FORMULA 1
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 Credit: Lars Baron Team orders at McLaren saw Lando Norris take a crucial victory in Saturday's sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. McLaren swapped around their two drivers after Oscar Piastri led after starting from pole position and Norris would go on to take three championship points off Max Verstappen's championship lead. Norris would take the flag from his teammate Oscar Piastri in a 1-2 for McLaren with Max Verstappen coming home in third, but would drop to fourth after a five-second time penalty for speeding under the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). The VSC was called upon because of the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg who had to retire on circuit with a few laps remaining of the 24-lap sprint race. Charles Leclerc would inherit third from Verstappen due to the penalty coming into effect. How the 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race unfoldedIt was time for Saturday action as Formula 1 was continuing Round 21 of the Formula 1 World Championship at the Interlagos circuit in Brazil in what had already been a fantastic weekend of action. Sao Paulo would play host to the fifth out of six sprint weekend events across the 2024 championship, with the Interlagos circuit being a staple to the Formula 1 sprint calendar following the first sprint race season of 2021. Friday had already produced great action which left the rest of the weekend in a good position to be just as entertaining as the only free practice session and sprint qualifying took place - the sprint qualifying would set the grid for Saturday's sprint race. The sprint qualifying would be vastly dominated by the Papaya-liveried McLaren team who would finish 1-2 in each of the three sprint qualifying sessions. Although Lando Norris topped the first two SQ sessions, he would not take the sprint pole position. Instead it would be teammate Oscar Piastri who would take his second-ever pole position following his pole or the sprint race in Qatar 2023. Norris would be second but Charles Leclerc completed the top three as championship leader Max Verstappen had to settle for fourth. Haas driver Kevin Magnussen would miss Friday's action and sprint qualifying due to sickness and would be replaced for the sprint action by 2025 Haas driver Oliver Bearman. After Friday's sessions it would be confirmed that Bearman would participate for the full weekend. He had a positive Friday where he out-qualified Nico Hulkenberg and finished third in the earlier free practice. Saturday would see two sessions which would include the qualifying for the main Grand Prix but first the sprint race. 18 drivers would start the race on the grid as the Aston Martin pair would start from the pit lane (Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso) as they would make setup changes under parc ferme conditions. It would be a McLaren front row lockout with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen behind on the grid. The top four in the championship in the top four grid spots. It was time to go racing. Lights would go out and both McLaren drivers got away well and Oscar Piastri would make his way ahead off Norris as the top four would be as they were on the grid with Carlos Sainz in fifth and George Russell in sixth. On the end of the second lap, Verstappen would have great pace and would have DRS advantage on the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in front of him. This would crossover onto the third lap but Verstappen would not want to risk it in case he collided and put himself out of contention for points. Verstappen would sit behind Leclerc in the battle for third. Through the early laps in the race, the two McLaren drivers would be keeping each other honest with Norris behind considering overtaking Piastri who was looking to try and get his second ever sprint race victory Moving forward onto the ninth lap of the sprint and the two Haas drivers were fighting one another with Oliver Bearman having a difficult start but would look to re-overtake Nico Hulkenberg. However, this would leave Hulkenberg offset from Sergio Perez behind and the Mexican driver would overtake Hulkenberg into turn 4. This would then leave Bearman vulnerable to an overtake and that's exactly what would happen. Perez would overtake Bearman moments later and now Perez could set his sights on Liam Lawson in the Visa RB car. Liam Lawson would also be in a battle with Sergio Perez once again for the second week in a row. Lawson would be caught by the pace advantage of the Red Bull being driven by Perez and the Mexican driver would have to sit behind the RB for the time being. Perez would make a move on Lawson on lap 15 but would lock up as he sent it down the inside of turn 1. Lawson would avoid him and carry on maintaining the position. Leclerc was struggling with his tyres and was constantly back under pressure from the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and on lap 18 Leclerc could defend no more and Verstappen would eventually get ahead into turn 4 and would be up into third. Lap 20 and eventually Perez would overtake Lawson. The two drivers contending for the 2025 Red Bull seat came together in Mexico and nearly came together previously in the race and the New Zealander would have to concede defeat. On lap 20 for Hulkenberg, which would become lap 21 for the leader Piastri, at the time of the event, there would be a disaster! for Nico Hulkenberg would be forced to retire from th sprint race as Haas would tell him to come to a stop with a seemingly mechanical failure. The German driver for Haas who was eliminated in SQ2 on Friday pulled to the side of the road and was out as yellow flags were flying in sector 2. Meanwhile this was going on Lewis Hamilton would overtake the other Haas of Oliver Bearman for 11th. Just before the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed to move Hulkenberg's car, a critical decision was made by McLaren to swap their drivers around as Max Verstappen was catching and hounding the papaya machines. Piastri would do as he would be told and Lando Norris would go through into the lead. Racing would not be complete as on the final lap, the VSC would be withdrawn and green flag racing resumed and Verstappen had managed to catch right up towards the rear of Piastri and the McLaren would be put under pressure and just like that he would attempt a move to the inside but would back out of it. Verstappen would be punished following the conclusion of the race for speeding under the virtual safety car, in the form of a five-second time penalty. Out front though, McLaren's pace had shone and Lando Norris would take victory at Interlagos in a hugely significant gain in the championship on direct rival Max Verstappen by three points, when the five-second penalty would be applied. Oscar Piastri would finish second behind Norris in a McLaren 1-2 to show their domination of the sprint weekend part of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc would take third place as an inheritance of Verstappen's penalty. Carlos Sainz would complete the top five for Ferrari. George Russell would be the sole Mercedes in the top eight point scorers with a sixth place finish. Pierre Gasly who has shown great form across the triple header and would finish in a very respectable seventh, Sergio Perez would complete the points score in eighth. After the Sao Paulo sprint race on Saturday, the attention would turn to th qualifying for the Grand Prix which would be scheduled by rain. 2024 FIA Formula One World Championship : Round 21 - Sao Paulo Sprint Race final classification
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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