Lando Norris boosted his Formula 1 championship lead from one to nine points after winning a Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race that his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri crashed out of.
Norris led the sprint from start to finish to aid his title push, but Piastri failed to finish a second consecutive sprint race after sliding off the road and into the barriers through Turn 3.
Piastri appeared to be caught out by some water on the kerb - potentially dragged out of there by his team-mate Norris - spinning into the barriers and out of the race.
Similar accidents for Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber and Franco Colapinto's Alpine caused a red flag stoppage, as Colapinto's impact damaged the barriers, requiring a delay to repair them.
That stoppage wiped out the early advantage Norris built, but he aced the race restart.
Kimi Antonelli proved to be his closest competition, mounting a late-race charge, having switched from softs to medium under the red flag, while Norris did the opposite.
Antonelli had fended off his team-mate George Russell on the race restart, running side-by-side into Turn 1 and emerging just ahead.
He then dipped in and out of DRS range of Norris, often losing time to Norris through the middle sector, but then looking threatening on the long run to Turn 1.
Antonelli could never get quite close enough though to make a proper overtaking attempt, ultimately ending up 0.845s short, with Russell a further 1.473s behind.
Just like on Friday, Max Verstappen was unhappy with the balance of his RB21, complaining of bouncing and no grip, but still managed to pick up fourth via Piastri’s retirement and a first-lap overtake on Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin.
Verstappen will be looking forward to parc ferme reopening after the sprint as his Red Bull team looks to find a set-up solution to his problems.
Alonso was running fifth for much of the race, but he had to start lifting and coasting quite early on, which dropped him well behind the top four and left him vulnerable to the Ferraris behind him.
Charles Leclerc eventually got Alonso with three laps to go to claim fifth on a so-far tricky weekend for Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton fell 0.297s short of Alonso, so had to settle for seventh.
The three points Alonso earned Aston Martin puts it level with Racing Bulls for sixth in the constructors' championship - though Racing Bulls holds that position on countback because of Isack Hadjar’s Zandvoort podium.
Pierre Gasly made good on the potential Alpine showed on Friday to charge from 13th on the grid to eighth place - Alpine’s first point since before the summer break.
Behind them, Gabriel Bortoleto crashed his Sauber on the final lap, losing control at high speed approaching Turn 1 while challenging Alex Albon’s Williams for 10th place.
Bortoleto emerged from the incident seemingly unscathed, but his Sauber team will face a race against time to get his destroyed car ready for grand prix qualifying.
Lance Stroll finished ninth, having slipped down from seventh on the grid at the start before being picked off by Gasly late on.
The stewards will investigate both Ollie Bearman and Liam Lawson for a clash on the opening lap. Bearman caught and passed Lawson later in the race as they finished 12th and 13th.
Sprint race results
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
- Esteban Ocon (Haas)
- Ollie Bearman (Haas)
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
- Carlos Sainz (Williams)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
DNF: Oscar Piastri (McLaren), Franco Colapinto (Alpine), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
