Motor racing-Norris wins Sao Paulo sprint to cut Verstappen's F1 lead
Norris wins sprint in McLaren one-two
Piastri obeys team orders to hand over lead
Verstappen third but demoted to fourth
Championship lead cut to 44 points from 47
Adds Verstappen penalty, drops to fourth
By Gabriel Araujo
SAO PAULO, Nov 2 (Reuters) -Lando Norris cut Max Verstappen's Formula One lead to 44 points after his McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri obeyed orders and gifted the Briton a sprint-race victory in Sao Paulo on Saturday.
Piastri had started on poleposition and led until handing over two laps from the end after Red Bull's Verstappen had passedFerrari's Charles Leclerc for third and became an increasing threat.
The switch came just before a virtual safety car (VSC) period left a tense final lap with Australian Piastri crossing the line 0.593 behind Norris in a one-two finish.
Verstappen finished third, 0.904 further adrift, but was handed a five-second penalty for a VSC infringement that dropped him back behind Leclerc. The triple champion was also given a penalty point.
"Oscar drove well and he deserved the win today. I’m not proud of winning a sprint race or any race like this, so I thank Oscar and the team," said Norris, who started second on the grid.
"But it’s our objective, it’s what we have to work towards as a team. We get the points in the constructors’ and I get the points in the drivers’. That’s our target."
Piastri's race engineer thanked the Australian, who is out of title contention, over the radio for his "massive support to the team".
McLaren are now 34 points clear of Ferrari in the constructors' standings after a gain of five.
Verstappen and Leclerc had a lively battle for third before the Red Bull overtook on the 18th of 24 laps and Nico Hulkenberg then triggered the virtual safety car by stopping by the side of the track in a smouldering Haas on lap 21.
It was the first time this season that Verstappen has been beaten in a sprint and he will also have a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's race due to exceeding his engine allocation.
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was fifth, with George Russell sixth for Mercedes and Pierre Gasly seventh for Renault-owned Alpine while Mexican Sergio Perez secured the final point in eighth for Red Bull ahead of RB's Liam Lawson.
The main Sao Paulo Grand Prix is on Sunday, with qualifying later on Saturday.
The race started with all drivers on the medium tyre and Piastri leading Norris away with Leclerc holding on to third place.
Piastri showed no sign of moving aside, despite Norris saying over the radio that he was close and then sounding impatient.
"I'm not sure what we're doing here, mate," he said after slipping out of DRS range. "I thought we spoke about this."
Piastri was told on lap 10 to give Norris, under threat from Leclerc, a drag reduction tow and McLaren then informed both drivers on lap 16 that they were happy to hold position until the last lap.
The danger of a virtual safety car putting Verstappen right on their tail changed that position.
"Ideally, you would do it earlier but the situation never materialised for this being done in a safe situation," said team boss Andrea Stella.
"Because as soon as you swap you would have the guy in the third that has the possibility to overtake a McLaren, and this wouldn’t fit our principle that the team result comes first."
Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Jason Neely, Clare Fallon and Pritha Sarkar
면책조항: XM Group 회사는 체결 전용 서비스와 온라인 거래 플랫폼에 대한 접근을 제공하여, 개인이 웹사이트에서 또는 웹사이트를 통해 이용 가능한 콘텐츠를 보거나 사용할 수 있도록 허용합니다. 이에 대해 변경하거나 확장할 의도는 없습니다. 이러한 접근 및 사용에는 다음 사항이 항상 적용됩니다: (i) 이용 약관, (ii) 위험 경고, (iii) 완전 면책조항. 따라서, 이러한 콘텐츠는 일반적인 정보에 불과합니다. 특히, 온라인 거래 플랫폼의 콘텐츠는 금융 시장에서의 거래에 대한 권유나 제안이 아닙니다. 금융 시장에서의 거래는 자본에 상당한 위험을 수반합니다.
온라인 거래 플랫폼에 공개된 모든 자료는 교육/정보 목적으로만 제공되며, 금융, 투자세 또는 거래 조언 및 권고, 거래 가격 기록, 금융 상품 또는 원치 않는 금융 프로모션의 거래 제안 또는 권유를 포함하지 않으며, 포함해서도 안됩니다.
이 웹사이트에 포함된 모든 의견, 뉴스, 리서치, 분석, 가격, 기타 정보 또는 제3자 사이트에 대한 링크와 같이 XM이 준비하는 콘텐츠 뿐만 아니라, 제3자 콘텐츠는 일반 시장 논평으로서 "현재" 기준으로 제공되며, 투자 조언으로 여겨지지 않습니다. 모든 콘텐츠가 투자 리서치로 해석되는 경우, 투자 리서치의 독립성을 촉진하기 위해 고안된 법적 요건에 따라 콘텐츠가 의도되지 않았으며, 준비되지 않았다는 점을 인지하고 동의해야 합니다. 따라서, 관련 법률 및 규정에 따른 마케팅 커뮤니케이션이라고 간주됩니다. 여기에서 접근할 수 있는 앞서 언급한 정보에 대한 비독립 투자 리서치 및 위험 경고 알림을 읽고, 이해하시기 바랍니다.
