- Australian Oscar Piastri led the F1 sprint in Sao Paulo from the beginning
- But Piastri allowed teammate Lando Norris to pass him.
- Norris earned an extra point in the quest for the world championship
Oscar Piastri has proven to be the perfect team man, giving his colleague Lando Norris, the world championship chaser, victory with a McLaren one-two in the sprint of the Sao Paulo F1 Grand Prix.
Having started from pole at Interlagos, Piastri was still in control at the front of the field in Saturday’s race with two laps remaining and in sight of the second sprint victory of his blossoming career, but instead he followed the team’s orders to let Norris pass and take the lead. decisive victory.
The change came, much to McLaren’s relief, just before the late safety car intervention, but the Australian driver still managed to hold off a late charge from Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen to finish second behind the Briton.
Piastri’s chances of completing a brilliant day seeking pole in the main grand prix were ruined when heavy rain washed out proceedings and the teams were forced to meet on Sunday morning for qualifying before the afternoon race.
‘Oscar drove well and deserved the win today. “I’m not proud of winning a sprint race or any race like this, so thank you to Oscar and the team,” Norris said, praising the Australian for a “great job” in ensuring Verstappen finished third.
Verstappen later received a five-second penalty for a safety car infringement when chasing Piastri, dropping him to fourth place and meaning the Dutchman’s championship lead was reduced to just 44 points.
In fact, Piastri was praised by the entire team for his selfless display after dominating the race, with engineer Tom Stallard praising him over the radio for being a “great support to the team.”
Insisting that he was not fed up with failing to celebrate another victory in his impressive second season in F1, Piastri shrugged: “The team’s result was obviously what we wanted.”
Australian Oscar Piastri gave victory to Lando Norris in the Sao Paulo Sprint Grand Prix
Piastri followed team orders to allow Norris to pull ahead and take the crucial victory.
“It’s not as fun as winning, but I know the position we’re in. We’ve been talking about this for months and this is the first time we’ve had to apply it.
‘I would have preferred to win, but it is a sprint race and I don’t have much to fight for in the drivers’ classification. “We knew this could happen, and probably would happen, and I’m okay with that.”
Piastri made a good start to the 24-lap race, moving to the front of the grid to keep Norris in second from the start, with Verstappen locking up at the first corner to hold on to fourth place behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. .
As the race progressed with Piastri always in charge, Norris seemed increasingly nervous about when the change would come as he harassed his race engineer Will Joseph as they urged his teammate to “give Lando DRS” to help. the British to keep Leclerc and Verstappen at bay.
Max Verstappen and Norris talk after the Briton took over the Dutchman’s championship lead
With six laps remaining, Verstappen passed Leclerc for third place, and with two laps to go, Piastri let Norris pass on the run to turn four, a move that put him under pressure from the champion.
Still, it looked like an easy one-two for McLaren until the virtual safety car was deployed after Nico Hulkenberg parked his Haas.
The VSC period ended on the final lap with Verstappen targeting Piastri, only for the Melburnian to hold his ground and the Dutchman to end his penalty.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella had admitted that it would have been better if Piastri and Norris had swapped earlier, “but the situation never materialized and this was done in a safe situation.”
