Lando Norris shrugged off questions about the championship after a dominant Sao Paulo weekend, insisting it wasn’t on his mind even as his position at the top of the standings strengthened. Whether by design or deflection, the result has put him firmly in control.
Norris completed a clean sweep — taking pole, winning the sprint and converting the grand prix victory — and extended his advantage to 24 points over team-mate Oscar Piastri. Max Verstappen lurks a further 49 points back. With three races left and a maximum of 83 points still available, the title remains mathematically open, but Norris heads to Las Vegas in a commanding spot.
The momentum in the championship has swung dramatically in recent weeks. After the Dutch Grand Prix in August Piastri held a 34-point cushion following his seventh win and Norris’ retirement. Since then Norris has been the stronger driver: across the last seven events, including two sprints, he has clawed back 58 points, while Piastri’s form has faltered.
Sao Paulo was almost flawless for Norris. He looked in control throughout the weekend and admitted he was concerned by how quick Verstappen’s race pace appeared; he said he and the team would review the weekend to find marginal gains. The victory — his seventh of the season, achieved in the 21st round — highlighted how the title narrative has shifted since earlier in the campaign.
Norris credits part of his revival to better handling of outside pressures. He says he previously paid too much attention to perception and media noise, which affected his performance, and that he has since learned to stick to himself, build confidence and focus on extracting results on track.
For Piastri, Sao Paulo was another difficult weekend. A crash out of third in the sprint handed Norris the championship lead and added to a run of costly errors that have blunted his momentum — from a jumped start in Baku to involvement in the Austin sprint incident that hit both McLarens. In the grand prix, a bold restart move into Turn One left Piastri involved in contact with Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc. Race stewards found him fully to blame and imposed a 10-second penalty, though he recovered to finish fifth. Piastri accepted the sanction and said his focus now is regaining the pace he needs for the closing rounds.
If Norris claimed the headline, Verstappen supplied the weekend’s most dramatic individual drive. It was a rough start: knocked out in the first qualifying segment for the first time in his career and 16th on the grid, Red Bull changed the car setup and fitted a new engine after qualifying, meaning Verstappen had to start from the pit lane. An early puncture on lap six left him at the back, but once on the preferred medium tyre he carved through the field to take third. At one point he briefly led when Norris pitted, underlining how potent his recovery was.
Teams and engineers debated whether an alternative tyre call might have given Verstappen a shot at victory, but Red Bull’s Laurent Mekies and McLaren’s Andrea Stella pointed to severe tyre degradation and defended the strategy chosen as sensible. Verstappen described the drive as sensational and vowed to keep fighting for wins, though he acknowledged the championship was largely lost earlier in the season when the Red Bull package was not consistently competitive.
In summary: Norris delivered a near-perfect weekend in Sao Paulo, reinforcing his title charge; Verstappen produced one of the season’s standout recoveries despite early setbacks; and Piastri must quickly rediscover form and consistency if he is to reassert himself as a contender.
