Lando Norris crossed the line in first place to add eight points to his tally in the São Paulo Sprint.
Norris was aided by his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, who had started on pole and remained in the lead until he was instructed to swap positions in an effort to fend off a rapidly advancing Max Verstappen, who had just overtaken Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for third. Piastri obliged with two laps to go, as a late Virtual Safety Car effectively halted Verstappen’s charge and afforded the McLaren duo some breathing room.
Reflecting on the win in his post-Sprint interview, Norris admitted it wasn’t a completely satisfying way to claim victory but praised the teamwork that made the result possible.
“Not proud about it but we worked well as a team together so I thank Oscar,” Norris said. “We’ve done a great job as a team. Today was the result that we wanted. Oscar deserved [the win] but we’re doing what we have to do, so I thank him and the team. We had great pace so I’m looking forward to qualifying and the race tomorrow.”
Despite his speed, Norris admitted that dirty air complicated his attempt to pass Piastri purely on pace.
“It’s tough. It’s just it was kind of like yo-yoing a little bit, like I’ll catch up, and then I’ll drop back and catch up,” he said. “It’s just the dirty air, costs you a lot of lap time.
“So I felt a bit quicker, but I couldn’t pass at the time. But I felt good. I think we were clearly quicker than the guys behind. It’s just difficult in a Sprint race like this to know how much to manage and push and that kind of thing. But we executed it well.”
An intense back-and-forth between the McLaren drivers and their respective race engineers unfolded prior to the position swap. Norris was heard on the radio several times, urging the team to take action, saying, “I thought we spoke about this.” Earlier in the Sprint, Piastri was told to “give Lando DRS” before ultimately being instructed to relinquish the lead on Lap 22.
Speaking afterwards, team principal Andrea Stella explained that McLaren were aware of Leclerc and Verstappen’s pursuit, and waited for an opportune moment to execute the swap.
“Well, we were monitoring the gaps to Leclerc before and Verstappen to see if we could have executed an easy overtake between Lando and Oscar beforehand, but actually the gap never materialised, so we needed to watch for a case of a safety car, or a virtual safety car.
“It actually appeared due to the incident with the car stopping on track, so we immediately executed. It was well done by the team, but it would not be possible without both drivers working so cohesively.
“We are definitely very happy with the conversations that are happening right now and with the support that Oscar is giving to Lando, and as you said before, this is the best result we could have for both championships.”
Asked if an earlier swap might have been possible—something Norris seemed to anticipate—Stella reiterated that the pitwall was waiting for a “safe situation” to carry out the manoeuvre.
“Like I said before, ideally you would do it earlier, but the situation never materialised for this being done in a safe situation,” he said. “Because as soon as you swap, you would have the third, the guy in third that has a possibility to overtake a McLaren, and this wouldn’t fit our principle that the team result comes first.”
Stella responded to the notion that both Norris and Piastri were deserving winners, praising the drivers for the teamwork they displayed.
“That’s a good position,” he said. “It creates sometimes some headaches, but we work very hard to have two number one drivers, fast drivers, but above all, we work every day hard to have two great team players, and that’s what I would like to praise today.”
