Formula 1: Norris victory for free – Verstappen punished again

With a gifted victory, Lando Norris reduced the gap in the World Cup standings to Max Verstappen by further points. The Brit won the sprint race over around 100 kilometers in São Paulo on Saturday ahead of his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. As announced, the Australian gave Norris the victory. In the standings, Norris is now 44 points behind Verstappen, who was subsequently moved from third to fourth place.

Because he was briefly over the permitted limit during a virtual safety car phase, he was given a five-second penalty. As a result, he also fell behind Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. He also received another penalty point and is now at seven. Just last weekend in Mexico City he received two and, above all, two ten-second penalties.

Verstappen received the penalty in Interlagos a good hour before qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix today (7 p.m./Sky). In the race on Sunday (6 p.m. CET/Sky), the three-time world champion in his Red Bull also has to drop five starting positions due to another unauthorized engine change.

Norris on his victory: I’m not proud of it

Piastri started from pole ahead of Norris, but he let his stable rival overtake him shortly before the end – every point counts in the World Championship duel with Verstappen. “I’m not proud of it, but we worked together as a team, so credit goes to Oscar,” said Norris.

Right from the start and on the way to the first corner, Verstappen tried to make up positions from fourth place on the grid. At the front, Piastri easily defended his pole position against Norris, who was not exactly a top starter, while behind him Charles Leclerc also got off reasonably well in the Ferrari. Verstappen dared to attack on the inside, but had to break off the attack with smoking tires.

That was good for Norris. The World Cup chaser had to continue to catch up on points; Verstappen traveled from Mexico City to São Paulo with 47 more points. “Take your time, Max. You know how the game goes,” Verstappen was radioed into the car from his command post.

Piastri, Norris, Leclerc and Verstappen separated themselves somewhat from the rest of the field and were usually around two seconds apart. It was also clear that the offer of victory that Piastri had made to his teammate after his pole drive would be difficult to realize. Especially since the 24-year-old Norris had difficulty following closely behind the 23-year-old Australian at times.

Behind him, Verstappen whispered that Leclerc was making so many mistakes in front of him. It took a while until McLaren could carry out the planned swap of places; before that, Verstappen grabbed Leclerc on the start and finish straight. This meant that things would get even more tricky for the two McLarens with the change of position.

They delayed it as long as possible. On the 22nd of 24 laps, Piastri allowed Norris to overtake him for his first sprint victory. It shouldn’t have been much later. Because Nico Hülkenberg had broken down in his Haas and triggered a virtual safety car phase – that meant: overtaking was prohibited. When the safety car went back into the pits, Verstappen tried to tackle Norris, but dropped out and settled for third place, which then became fourth.