Norris takes control of title race with Sao Paulo win

McLaren’s Lando Norris extended his championship lead over team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri to 24 points with a dominant victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

But Norris’ second consecutive victory – which takes him nearly a clear win ahead of Piastri with three grands prix remaining – was overshadowed by a remarkable recovery drive by Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver finished third, right behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, after starting from the pit lane and suffering an early puncture.

Verstappen, though, is now 49 points behind Norris and probably out of title contention.

Piastri finished fifth, challenging Mercedes’ George Russell in the same way as Verstappen was on the back of Antonelli in the closing laps, after being given a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.

The main storylines of a compelling race were:

• A superb weekend-long performance from Norris moves him closer to a first world title
• Verstappen’s extraordinary performance, which will go down as one of his greatest drives
• The apparent slow death of Piastri’s championship hopes in the second half of the season

Norris completes perfect weekend

Norris’ victory, his second in succession and his seventh in 21 races this year, was never in doubt on what the Briton described as a “perfect weekend”.

The 25-year-old controlled the race from the front after taking pole position, to add to the sprint victory from pole he took on Saturday.

The weekend has netted him a total of 33 points and put a headlock on the championship.

“To be honest, I didn’t think we were the quickest out there on track today so I’m glad to take home the win,” Norris said.

“It’s a great win but to be honest seeing how quick Max was today, I’m pretty disappointed we weren’t quicker.”

Asked about the championship, he added: “There’s not a long way to go but it can change so quickly like we’ve seen today, so just focus on myself, keep my head down, ignore everyone and keep pushing.” (BBC)