Max Verstappen continued his winning habit with another well-measured victory for Red Bull on Saturday when he triumphed in the sprint race at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The three-time world champion finished comfortably clear of McLaren's Lando Norris.

Verstappen snatched the lead at the start and came home 4.287 seconds clear of pole-sitter Norris with Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez taking third ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Yuki Tsunoda was sixth for Alpha Tauri, scoring their first points for the Italian team, ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes and Carlos Ferrari in the second Ferrari, taking the final point for eighth.

It was Verstappen's fourth sprint win of the season.

"Much better than last year," he reported to his team at the finish. "It was important to get ahead at the start, but the launch wasn't amazing.

"It's a good start and we learned a lot for tomorrow."

Norris said: "I think I had the power, but I was too conservative. My initial start was good but not the second part of it and then I tried to go after Max, but I just didn't have enough..."

After a poor start, Perez fell to fifth but fought back to finish third.

"I had a terrible start and had to fight hard on my tyres," he said. "And I paid the price in the end. Without the start, I think I could have been a lot further up."

Hamilton's race ended in disappointment as his tyres fell off in the closing laps and he lost positions and pace. "We got it wrong today and we have to improve," said Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff. (AFP)