Doing so vaulted him past his teammate Oscar Piastri to regain the lead Norris held in the early part of the season, albeit by just a single point. But if that makes it sound like it was a boring race, think again.
Behind Norris, the chasing pack went into turn 1 four-wide. Both Ferraris were in the mix: Charles Leclerc qualified second, and his teammate Lewis Hamilton was third. Max Verstappen could qualify his Red Bull no higher than fifth, behind George Russell’s Mercedes. A number of drivers had to take to the grass at turn 1 to avoid crashing, giving Norris plenty of breathing room to build a lead.
Behind him, things were a little more interesting. Leclerc managed to keep second place, but with much less speed than Norris, a following pack formed behind him. By lap 7, Verstappen had managed to fight his way past Russell, then diced with Hamilton, his old foe from the 2021 title. Neither car was able to keep entirely to the track, and Hamilton was handed a 10-second penalty, putting an end to any thoughts of finally grabbing his first Ferrari podium finish. Eventually, he finished eighth.
The stadium section doesn’t have the best sequence of corners, but there are few places to get a good a view of the cars.
Peter Fox/Getty Images
The stadium section doesn’t have the best sequence of corners, but there are few places to get a good a view of the cars.
Peter Fox/Getty Images
Oliver Bearman equalled Haas’ best ever finish with fourth place.
Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Oliver Bearman equalled Haas’ best ever finish with fourth place.
Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Piastri has seven wins to Norris’ six, but he’s also been struggling for good results over the last few events.
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Piastri has seven wins to Norris’ six, but he’s also been struggling for good results over the last few events.
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Oliver Bearman equalled Haas’ best ever finish with fourth place.
Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Piastri has seven wins to Norris’ six, but he’s also been struggling for good results over the last few events.
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Norris, Leclerc, and Verstappen all stuck to a one-stop strategy, with the Red Bull driver starting on medium tires and then swapping to the softs; his rivals did the opposite. Verstappen was in a much stronger position in the final phase of the race, with newer, softer rubber than the Ferrari ahead. But although he closed the gap to fractions of a second, he was denied a chance to overtake Leclerc when a virtual safety car interrupted the race with just three laps to go.
With his third place, Verstappen is now 36 points behind championship leader Norris, with a total of 116 points left on offer for the season.
Fourth went to the Haas of Oliver Bearman, who saw a chance early on to get into the front-running pack but was unable to hold off Verstappen for the final podium spot toward the end of the race. As for Piastri, he was able to claw his way back to fifth after starting eighth. That earned him 10 points, so he only gave away five to Verstappen, although Norris now leads him by 357 points to 356.
The next race will be in Brazil on November 9.
