Winners and losers from F1's pulsating Brazil Grand Prix

Even in the dry Interlagos never disappoints, with another all-action race up and down the field that saw several heavy-hitters find trouble which handed midfielders an opportunity to shine. And then there was Max Verstappen.

Winner: Lando Norris

Two poles and two wins, not a bad Sao Paulo weekend for Lando Norris. Even the Briton's harshest critics, of which there appear to be many for whatever reason, have had to acknowledge that after his early struggles to match Oscar Piastri and a brace of unforced errors, Norris is now firing on all cylinders and has put himself in a brilliant position to win this year's championship.

For the first time this season Norris took back-to-back poles as McLaren appears to have weathered Red Bull's storm, and the 25-year-old has not put a foot wrong since his tap with Piastri in Singapore. It's not over yet, but after a 23-point swing in just one weekend, things are looking good for Norris.

Loser: Oscar Piastri

If Norris was stuck in the hurt locker earlier this year, then he has traded places with team-mate Piastri, who has quite simply had a disastrous six weeks.

The good news for Piastri was confirmation that his puzzling Austin-Mexico struggles largely appear to be behind him. But Piastri is still struggling to match a flying Norris for pace right now, and that is at the heart of all the other issues and race situations he is getting entangled in.

Yes, his sprint crash on a wet kerb was somewhat unlucky and you could argue his 10-second penalty for triggering the clash with Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc different ways. But the common denominator is that by being further back on the grid, he is being forced to take bigger risks to chase his team-mate down.

Piastri will now need three big weekends, and an average gain of eight points on Norris. McLaren not being expected to be the strongest team in Las Vegas is not going to help his cause.