Lando Norris reaction says it all as reporter congratulates Oscar Piastri on Sprint 'win'

Oscar Piastri may have led most of the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race from pole position but moved aside late on to allow team-mate Lando Norris to gain an extra point on Max Verstappen

Lando Norris was left as baffled as his team-mate as Oscar Piastri was congratulated for winning the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint race.

Both McLaren drivers and also Max Verstappen raised their eyebrows in the post-Sprint press conference when one journalist referred to the Australian as the winner. That was because, even though he had led from the start line, with three laps to go he moved aside for his team-mate.

Norris won the Sprint ahead of Piastri while Verstappen had to settle for third place. The McLaren swap meant the Brit scored two more points than his championship rival, taking him to 45 behind the Dutchman.

But one Brazilian journalist seemed to forget about that swap as they began to ask Piastri a question. "Congratulations Oscar for your win," she began, prompting laughter from Norris and Verstappen beside the Aussie.

Piastri simply looked surprised but waited until the journalist had finished asking her question before cracking a joke about it. He replied: "I do not know what I won, but thank you!"

Though he benefitted in his title chase from McLaren's team orders and Piastri's generosity, Norris said he was "not proud" of the way he took victory in the Sprint. "But we worked well as a team together, so I thank Oscar," he added.

"We have done a great job as a team. Today was the result that we wanted. Oscar deserved it, but we did what we had to do. So I thank him and the team. We had great pace, so looking forward to qualifying and the race tomorrow."

For Piastri it had been a "tricky" Sprint to manage. He said: "The racing line was incredibly narrow and if you missed it by a tyre's width you were in all sorts of trouble. The pace looked okay, but the Ferrari was quick at the start and Max was quick at the end. We are in decent shape."

Verstappen finished third but is under investigation for an alleged Virtual Safety Car infringement. He agreed with Piastri's assessment of the short-form race but was happy with how his Red Bull felt on the bumpy surface which had unsettled it on Friday.

The Dutchman said: "I think the pace is quite good so I am pleased with that. It took quite a while with Charles [Leclerc], but it is promising, it is good. Tomorrow [it] might rain so [there are] lots of unknowns, but today was good."

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