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:

Norris' victory, his second in succession and his seventh in 21 races this year, was never in doubt on what was a perfect weekend for the Briton.

The Briton, 25, 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.

Norris got off the line well to take the lead on the first lap and navigated a chaotic opening section of the race with an early safety car followed by a virtual safety car (VSC) a few laps later before moving off into the distance to win on a two-stop strategy.

The safety car was caused by a first-lap crash by Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto, who tangled with Lance Stroll's Aston Martin at Turn Nine.

And the VSC followed a collision at the restart on lap six between Piastri, Antonelli and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, which led to Leclerc's retirement and earned Piastri his penalty.

Lewis Hamilton was also in the wars in the early laps, his Ferrari damaged in a hit by Williams' Carlos Sainz at Turn One, before the seven-time champion broke his front wing by misjudging a passing attempt on Alpine's Franco Colapinto at the start of lap two.

Hamilton spent the rest of the race at the back lacking pace because of a damaged floor and eventually retired.

Norris dedicated the win to former McLaren adviser Gil De Ferran, one of the key figures in the team's revival in recent years, who died of a heart attack in December 2023.

Verstappen qualified only 16th after struggling with the performance of his car all weekend, and Red Bull decided to start him from the pit lane so they could fit a new engine and change the set-up of his car in an attempt to improve its pace.

He was up to 13th by lap seven but then had to pit because he picked up a puncture.

The world champion gained time by the stopping under the VSC, but that dropped him to the back again, but he went on a two-stop strategy from there and showed strong pace to climb back up the field.

By lap 51, he was leading after Norris made his final pit stop, and it looked as if Red Bull might leave him out on his medium tyres to try to fend off Norris and then the Mercedes drivers in the closing laps.

Instead, they went on the attack, pitting Verstappen for fresh soft tyres three laps later.

He emerged in fourth place, 5.6 seconds behind Russell, who he closed on quickly and passed for third place with a lovely move around the outside of Turn One on lap 63.

Verstappen then set off after Antonelli, and was with him by lap 67, with four to go, but the Italian novice drove well to keep the Red Bull at bay as the Dutchman's tyres began to lose their edge.

1. Lando Norris (McLaren)

2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

4. George Russell (Mercedes)

5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

6. Oliver Bearman (Haas)

7. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)

8. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)

9. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)