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.

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.