Lando Norris said he went against the team’s wishes to hand a sprint victory to team-mate Oscar Piastri after he received the same gesture in Sao Paulo.

With Norris still in a title fight, Piastri was asked to step aside in Brazil and let Norris take maximum points but with the title off the table, Norris returned the favour.

Lando Norris explains Oscar Piastri sprint gift

Having led from pole for the whole of the race, Norris slowed on the approach to the chequered flag to allow Piastri to pass and take the sprint victory.

Given racing drivers are not usually so charitable, Norris was asked why he chose to do so and said it was always his plan since Piastri had done the same in Brazil.

“It was maybe closer than what I was wanting but I planned to do it since Brazil,” Norris said. “Just what I thought was best.

“It was probably a little bit sketchy. The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it and we did.”

As to why he did it, Norris said he does not care about winning sprint races.

“Honestly, I don’t mind. I’m not here to win sprint races. I’m here to win races and a championship, but that didn’t go to plan.”

More from the sprint race in Qatar

F1 live: All the action as it happened from the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race

Regardless of who finished on top, McLaren looked likely from lap one to secure maximum points and move ever closer to the Constructors’ title. Norris said he believed the tem executed the race “perfectly.”

“We scored one-two, that’s what we were aiming for today,” the 25-year-old said. “We’ve got maximum points, so we’re happy. We’re happy as a team, we’ve executed things perfectly, and I think the pace was good.

“I probably could have pushed a little bit more than what I was doing but we wanted to keep the others behind. We did our job and that’s the main thing.”

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