Lando Norris took full advantage of Oscar Piastri's latest crash to open up a nine-point cushion in the race for this year's Formula 1 drivers' championship.
On lap six, chaos ensued, sparked by Piastri dipping the front-left wheel of his McLaren onto the wet kerb out of the Senna S. It was enough to send the Australian spinning across the track, over the grass and into a barrier.
It was Piastri's fourth crash of late, after twice doing so in qualifying and the race in Azerbaijan, and again in the previous sprint in Austin ahead of the United States GP.
There was a suggestion over the radio from Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli, who was following leader Norris, that the Briton had kicked up water off the kerb as he passed over it, leading to it lying on the track for the cars following behind.
Astonishingly, seconds later, Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg followed suit, riding the same kerb and crashing into the same barrier, as did Franco Colapinto in his Alpine.
Whilst the safety car was initially summoned, it soon became clear that a red flag was required to repair the barriers.
It forced the remaining 17 drivers back into the pit lane at the end of lap seven for what proved to be a 26-minute delay, in which time, the Sauber mechanics repaired Hulkenberg's battered car, replacing the front and rear wings, albeit with the veteran German driver restarting last.
Following an unusual rolling restart behind the safety, given the race was a standing start on a slightly damp track, Norris went on to secure victory.
After leading the way over the first four grands prix of this season, Norris' gap to Piastri is the widest he has held this year.
Antonelli and team-mate Kimi Antonelli completed the podium, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen fourth, to drop to 39 points behind Norris, with 108 available.
The race finished under yellow-flag conditions following a major crash for home hero Gabriel Bortoleto on the final lap heading into Turn 1 in his Sauber.
Result Sprint race - Brazilian
Chaos unfolds
Following overnight rain that continued through into the early morning, the conundrum initially for the teams and drivers at the start was whether to start on slicks or intermediates, given the drying nature of the track.
Ultimately, it was a slick call; however, there was a major discrepancy in the top 10, with Norris, Piastri, Alonso and Stroll on the right-hand side of the grid going for mediums, and Antonelli, Russell, Verstappen and Leclerc on the left-hand side going for softs.
On the fifth row, ninth-placed Isack Hadjar was on mediums, and Sauber's Nick Hulkenberg on softs. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, starting 11th, opted for the mediums.
From the start into the short run to Turn 1, there was no change amongst the top four, although Antonelli and Piastri came within centimetres of touching wheels.
Verstappen, meanwhile, managed to clear fifth-placed Alonso, whilst Hamilton superbly lifted himself into eighth, and the final points-paying position.
On the long run into the Turn 4 left-hander, there was contact between Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson and Oliver Bearman in the Haas, leading to the latter being spun round, sparking a stewards' investigation.
On lap six, the race turned on its head, with the trio of crashes in a matter of seconds, sparking the red-flag period, allowing the teams to change tyres.
For the rolling restart, Norris remained on softs, as did Antonelli and Russell on mediums. Verstappen, however, switched to the yellow-striped Pirellis, and he almost paid the price on the opening lap as he came under considerable pressure from Alonso on softs.
Verstappen managed to hold on, but was then unable to make inroads on those ahead.
On lap 19, Norris complained that he was losing rear grip as his softs began to wear, allowing Antonelli to close in, but the young Italian was never able to make a move.
It meant Norris became the first driver to win the São Paulo sprint from pole, leading home Antonelli, Russell, Verstappen, Leclerc - who managed to pass Alonso late on - leaving the two-time F1 champion sixth, Hamilton seventh, with Pierre Gasly a commendable eighth for Alpine.
As for Verstappen's team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda, the Japanese driver was used as a guinea pig. After qualifying a miserable 18th, the team opted for a change of rear wing and a suspension set-up change on his RB21.
Placing a bigger rear wing on the car allowed Red Bull to discover if it would provide the downforce lacking on Verstappen's car in sprint qualifying, and resulted in him starting sixth, a third of a second behind polesitter Norris.
If the data proves useful, it will allow Red Bull to make changes to Verstappen's car for the grand prix qualifying later today in a bid to get the Dutchman closer to the front. Tsunoda went on to finish 14th.
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