Oscar Piastri handed victory of the Interlagos sprint race to team mate Lando Norris as the pair finished ahead of Max Verstappen.
The McLaren pair led through the race. Piastri was ahead for most of the way, but the due swapped places in the closing laps.Verstappen challenged Piastri for second place after a late Virtual Safety Car but was repelled, finishing third behind the two McLarens.
With 17 drivers lining up on the grid and three in the pit lane, all 20 cars in the field were fitted with medium tyres for the sprint race.
When the lights went out, pole winner Piastri held the lead into the first corner with team mate Norris slotting into second place behind. Charles Leclerc retained third as Max Verstappen also held fourth place despite a lock up under braking for the first corner.
Verstappen challenged Leclerc for second early on but could not get close enough to attempt a pass on the Ferrari. Piastri continued to lead over the first half of the race, but did not yield the position to his team mate.
Eventually on lap 12, a mistake from Leclerc dropped him out of DRS range of Norris ahead and brought him pressure from Verstappen, but the Red Bull was again unable to get close enough to him. Eventually, Verstappen got a great run out of the Senna Esses with seven laps remaining and used DRS to drive around the Ferrari to take third place.
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Piastri had been encouraged to keep Norris behind within DRS range, but with Verstappen catching Norris the yellow flags appeared in the middle sector as Nico Hulkenberg pulled off the circuit with a problem. Fearing a Safety Car, McLaren ordered Piastri to hand over the lead to his team mate, which he did, before the Virtual Safety Car was deployed soon after.
The race restarted on the final lap, with Verstappen having a half-hearted look up the inside of Piastri into Descida do Lago. But the McLarens held firm and completed the final lap with Norris taking the full eight points with the victory. Piastri held off Verstappen to take second place.
Leclerc led team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr home in fifth with George Russell, Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez completing the points scorers in eighth. Liam Lawson and Alexander Albon rounded out the top ten.
After the race, the stewards announced Verstappen will be investigated for a potential breach of the Virtual Safety Car procedure.
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2024 Brazilian Grand Prix
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Ben
2nd November 2024, 15:00
I thought there was a rule against going alongside under a safety car. Assuming this also applies to a VSC I think Max could be in trouble.
Manto
2nd November 2024, 15:07
Given in vsc you should keep the same distances between Cars I can’t understand how max could go alongside piastri
Kribana (@krichelle)
2nd November 2024, 15:09
Seriously it’s that? I thought that was more on speeding and delta time because he was a lot closer to Piastri when the VSC ended
Ben
2nd November 2024, 15:32
I’d guess he also broke delta to get alongside but that’s my initial thought rather than fact.
One thing I do find funny is all the crying in seeing on social media, how the FIA are all against Verstappen.
Those orange tinted glasses really give people short memories! It was only 3 years ago when the FIA gifted him a championship by ignoring multiple possible penalties and breaking their own rule book.
Grapmg
2nd November 2024, 16:20
Yes sure Ben the FIA gifted that to Max. Maybe time to wipe your own glasses before you start accusing others
Ben
2nd November 2024, 17:24
Glad you agree Grapmg.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd November 2024, 17:02
There were lots of mistakes by the fia\stewards that season, not just abu dhabi; bahrain track cutting with no penalties, minor penalty at silverstone for taking out championship rival and so on.
cswilly (@cswilly)
2nd November 2024, 15:48
Agree. VSC was “ending” but was not ended with VER came along side of PAI. Slam dunk penalty!
Mayrton
2nd November 2024, 15:21
Firstly important is why there was such remarkable timing announcing the VSC. We didn’t get to see footage of Hulkenberg and then for split sec we did and saw he was out of the car, yet no VSC yet. Very convenient for McLaren. Bit of showing your hand by FIA/Liberty though. So, in line with that I do anticipate a penalty for Max.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
2nd November 2024, 15:57
1) I’m pretty sure Hulk was shown outside of the car when the VSC was already out.
2) Do you really believe Max would have passed Piastri if there wasn’t a VSC? I say the chance was minimal. If anything, VSC allowed him to get closer.
steph
2nd November 2024, 17:30
He was jumping out as the leading trio passed him at racing speed.
