Lando Norris extended his lead in the drivers’ world championship to nine points on Saturday when, after his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri crashed out, he won the sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Norris later also qualified pole for Monday’s (AEST) race, with Piastri’s day getting even worse with a fourth-place result behind Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli.

His victory by eight-tenths of a second ahead of Mercedes’ teenage Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli earned him eight points to lift him to 365 points in the title race ahead of Piastri on 356 and four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull, who finished fourth, on 326.

Norris was 0.845 seconds ahead of a feisty Antonelli at the chequered flag with George Russell third in the second Mercedes ahead of Verstappen, Charles Le

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