Lando Norris won the Interlagos sprint race thanks to his team making way for him with two laps to go.
Oscar Piastri led all the way from pole position until lap 22, when McLaren called for the pair to swap places.The exchange of positions was widely expected as Norris is the closest threat to championship leader Max Verstappen. But with Charles Leclerc and Verstappen stalking their cars early in the race, McLaren kept their drivers running first and second at the head of the field until they judged the time was right to swap their cars.
Eventually Verstappen passed Leclerc and closed on Norris. When Nico Hulkenberg stopped on track with a technical problem, McLaren responded by swapping their drivers around, at Norris’ urging.
“Ideally you would do it earlier,” team principal Andrea Stella admitted after the race, “but the situation never materialised for this being done in a safe situation, because as soon as you swap, you would have the guy in third that has a possibility to overtake McLaren, and this wouldn’t fit our principle that the team result comes first.”
At one stage Norris expressed concern that the team did not swap the position earlier on. But Stella said they were being careful not to jeopardise the maximum score for the team.
“We were monitoring the gaps to Leclerc before, and [then] Verstappen to see if we could have executed an easy overtake between Lando and an Oscar before the end,” Stella told Sky. “But actually that gap never materialised.
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“So we needed to watch for a case of a Safety Car or Virtual Safety Car. It actually appeared due to the incident with the car stopping on track. So we immediately executed.”
He praised the drivers and their race engineers for their communication. “It was well done by the team, but it would not be possible without both drivers working so cohesively.
“We are definitely very happy with the conversations that are happening right now and with the support that Oscar has given to Lando.”
McLaren’s radio messages from the Interlagos sprint race
Oscar Piastri and Tom Stallard
| Stallard | Good stuff. Tyre management already looking good. Cars have gone off in order. |
| Stallard | He has a 1.7-second gap behind him to Leclerc. |
| Stallard | Tyre update, please. |
| Piastri | Feels okay. Probably exits struggling a little bit. |
| Stallard | At Mergulho Give Lando DRS. |
| Stallard | Gap to Lando 1.1. We want to get him in DRS through management turn 11. |
| Stallard | Lando 0.9. |
| Stallard | Lando to Leclerc is 1.2. If we can, stretch that gap Oscar. |
| Piastri | Leclerc back in Lando’s DRS now. |
| Stallard | Ten laps, including this one. Ten laps, including this one. |
| Stallard | Okay, so the gap to Leclerc is 1.3. Obviously if Lando attacks do not make it too difficult at the moment we are happy. We want to try and pull the gap to Leclerc. |
| Stallard | Verstappen has passed Leclerc. Verstappen has passed Leclerc. Six laps to go. Verstappen we believe is faster than Leclerc. |
| Stallard | Oscar, Hulkenberg has stopped in turn 10. Double yellows, double yellows. |
| Stallard | Oscar, if possible, swap position with Lando. No, Hulkenberg’s got going! Do not swap positions. Do not swap position. |
| Stallard | Oscar swap position turn four. Verstappen is 1.2 behind Lando. There could be a Safety Car. Swap position turn four. |
| Stallard | Piastri lets Norris past Thanks, mate. Verstappen 1.2. Dirty air, more tyre management. Still double yellows. |
| Stallard | Use the battery. Versta… VSC Oscar, VSC! Delta positive. And you can go strat four. Stay out. There are two laps to go. |
| Stallard | For the restart suggest strat nine. VSC driving. |
| Stallard | Hulkenberg’s car still stationary on the inside, turn 10. |
| Stallard | Still double yellows here. Hulkenberg’s car still stationary on the side of the track. |
| Stallard | VSC ending, recharge off, recharge off, check your delta. This is the last lap. DRS enabled. |
| Stallard | At Juncao Overtake. Verstappen 0.9. |
| Piastri | Well done everyone. Good day for the team. Little bit of pace to find but well done everyone. |
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Lando Norris and Will Joseph
| Joseph | 0.6 ahead, 1.3 behind. Suggests red A6. |
| Joseph | Leclerc with DRS. |
| Joseph | Leclerc with DRS. |
| Norris | Yeah, I’m close. |
| Joseph | Okay, understood. Just be careful those snaps on the rear-right. |
| Joseph | Lando we understand. Just keep an eye on Leclerc behind. Gap is 1.1, so he does not have DRS this time. |
| Norris | I’m not sure what I’m doing here, mate. I thought we spoke about this. |
| Joseph | Understood. Keep doing what you’re doing. Just be really careful the rear-right which is hot. Leclerc with DRS. |
| Norris | Yeah whatever. |
| Joseph | Leclerc 0.7, Oscar 1.2, happy we get DRS back. |
| Joseph | With the gap to Leclerc at the moment we’re happy if we can to hold these positions until the last lap. |
| Joseph | Suggest red A4, red A4. |
| Norris | Yeah but I will overtake. |
| Joseph | So Lando, Oscar is managing the gap a bit in order to help us keep DRS. But if you try to overtake, he would not make it difficult. Gap to Leclerc 1.3. From our side, we’re happy with this. |
| Joseph | Car behind is now Verstappen, 1.7. |
| Joseph | Six laps to go Verstappen 1.4. And Lando back off braking turn one, tailwind increasing there. |
| Joseph | Lando Hulkenberg stopped on track turn 10. |