Mayrton
2nd November 2024, 18:13
The whole swap wouldn’t have happened if they (race control) would have correctly (& pretty obviously given the position of Hulks car) called VSC. They handed McLaren another 1,5 laps to sort out their affairs. They are not even trying to hide it anymore. The commentators called it immediately out as well.
Cristian (@crystakke)
2nd November 2024, 16:00
There is and it’s another “Verstappen rule” because he used to drive alongside the car in front of him at SC restarts, trying to squezze and intimidate them.
Illusive (@illusive)
2nd November 2024, 15:01
FIA is corrupt.
Manto
2nd November 2024, 15:07
Given in vsc you should keep the same distances between Cars I can’t understand how max could go alongside piastri
David BR (@david-br)
2nd November 2024, 15:11
He was agitated about the VSC restarting and Piastri going to slow, leaving a buffer to Norris. I appreciate the keenness to race but maybe not the wisest thing to do.
Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
2nd November 2024, 15:35
@david-br
Did Piastri leave any buffer though? His gap to Norris was 0.8 when VSC was deployed and less than that when VSC ended.
David BR (@david-br)
2nd November 2024, 16:34
@hotbottoms Not that I saw, but Max was calling out the ‘possibility’ to his team on the radio, not sure if he actually thought that Piastri was doing so.
Lee1
2nd November 2024, 15:12
Well yes… And also as has been said above there is also a rule to prevent you pulling alongside the car in front. A rule that was brought in because max kept doing it in order to compromise the corner line of the car in front.
Mayrton
2nd November 2024, 15:35
Apparently that is only explicitly written down under SC rules and not under VSC rules. So, once again open to interpretation which leads to inconsistency and feeds the feeling of injustice and bias (whether that’s actually the case or not).
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
2nd November 2024, 15:59
Logic says VSC should not be much different to SC.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
2nd November 2024, 16:15
Logic doesn’t come into it much when these knee-jerk rules are written – another example is the points debacle at Suzuka 2022. Sometimes the drafters just overlook certain scenarios in their haste to change the rules.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
2nd November 2024, 19:43
you don’t have to keep the same distances, you have to adhere to a time delta. As it’s a delta (there’s a maximum and a minimum), gaps can close or widen.
It’s been like that since the very first time the VSC was used. No conspiracy here… they all play the percentages to stay as close to the minimum time as possible to gain an advantage.
Gusm.ai
2nd November 2024, 15:11
I dont think VER is racing NOR for the title aymore.
He is racing against a DNF.
Barring a DNF or a late race dislocation, in the worst case VER is getting a 3rd-5th in every race.
And that is if both Mclaren and Ferrari had perfect days.
Otherwise, NOR didnt seem able to beat VER and whoever is in front of them.
MichaelN
2nd November 2024, 19:04
Probably, there’s not much reason for Verstappen to be too worried now. The Mercedes resurgence has faded quicker than it started, he can usually cover Sainz even if the Ferrari is a match – and even that isn’t necessarily always the case.
He’ll do just fine finishing 3rd or 4th behind both McLarens and sometimes Leclerc.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
2nd November 2024, 16:07
Couple of takeaways from the Sprint:
1. Piastri had more pace and had to slow down to give Norris DRS.
2. Verstappen pointing out the mistakes Leclerc were making resulting in losing out DRS. Red Bull did not have the pace and was depending on Ferrari receiving DRS from Mclaren.
David BR (@david-br)
2nd November 2024, 16:38
@pinakghosh That was the best part of the race! “He [Leclerc] is making so many mistakes!” So he didn’t want to pass Leclerc until nearer the end, using him as a tow for most of the race?! Still can’t work it out! But it was funny anyhow: Verstappen: “Drive better!”
Davethechicken
2nd November 2024, 17:07
Amusingly shortly after Max was broadcast saying it, he made a mistake himself at T1 T2 and lost drs to Leclerc. Talk about making yourself look like a fool
PeteB (@peteb)
2nd November 2024, 16:55
Hard to say on point 1 as Lando was stuck in the dirty air, heating his tyres up whilst also having to drive defensively.
AussieFan
2nd November 2024, 16:15
Norris needs al the help he can get. He is not good enough and next year will be Oscar’s year. Which is a real racer and not a winner like Lando.