MEXICO CITY (AP) Lando Norris snapped a five-race losing streak Sunday and passed McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the fight for the Formula 1 championship by winning at Mexico City.
Piastri came from seventh and used a late pass of George Russell to finish fifth a critical gain as it allowed Norris to take just a one-point lead over Piastri in the championship race.
The sixth victory of the season for Norris was his first time back on top of the podium since winning the Hungarian Grand Prix at the start of August. More important, Norris pounced on the recent slump Piastri has fallen into to tighten the teammates bid to dethrone Max Verstappen as world champion.
Norris, who started from the pole, opened the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodrguez trailing Piastri by 14 points in the driver standings. McLaren has already clinched its second consecutive constructors championship and is now seeking to end Verstappens four-year reign as F1s world champion with either of its drivers.
Norris is now back on top of the standings for the first time since the fifth race of the season, in April; there are four races remaining in the season.
Its one weekend at a time, Norris said over a booming chorus of boos from the sold-out crowd of 150,000 spectators. The booing caused Norris to pause his trackside interview and he laughed nervously before continuing.
Im happy, I am focused on myself, I keep my head down, I ignore all of it. I keep to myself and it is working.
Verstappen, meanwhile, arrived in Mexico City with three wins in the past four races to put himself back into title contention. He finished third on Sunday with a late virtual safety car preventing the Red Bull driver for passing Charles Leclerc for second.
Verstappen was 104 points behind Piastri six races ago but has put himself in position to challenge for a fifth consecutive title. Hes now 36 points out of the lead.
The gap could have been even tighter had the safety car not limited Verstappens chances to pass Leclerc over the final two laps.
I mean, you win some, you lose some, right? Verstappen said. Sometimes the safety car works for you and sometimes it works against you.
Oliver Bearman finished a career-best fourth to give Haas the second top-four finish in team history.
Norris first career victory in Mexico City seemed like an easy Sunday drive as he crossed the finish line more than 30 seconds ahead of Leclerc.
I could just keep my eyes focused, and just keep eyes forward and focus on what I was doing, Norris said. A pretty straightforward race for me, which is just what I was after.
Up next
The next F1 race is the Brazilian Grand Prix on Nov. 9. Verstappen has won the last two races at Interlagos.
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AP auto racing:
墨西哥城(美联社)——周日,兰多·诺里斯在墨西哥城站夺冠,终结了连续五场不胜的颓势,并在F1锦标赛积分榜上超越迈凯伦队友奥斯卡·皮亚斯特里。
皮亚斯特里从第七位发车,并在比赛尾声阶段超越乔治·拉塞尔,最终以第五名完赛。这一关键提升使得诺里斯在冠军争夺战中仅领先皮亚斯特里1个积分。
诺里斯的赛季第六胜是他自八月初赢得匈牙利大奖赛后首次重返领奖台之巅。更重要的是,诺里斯趁队友皮亚斯特里近期状态低迷之际发力,进一步缩小了与队友的差距,两人正合力挑战马克斯·维斯塔潘的世界冠军地位。
从杆位发车的诺里斯在赫尔曼诺斯·罗德里格斯赛道开赛时,车手积分榜上落后皮亚斯特里14分。迈凯伦车队已连续第二次锁定制造商冠军,如今正试图通过旗下任意一位车手终结维斯塔潘作为F1世界冠军的四年统治。
自四月本赛季第五场比赛以来,诺里斯首次重返积分榜榜首;本赛季还剩下四场比赛。
诺里斯(参考《新华社人名翻译规范》)在15万满场观众的震耳嘘声中说道:"我们一次只专注一个周末。"突如其来的嘘声让他暂停了赛道边的采访,紧张地笑了笑才继续发言。
我很开心,专注于自我,保持低调,无视一切纷扰。我选择独善其身,而这种方式卓有成效。
与此同时,维斯塔潘带着过去四站比赛中三场胜利的战绩抵达墨西哥城,重新跻身冠军争夺行列。周日的比赛中,他最终获得第三名——由于比赛末段虚拟安全车的出动,这位红牛车手未能超越查尔斯·勒克莱尔升至第二位。
六站比赛前,维斯塔潘还落后皮亚斯特里104分,但如今他已具备冲击五连冠的资格。目前他与榜首仅相差36分。
若非安全车在最后两圈限制了维斯塔潘超越勒克莱尔的机会,双方的差距本可能更小。
“我是说,有赢有输很正常,对吧?”维斯塔潘说道,“有时安全车对你有利,有时则对你不利。”
奥利弗·贝尔曼以职业生涯最佳的第四名完赛,为哈斯车队赢得了队史上第二次跻身前四的佳绩。
诺里斯在墨西哥城斩获职业生涯首冠,当他以领先勒克莱尔30多秒的优势冲过终点线时,整个比赛过程轻松得宛如周末兜风。
诺里斯表示:"我只需保持目光专注,目视前方,专注于自己的比赛。这场赛事对我来说相当顺利,这正是我所追求的。"
接下来
下一场F1赛事是11月9日的巴西大奖赛。维斯塔潘已在英特拉格斯赛道连续赢得前两站比赛。
美联社赛车新闻:
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