F1 Brazil GP live updates: Follow latest from today’s sprint race and Grand Prix qualifying

The 2024 Sao Paulo Grand Prix race weekend gets underway today, with Lando Norris attempting to shave even more points off Max Verstappen's world championship lead.

To win the world championship, Norris needs to close on Verstappen by an average of just under 12 points a weekend with four races remaining.

Today sees the second-to-last sprint race of the year, followed by a qualifying session for tomorrow's grand prix race. Follow live coverage below.

Subscribe to The Athletic on an exclusive offer here .

Subscribe to our Formula One newsletter here.

It's little surprise that teams only brought limited new parts to Interlagos for the Sao Paulo GP weekend. A sprint is always a tricky one for introducing new parts, given the limited running to assess their benefit, and in the final knockings of the season, we're only anticipating small bits and pieces to come before Abu Dhabi.

brought a revised rear wing and beam wing to Interlagos, which it says is circuit-specific. This is intended to improve aerodynamic efficiency and provide a boost, with both high- and low-downforce spec beam wings being introduced. Given its strength on the medium-speed circuits this year, it's no surprise McLaren is going well this weekend.

has a new front suspension with updated outboard pick-up points, which it says will offer "more freedom" in its mechanical setup. It has also introduced a tandem beam wing for Interlagos's requirements.

Otherwise, teams are running the same specifications of cars from Mexico.

With veteran Kevin Magnussen dealing with an illness at the São Paulo Grand Prix, has tabbed 19-year-old Ollie Bearman to race for the team for the remainder of the Formula One weekend.

Haas confirmed the news after sprint qualifying on Friday afternoon, in which Bearman qualified 10th in Magnussen's car. Earlier, Haas had announced Magnussen would miss FP1 and sprint qualifying on Friday after reporting feeling sick, and the team would re-evaluate his status for the rest of the weekend after the sessions.

Now, Bearman will finish the weekend for Haas and complete his third grand prix weekend of the year and second weekend having completed every session.

For more, read the news at the link below.

Lando Norris cut Max Verstappen's world championship lead to 47 points in Mexico City, with four race weekends remaining.

Two of these are sprint events which means there are still 120 points up for grabs.

The permutations are — naturally — a little complicated. But if Norris closes on Verstappen at an average of 12 points per race over the rest of the season, he will take the world championship.

That certainly won't be easy. Norris finished second in Mexico with Verstappen in sixth, but still only shaved 10 points off the Dutchman's lead.

Constructed before World War II, Brazil's Autódromo José Carlos Pace, commonly known as , still holds onto its original charm.

The circuit starts with banked curves, a quality featured among many pre-WWII tracks, as the drivers push through the Senna S (Turns 1-2) and launch into a DRS zone at the exit of Turn 3 and heading towards Turn 4. Sector Two (Turns 4-11) is fairly snake-like, and the lap ends on a banked final turn. The track designers drew inspiration from a trio of now-defunct circuits: UK's Brooklands, France's Montlhéry and New York's Roosevelt Raceway.

A permanent track started being constructed in 1938. And though it was inaugurated in November 1939, weather prevented a race from actually taking place. For a few decades, racing took place before the circuit closed its doors at the end of 1967 to undergo extensive renovations and reopened in 1970.

Formula One didn't enter the picture until 1972 with a non-championship event before Brazil joined the calendar a year later — and home hero Emerson Fittipaldi walked away victorious. However, during the 1980s, the circuit lost F1 due to the city council's reluctance to invest in the safety changes needed for the sport. Rio de Janeiro kept F1 for several years until the city couldn't afford it, and the sport returned to São Paulo in the 1990s.

With that brief history lesson under your belt, here are the details you need to know about Brazil's hilly permanent track.