Lando Norris makes no mistakes in the sprint in Brazil. He takes first place and pulls away from Oscar Piastri, who, after running over a wet kerb at Do Sol, went off the track and retired. Antonelli beats Russell for the second consecutive time. Verstappen struggles and settles for fourth. The Ferraris, however, finish fifth and seventh. Fernando Alonso is in the middle, while Gasly closes out the points. Gabriel Bortoleto suffers a nasty crash at the end.
Red flag after six sprint laps in Brazil
Gray skies greet the cars on the starting grid, as does a track that's still partially wet. There's no clear direction regarding tires: For the sprint in Brazil, the riders are settling into their respective pits, split between medium and soft tyres. This last choice was made by Antonelli and Russell, ready to attack Lando NorrisSainz and Tsunoda will instead start from the pit lane. At the start, however, the first four positions remained frozen, while in the middle of the grid the Ferraris immediately gained a few positions. Leclerc is seventh, while Hamilton is already eighth. Great start from the Englishman who immediately abandoned eleventh position, all outside at the first corner and taking advantage of a bad start made by the two Aston Martins.
Instead, there was contact in the rear between Bearman and Lawson. The Haas spun at Turn 4, but quickly rejoined the track. Race officials are investigating what happened between the two on the first lap. with Racing Bull reporting no damage. The race seems ready to explode, but on the sixth lap it was frozen when Oscar Piastri ended up in the external barriers at the curve do solThe Australian lost control of the car when he hit the kerb, which was still too wet. He was followed, at the same point, by Franco Colapinto who retires. Between the two, however, he also ended up in the barriers Hulkenberg, who, however, managed to restart. The German's front wing is missing, while the rear one is slightly damaged. However, he will be able to take advantage of the red flag displayed by the stewards, which forces all cars to return to the pits.
The sprint restarts behind the safety car: Norris still in front
The race judges do not want any further delays, therefore, in order to try to avoid further surprises, they give the order to the drivers to restart under safety car conditions. Alonso and Norris They switched to the red tires, while the Mercedes, like Leclerc, switched to the mediums. Finally, only Stroll, Gasly, and Albon were on the soft tires. The safety car came in and the battle was on. Norris maintains first position without risk, behind Russell attacks Antonelli but remains third. In difficulty, then, Verstappen attacked by Alonso, with a battle that saw them engaged until turn 8. Behind, again, Hamilton attempts to overtake Leclerc between turns 3 and 4, but the Monegasque manages to defend himselfNow, number 16 is trying to get back in the slipstream of the Spaniard's Aston Martin.
Three laps after the restart, Leclerc stalled at the first corner. This forced Hamilton to widen his line, with Stroll closing in threateningly. Up front, however, The positions remain frozen, with Norris firmly in command. Behind him Antonelli manages to stay just above the second from the Englishman, probably with the intention of avoiding a team order that would force him to swap positions with Russell. Max Verstappen's race pace was also bad., who after the battle with Fernando Alonso seems unable to get close to the leaders.
Ten laps to go: Antonelli versus Norris
There are ten laps left in the sprint race in Brazil. Fernando Alonso is defending himself as only he knows how to do against Charles Leclerc, with a Ferrari that is proving slower on the straightPerhaps, the Maranello team has opted for a more wet set-up. Meanwhile, a small train of six cars has been created on the track, led by the Spaniard and which sees, in the last carriage the surviving Alpine of Gasly, who urges the Ferraris via radio to take the initiative. In front, instead, Kimi Antonelli doesn't give up on Norris. Indeed, on lap 18 he managed to get the DRS on the Englishman. A privilege that lasted only one lap for the Italian, with the number 4 of the McLaren who is trying to manage the degradation of his soft tyres.
Lap 21 of the Brazilian Sprint. Kimi Antonelli is closing in on Norris. The young Bolognese driver is also proactive in his racing lines, which are narrower than those of the McLaren driver. Behind, however, left behind by the top two George Russell and Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc finally managed to gain the lead on Fernando Alonso, making a clean overtake on the straight before Turn 4. Lewis Hamilton also made his way into the Aston Martin exhausts. The final lap is beginning, with Antonelli closing in on McLaren at the top of the drivers' championship. However, the Italian driver's efforts were in vain, because Lando Norris held on and went on to win the Sprint race in Brazil. Behind Antonelli, Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc, Alonso, Hamilton and Gasly closed out the points zone after getting the better of Stroll on the final lap.
At the beginning of the last lap, finally, Gabriel Bortoleto lost control of his Sauber and crashed into the barriers exiting the first cornerThe car was completely destroyed, with the steering also coming off when it hit the barriers. It will be difficult to fix it due to the qualifications.