| Joseph | Double yellow. |
| Norris | Yeah now then, now. |
| Joseph | I’m trying mate, I’m trying. |
| Joseph | Verstappen 1.2. |
| Joseph | Okay this will happen in turn four. Verstappen 1.2 behind you. Just be careful in case there’s a VSC or Safety Car. |
| Joseph | Piastri lets Norris past And make sure you keep giving Oscar DRS. Still double yellows here. Oscar 0.9. |
| Joseph | Virtual Safety Car deployed. Virtual Safety Car deployed. |
| Joseph | There are two laps to go now. We suggest strat nine in the background. |
| Joseph | Lando when the VSC ends just remember the car behind you, need to help out as much as possible. Hulkenberg still stationary around turn 10. Still double yellows in this area. |
| Joseph | This is the last lap now. |
| Joseph | Virtual Safety Car ending. Virtual Safety Car ending. And good slipstream to Oscar, he’s point six. DRS enabled. |
| Joseph | Oscar 1.0, Verstappen 1.7. |
NB. Does not include routing messages and settings changes
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix
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pcxmac (@pcxmac)
2nd November 2024, 18:08
F1 is an absolute farce. They literally waved off a safety car until McLaren could give Norris position. And then saved Piastri from being overtaken by calling a VSC. Absolute jokes. This is no different than 2021 when the FIA gave Max the win. nothing to do with safety, everything to do with results.
Mayrton
2nd November 2024, 18:15
I am afraid they are not even trying to hide it anymore.
SteveP
2nd November 2024, 19:10
I think the Interlagos rain has washed all the conspiracy theorists out of their burrows.
MichaelN
2nd November 2024, 19:00
There was an instant yellow flag in the section where Hülkenberg had parked. That’s perfectly fine.
What pressing reason was there to use a VSC, which by definition freezes racing around the whole lap , sooner? They tend to wait a bit for the recovery crew to come near the track to deploy those.
More racing is better.
Tristan
3rd November 2024, 0:12
You really are constantly cooking up the most wild and incorrect takes.
oweng (@oweng)
2nd November 2024, 18:09
Couldn’t quite understand why they didn’t do it early on then use Piastri to try and help Leclerc stay ahead of Verstappen. I get that they wanted a perfect gap but they were at risk of a late safety car so I would have thought they could have found a place to do it with minimal risk of losing 2nd.
User563
3rd November 2024, 1:18
Yeah, I didn’t get it either, if Norris had made a mistake while following Piastri there was a high chance Leclerc would pass, there was little margin for error. If they had swapped then Norris would have been ‘safer’. Surely Piastri could have let Norris past without getting caught by Leclerc.
CarWars (@maxv)
2nd November 2024, 18:26
You would think McLaren’s luck will end some day, but they keep getting away with being mediocre on strategy.
Kribana (@krichelle)
2nd November 2024, 18:31
This should have been instantly as soon as Hulkenberg’s car was parked. But it was a good job of Norris to give Piastri DRS safely.
MichaelN
2nd November 2024, 19:02
Why, though? He was parked on the inside of a slow corner with yellow flags being used the second he came to a stop. There was no need for the marshals to intervene quickly. The situation was under total control.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
2nd November 2024, 22:24
You’re right, but I think Kribana refers to the swap rather than the VSC because McLaren really stretched their luck by waiting so long.
BlasterMaster
2nd November 2024, 18:51
I say ban all pit-to-car radio with the exception, of course, being for safety. Car-to-car however, should be allowed.
Tristan
3rd November 2024, 0:10
They tried that and it became a constant debate about what counts as a “safety” radio message with it concluding with the team principles saying they will just use hidden codes and you can’t stop that. Then the rule was rolled back.
The car to car thing is just funny.
DaveW (@dmw)
2nd November 2024, 19:31
Amusing to hear the people complaining about the timing of the VSC when the same supposedly biased race direction turned it off in time for Verstappen to pass at least one McLaren. And opportunity he fumbled. Are they biased or not? Or just bad at bias?
Pauly James
2nd November 2024, 20:30
Lol the contrast between Oscar’s radio when he was being robbed of his first race win, and Lando losing 1 point in the WDC. Oscar complete trust in the team, Lando just whining all the time when he’s getting beaten.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
2nd November 2024, 23:24
From the radio calls I heard it sounded like McLaren had some plan in the morning meeting that PIA didn’t follow. It all worked out for them in the end but it just didn’t sound like the plan.
Mooa42
3rd November 2024, 4:27
I suspect the plan might have been to let Lando through for the win. Lando might have assumed that would happen straight away and Oscar might have assumed when they get to the end of the race. Same plan, different interpretation.
McLaren were more interested in a 1 2 and the WCC.
I think it is fair to leave it to the end and also fair to wait to ensure they keep the one, two.
I’m sure Oscar also wanted to prove he could have won.
At the start I thought they were managing their tyres and making sure Leclerc had drs so max couldn’t get past but apparently not.