Norris has ‘reduced vulnerabilities’ as he expands on title advantage

Lando Norris said he was «driving well» and had «lessened his weaknesses» as he began to build on his championship advantage at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver took pole for Sunday’s grand prix to follow his victory in the sprint earlier on Saturday, while his team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri qualified fourth after crashing out of the sprint.

Norris’ performance at Interlagos confirmed a strong run of form since the start of September.

He has gained 43 points on Piastri in five grand prix weekends and a sprint – and retook the championship lead at the last race in Mexico with a victory achieved with the biggest margin over second place this season.

Norris, who heads into the grand prix with a nine-point championship lead over Piastri and every prospect of extending it, said: «I just feel like I’m doing a good job. I’m driving well.

«Before, earlier in the season, I would just have weaknesses, and I feel like I’ve, let’s say, I’ve maybe still got some here and there, but I’ve lessened them.

«They’re not like 0.1secs now — it’s two hundredths. So when I can put together the good parts and have those not-so-bad parts, things go very well.»

Norris’ reference was to his first part of the season, when a series of small errors contributed to Piastri building a substantial lead.

The Australian left the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, which he won while Norris retired with a fuel-line failure, with a 34-point lead in the championship. He has not finished ahead of Norris since.

His error in crashing out of the sprint was his sixth mistake in that period, following three crashes and a jumped start in Azerbaijan, and being a major contributor to a first-corner crash in the sprint in Austin which took out both McLarens.

Norris’ new solidity was reflected in qualifying in Sao Paulo. He made a mistake, locking up into Turn One, on his first run in qualifying and was 10th going into the final laps with Piastri fastest.

But he bounced back to beat the Australian by 0.375secs, a significant margin on one of the shorter laps of the season.

Ironically, Norris also inadvertently contributed to Piastri’s crash in the sprint.

The Briton ran across the kerb at Turn Three on lap six and pulled some water from a puddle on to the track.

The incident was noticed by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in second place behind him. Piastri than also ran over the kerb, but the car snapped into a slide and he crashed out of the race.

Norris said: «It’s a kerb you always use in quali. We use it a lot. Obviously, when it’s wet conditions, you kind of want to stay off all the kerbs. So I ran a little bit wide, and I saw the water come on to the track. But, yeah, that was it.»

Mercedes driver George Russell, who finished third in the sprint, was sitting alongside Norris in the post-race news conference and joked: «A little bit like Mario Kart when you throw the banana out. Smartest guy on the grid, this guy!»

Piastri said: «I was a little bit wide but nothing major and I took the same line as the cars ahead, certainly one of the cars ahead and, unfortunately, the consequences were a lot bigger.

«I got clearly splashed up by a lot of water when that happened and, again, I probably shouldn’t have been on the kerb, but a bit unfortunate that the consequences were so big.»

Piastri recovered to put in a strong performance in qualifying – but failed to improve on his final run, and was leapfrogged not only by Norris but also by Antonelli and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

His form in recent races is in stark contrast to earlier in the season, when he seemed unflappable, and there is a growing belief that the pressure of going for the championship may be getting to Piastri, who is in only his third season in F1.

«Just feels like things are not flowing that easily at the moment, you know?» the 24-year-old said.

«I had pretty good confidence in the car yesterday. Today felt like it was a bit trickier for everybody and just struggled to get the most out of the car.

«I’ve still got the belief that I can go out and win races and win the championship but, you know, obviously things are not coming as easy as I’d like them to.»

Asked about how he can limit further damage to his title hopes in the race, Piastri said: «Just try and pass a few cars for you, that’s all I can try and do, just try and capitalise on any opportunities that come up.

«There’s also a bit of a question on what tyres to use because, you know, the soft has not looked great, it’s not been good in qualifying and it’s not looked great in the sprint either.

«So I think there’s a bit of a question mark on that too and maybe that’ll give me some opportunities.»

Norris, who was challenged hard for the sprint victory by Antonelli, expects a similarly tough battle with the 19-year-old Italian in the grand prix.

Norris said: «I learned (in the sprint) that they’re pretty quick. And I learned that Kimi pushes all the way to the very end.

«So, in some ways looking forward to it, some ways I’m not. I think it’s going to be a big challenge tomorrow. We have to see what the weather’s going to do again, but so far this weekend’s been clean. So, I’m hoping they don’t ruin it.»

Antonelli, who is in his maiden season and has a best result so far of third place, said he hoped the expected cooler conditions would play into the hands of Mercedes.

«The pace this morning was really strong,» he said. «It was also quite cold and tomorrow should be kind of the same. So maybe that can help us a little bit more.

«But, you know, running in dirty air is never easy. Hopefully, we can have a strong pace and put pressure on them and hopefully we can fight for the win.»