Norris wins São Paulo GP sprint to narrow gap as Verstappen hit with penalty

  • Verstappen drops to fourth with five-second penalty
  • Ferrari’s Leclerc and Sainz finish fourth and fifth

Lando Norris won the sprint race at the São Paulo Grand Prix for McLaren with the team choosing to employ team orders to have his teammate Oscar Piastri cede the lead to maximise the British driver’s points advantage over world championship Max Verstappen. The Dutchman finished third but was later given a five-second penalty dropping him to fourth. Piastri was second, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third and Carlos Sainz fifth

Piastri led from pole for the entire race until lap 22 of the 24 when he moved over for his teammate but the team had made it clear early in the sprint, their intent was to switch the two drivers in Norris’s favour and Piastri had been explicit beforehand he would not have an issue doing so.

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Martin Truex Jr. snags Busch Light Pole at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Martin Truex Jr. may be out of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, but the veteran driver still has compelling goals, as he proved with a pole-winning run on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. After a final-round lap at 96.190 mph (19.686 seconds), Truex will start from the top spot in Sunday‘s Xfinity 500 […]

Denny Hamlin crashes in pivotal Martinsville practice

Denny Hamlin crashed during Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Martinsville Speedway, creating a significant hurdle for the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team, which will start at the rear of the field in Sunday’s Round of 8 finale. Entering Turn 3, Hamlin carried tremendous speed before sending his Toyota into a skid, careening […]

Max Verstappen’s five-place grid penalty in Brazil GP is chance for Lando Norris

  • F1 championship leader breached engine rules
  • Norris can cut 47-point lead if he takes advantage

Confrontation on the track has dominated the world championship fight between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris for the previous two races but now closing out what has been a tempestuous and gruelling triple-header, Norris has the opportunity to take advantage in a manner that will make the most impact on the Dutchman without so much as a backward glance.

Verstappen will start on the back foot in Brazil with a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after changing his engine, leaving him in a starting position of at best sixth, and potentially even lower if the Red Bull has not closed the gap to Norris, McLaren and the recently resurgent Ferrari who have dominated the last two races. These are places that matter in an increasingly tight fight. Norris trails Verstappen by 47 points with four meetings remaining. This weekend and Qatar next month both include sprint races, taking the points still available to 120.

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MotoGP title rivals ask organisers not to host season finale in flood-hit Valencia

  • Márquez, Martín and Bagnaia ask for change in venue
  • Valencia v Real Madrid La Liga fixture postponed

MotoGP riders on Thursday said it would be unethical to stage the season’s final race in Valencia, with the six-times champion Marc Márquez saying funds needed to go to people devastated by floods instead of being spent on repairs for the event. At least 140 people have been killed in the flooding.

“Ethically speaking, I don’t think it should be held,” Gresini Racing’s Márquez said of the race scheduled for 17 November. “Now [the organisers] have to meet and decide, but [if it were up to me] I would have already decided.

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Francesco Bagnaia closes title gap with win in rain-soaked Thailand MotoGP

  • Ducati rider makes most of treacherous conditions
  • Title race tightens with two races of season to go

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia put in a sure-footed display at a rain-drenched Buriram International Circuit as he romped to victory in the Thailand Grand Prix on Sunday and slashed his gap to Jorge Martín, the championship leader, down to 17 points.

Bagnaia, the defending MotoGP champion, took advantage of errors by Pramac Racing’s Martín and Marc Márquez of Gresini Racing to take the chequered flag and clinch his ninth win of the season. Martín finished second while the GasGas Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta was third.

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