In a warm and sunny Interlagos, 17 cars took to the grid for the start of the penultimate F1 Sprint of the year, as three cars opted to start from the pits: Aston Martin’s duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, along with Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, all three of which changed their setups during parc fermé.
All drivers started the 24-lap race on the medium tyres.
Piastri immediately covered the inside line as the lights went out, and managed to come out of the Senna S in first, ahead of Norris, Leclerc and Verstappen.
Sergio Perez started to make up some ground on lap 2, as he attacked Alex Albon for P11 after a disastrous Sprint Qualifying for the Mexican.
Verstappen put the pressure on Charles Leclerc in the initial laps, as Lando Norris started to make inroads on his team-mate Oscar Piastri, with DRS making a big difference down to turn one and turn four.
By the start of lap 6, the two McLarens continued to run in formation, as Piastri provided Norris with DRS assistance in order to stay ahead of Leclerc, who slightly dropped back from the two Papaya cars.
However, Norris made his frustrations clear on the radio on lap 7, saying he discussed this situation with McLaren previously. He made a mistake in the middle sector and dropped back from Piastri’s DRS.
Further back, Sergio Perez found himself embroiled in a battle with both Haas carsfor ninth place, as he overtook Nico Hulkenberg down into turn 4 to take 10th, and set his sights on Bearman ahead.
Piastri was given a clear order on lap, to “give Lando DRS”, just as the Australian started to run away from the P2 man in the world championship.
The top four continued to run incredibly closely at the halfway point of the race, with Verstappen continuing to pressurize Leclerc.
Verstappen expressed his frustration as he saw the McLarens getting away, saying the Ferrari was making “so many mistakes”.
Lewis Hamilton lost a few places off the start, dropping down to 14th, as the honorary Brazilian citizen didn’t have the best of it in the Sprint.
On lap 17, McLaren suggested that the gap to Leclerc behind was enough to keep positions until the final lap, with Norris stating shortly after that he will “overtake”.
Max Verstappen finally got ahead of Leclerc down into turn 4 in lap 18, and started the chase to P2 and championship rival Lando Norris, who kept close behind his team-mate Piastri.
Verstappen was told to “chase them down”, as the McLarens continued to run in formation, whilst Piastri was informed Verstappen is “faster” than Leclerc.
Sergio Perez got past Liam Lawson for P8 on lap 20, as the Kiwi driver categorically defended the inside line late on, but the Mexican managed to squeeze his Red Bull through a gap in the Senna S.
On lap 22, the switch of positions between the two papaya cars was made shortly before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed to recover Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas, that stopped after Bico de Pato with a suspected hydraulics issue.
Norris took the lead ahead of Piastri, as Verstappen asked his Red Bull team to investigate if Piastri is going too slow under the delta.
As the race restarted on the final lap, Verstappen just held off from attacking Piastri into turn 4, just as the VSC ended. The Dutchman continued his chase, but ultimately failed to surpass the Australian.
Norris successfully won the race, ahead of Piastri and Verstappen, with Leclerc in P4.
Rounding out the points finishers were Sainz, Russell, Gasly and Perez, respectively.
After the chequered flag, race control noted Max Verstappen for a Virtual Safety Car infringement, possibly for getting nearly alongside Piastri into turn 4 just before the restart.
