Point by point, Lando Norris is getting closer to Max Verstappen’s lead, now at 45 points. The victory of the Englishman in the Sprint of the Brazilian GP, ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri, with whom they exchanged positions, allowed the Englishman to gain 2 points over the Dutchman, in third.
The three-time champion minimized the damage thanks to a good overtake on Charles Leclerc, which meant he lost one less point in his still solid lead. It is the first Sprint of the year that Max does not win.
It should be more complicated in the long race this Sunday (6:00 p.m.), in which the Dutchman has a 5-place penalty on the grid for changing engine components.
The exit
The top eight drivers maintained their positions, with Piastri leading from pole
At the start the two McLarens dominated, in an advantageous position thanks to the Quality. Piastri maintained first place against a Norris who did not worry him, while Verstappen tried to find the hole for Leclerc, who defended third position well. The Dutchman, aware of losing 2 points to the Englishman, tried to repeatedly put the Red Bull into the Monegasque, which closed perfectly, tying up the six points of third place for Ferrari.
Behind the first group, Sainz commanded the chasing car in fifth place, the same as the starting one, ahead of Russell, Gasly and Lawson. Alonso, who started from the pit-lane, was in second-to-last place, 19th, only ahead of Zhou.
The champion, on the attack
Verstappen ended up striking Leclerc on lap 18, seeing that the Monegasque was a stopper to catch up with the two McLarens
The intense fight was between the first four, who in the middle of the race (v. 12/24) were running close together, separated by only two seconds. The danger for the McLarens came from Leclerc and Verstappen, very close to the papaya car, and also without being able to count on DRS Lando Norris to defend themselves from the Monegasque’s attacks. In turn, the Dutchman smelled Charles’s blood and hinted at a ferocious attack. “Oh, Charles, so many driving errors,” Max complained over the radio, seeing that the two McLarens were going over the Ferrari’s stopper.
McLaren’s idea was to exchange positions between its two drivers, to allow Norris to shave three points off Verstappen. To do so, they planned for Norris to be able to get enough distance from Leclerc. On lap 18/24, the Englishman was 1.7s ahead of the Monegasque, who was on the ropes with Verstappen.
The Dutchman sank his teeth into the Ferrari on the straight and struck down the Monegasque, who was unable to defend himself. Third place was left for Max, just 1.3 seconds behind Norris’s McLaren, with five laps still to go.
The change of positions between the McLarens came on lap 22/24, seeing that the Red Bull was attacking them. It would be up to Piastri to defend Norris’ first place, with the help of the DRS that the Englishman gave him to be able to distance himself from Verstappen, just one second away from the Australian.
A Virtual Safety-car The fight cooled down, but when the race resumed the Dutchman attacked, pairing up with Piastri. Norris raised his foot to give DRS to his teammate and be able to get away from the threat of the Dutchman, who ended up losing only 2 points: now Norris is 45 points behind the leader.
Carlos Sainz finished fifth, so he takes 4 points, and Fernando Alonso, who left the pit-lanefinished second to last, 18th.
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