkenberg on Sauber and tenth Pierre Gasly on Alpine.
Norris in the world standings is now 24 points ahead of Piastri and 49 ahead of Verstappen, Mercedes, on the other hand, is decisively pulling away from Ferrari in second place in the constructors’ championship and the Maranello manufacturer is even fourth, also bypassed by Red Bull, or rather, Verstappen.
