Sprint Race Report - Norris wins sprint

By Mark Karp

Lando Norris won the sprint race at Interlagos, in his McLaren-Mercedes, Kimi Antonelli hot on his tail in his Mercedes GP was second, 0.845s behind. George Russell in the second Mercedes finished third, 2.318s behind the winner.

Title contender Oscar Piastri was running third, and on the sixth lap crashed out in slippery conditions.

Max Verstappen (4.423s), with a uncomfortable handling Red Bull-Honda finished fourth, followed by Charles Leclerc (16.483s) in fifth in his Ferrari, who spent most of the race fighting to find a way past Fernando Alonso (18.306s) in his Aston Martin-Mercedes in sixth, Lewis Hamilton (18.603s) in the second Ferrari was seventh, and Pierre Gasly (19.366s) in the Alpine-Renault finished with the final point in eighth place.

Getting ready for the start there are damp patches on the circuit.

Norris and Antonelli on the front row, Piastri and Russell on row 2, Alonso and Verstappen on row 3. Lance Stroll and Leclerc on row 4, and Isack Hadjar and Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top ten. Carlos Sainz and Yuki Tsunoda starting from the pits. Antonelli, Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc, Hadjar start on soft, the rest of the top ten on medium tyres.

At the appointed time the field took to the circuit of the formation lap, lined up on the grid, the lights went off and the race began with Norris tales the lead followed by Antonelli, Piastri, Russell, Verstappen gets past Alonso, Leclerc and Hamilton in eighth. Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman touch, and Bearman spins but continues.

On lap 3 Norris leads Antonelli by 1.3 seconds.

On lap 6, in the slippery conditions Piastri crashes into the barriers at turn 3. Colapinto goes off at the same place.

Hulkenberg goes off as well, and he loses his front wing.

The Safety Car is out and the field stops in the pitlane on lap 8.

In the pitlane the order is Norris, Antonelli, Russell, Verstappen, Alonso, Leclerc, Hamilton, Stroll, Gasly, Albon in tenth, Hadjar, Bortoleto, Lawson, Ocon, Bearman, Tsunoda, Sainz and Hulkenberg. Piastri and Franco Colapinto retired.

Race control announces the race will be restarted at 35m after the hour.

Norris on soft tyres, Antonelli, Russell, Verstappen on medium tyres. The two Ferraris on medium.

The field comes around for a rolling start.

The field followed Norris, who will dictate which the field takes off. Norris takes off, and leads Antonelli, Russell, Verstappen, Alonso, Leclerc and Hamilton.

On lap 10 Norris has a one second lead.

Leclerc and Hamilton chasing Alonso for fifth.

On lap 15 of 24, the order is staying stable.

On lap 17 Estaban Ocon passes Lawson for 13th.

Norris reports that his soft tyres are starting to struggle, Antonelli trails him by 1.0 seconds.

On lap 20 Antonelli closes to 0.7s and is within DRS.

On lap 22 Leclerc passes Alonso for fifth.

On lap 23 Gasly passes Stroll for eighth place.

On the final lap the yellow is out, Bortoleto crashes at the end of the main straight - Norris holds on to take the win, followed by Antonelli and Russell.