Max Verstappen had declared disconsolately that his world championship hopes should be forgotten as he went into the São Paulo Grand Prix. Yet after another masterclass in Brazil he defied the odds in taking third from a 19th-place start in the pit lane. It was an extraordinary drive, even as Lando Norris delivered a perfect weekend with a win at Interlagos and in so doing staked a claim to having one hand on the title.
Norris’s victory was without doubt that of a champion in waiting as he managed a tense and high‑pressure victory from pole position to extend his world championship lead over his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, who finished fifth. Norris gave a performance of precision and control exactly when it was required to put real daylight on his two title rivals.
Yet Verstappen, as ever, was irrepressible at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, where he drove from 17th to victory last season and is now the scene of two of his best drives. With Verstappen and Red Bull having found the pace that eluded them all weekend after taking a new engine and employing a new setup after a dire qualifying, he scythed through the field with verve and dash that was a joy to watch.
Every opening he went for he made, even as he made three pit stops, including an early one for a slow puncture. He had to come back from 19th at the start then 18th after his first stop and yet his rise through the field appeared inexorable.
Norris matched him with the controlled drive required to convert his pole and in so doing now has the whip hand. After scoring the maximum possible points with victories in the sprint and the GP, Norris has a 24‑point advantage over Piastri while Verstappen is 49 points behind, with 83 points still to race for in the final three meetings at Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
The turnaround for Norris, with his seventh victory this season, has been extraordinary since he was 34 points behind Piastri after the Dutch GP in August – a period when his credentials as a world champion and whether he had the steel to fight for it were being questioned. They were opinions he felt he had answered emphatically when asked on the reasons for his recent form.
“Just ignore everyone who talks crap about you and focus on yourself,” he said. “There’s not a long way to go but it can change so quickly, like we’ve seen today. So, just focus on myself, keep my head down, ignore everyone and keep pushing.”
For all that Verstappen played centre stage with a captivating soliloquy, Norris’s performance drives the narrative: a decisive moment in the title race given that Piastri endured another blow to his hopes. Starting from fourth he took an early 10‑second penalty for causing a collision when he locked up and hit Kimi Antonelli at turn one. Although he delivered a strong performance to recover, the damage was done.
Piastri might feel aggrieved that he was not at fault as he made a legitimate move up the inside and that Antonelli had not given him enough space, but he has been on the back foot all weekend. He crashed out in the sprint race while Norris completed the full monty of pole and victory in both disciplines.
After taking pole on Saturday Norris had acknowledged that he had addressed weaknesses in his performances this season and noticeably was now expressing a quiet confidence in how he was driving. Norris can, as he has admitted, be a glass half-empty character, unafraid of self-criticism – so that he now feels he really is on top of his game is telling and was manifest from his control in a tough test in Brazil.
Norris not only enjoys the lead but, it appears, the same calm assurance Piastri held when he dominated in the early part of the season. As the race ebbed and flowed, a complex challenge marked by varying tyre strategies was made all the more intriguing by Verstappen barrelling about as an excitable stallion as he advanced on the leaders – the McLaren pit wall and Norris having to factor in a Red Bull that had looked all but irrelevant on Saturday afternoon.
Having opted to take the penalty and start Verstappen from the pit lane in an effort to address the setup issues which had left him struggling so badly, Red Bull’s boldness paid off. His pace at times was fearsome, up to a second and half up on Norris, who insisted the world champion remained a player in the title race.
“With how quick he was today, he probably would have won if he started higher up.” he said, “He will be a threat, he always is, he is always fighting and will fight to the end. When asked if he could have covered Verstappen’s pace in a straight fight, he gave an unequivocal “no”.
It is, nonetheless, Norris who holds all the cards, but Verstappen demonstrated in striking fashionhe really is not quite ready to forget the championship yet.
Antonelli took a superb career-best second for Mercedes, with his teammate, George Russell, in fourth and Haas’s Ollie Bearman an excellent sixth. Lewis Hamilton endured another disappointing race, forced to retire his Ferrari after taking floor damage in the opening laps.
