Lando Norris extended his championship lead with a victory in the Formula 1 Sprint in Brazil and also benefited from an early accident involving his toughest title rival Oscar Piastri. The Brit took a start-to-finish victory in the McLaren in São Paulo ahead of the Mercedes duo Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. Piastri retired after just a few laps after a driving error and is now nine points behind Norris in the overall standings. Defending champion Max Verstappen finished fourth in the Red Bull, the Dutchman is 39 points short of the championship lead. Already on Sunday (6 p.m./Sky) at the 21st of the 24 Grand Prix of the year, the four-time champion has the chance to reduce the gap again. Piastri spins off the track. Norris easily defended the lead at the start. Antonelli had chosen the softer tire and hoped to gain an advantage, but was unable to attack the championship leader. There were no position changes directly behind either: Piastri in the second McLaren drove through the first corners in third ahead of Russell in the Mercedes and Verstappen. There had been rain showers in the morning, but the track began to dry out in time for the sprint. But in some places the water still built up, which was Piastri’s downfall after five laps. The Australian drove over the damp curbs and promptly spun off the track. Race management interrupts the sprint. Sauber driver Nico Hülkenberg and Franco Colapinto in the Alpine also suffered a similar mishap at the same point. The race was over for Piastri and Colapinto; their cars were too badly damaged after hitting the track barrier. The race management decided to interrupt the race and all the drivers lined up in the pit lane. During the rolling restart, Mercedes colleagues Antonelli and Russell as well as Verstappen and veteran Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin fought tight duels without there being any swapping of places. More on the topic After that, things calmed down a bit. Norris kept pursuer Antonelli at bay, racing towards his second victory in the fifth sprint of the season and scoring another eight points on the way to the world championship title.
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