São Paulo GP report
Giles Richards has filed his take on an action-packed, incident-filled race at Interlagos. Give it a read right now. Thanks for your company and your emails – we will be back in less than a fortnight with coverage of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Please join us then!
Roxanne Casha gets in touch: “How many seconds did Piastri finish behind Norris?Without the ridiculous 10-second penalty, he definitely would’ve been second. I’m starting to be disappointed in these ridiculous penalties and am thinking about whether it’s worth it to keep watching F1.”
Piastri finished 15 seconds behind Norris so, yes, the penalty proved important. But hey! What an enthralling race – you can’t quit F1 after that.
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Drivers' championship standings
Here’s where we are with three races – and one sprint – still to go.
So, that was a terrific race. We didn’t even get any rain! And still an Interlagos epic.
A shame that Bortoleto’s race ended unfortunately early. The safety car restart resulted in Piastri diving between Antonelli and Leclerc – ending the Ferrari drivers’ race. From there, the drama rarely ceased.
Overtaking! Clashes! Switches in strategy! A great drive from Antonelli – and of course from Verstappen – who duelled to the finish. Are you not entertained? (Possibly not if you’re dressed head to toe in Ferrari red.)
“I had to overtake a few cars,” says Max Verstappen, somewhat downplaying his enthralling trip to the podium from the pit lane. I definitely lost count of how many moves he made to earn 15 points.
Lando Norris is asked what’s behind his turnaround in form in the last two race weekends. “Just ignore everyone who talks crap about you,” he says with a chuckle. “Just focus on yourself.” He thanks McLaren for giving him a winning car.
The São Paulo Grand Prix top 10
1) Lando Norris (McLaren)
2) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
3) Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
4) George Russell (Mercedes)
5) Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
6) Ollie Bearman (Haas)
7) Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
8) Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
9) Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber)
10) Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
It was a thriller!
“Not quite a big enough gap for my liking,” says Lando Norris, sounding cool after a victory that ended up dominant but had a spell where it really looked like Max Verstappen might pull off Mission: Impossible.
As it is, a great weekend for Norris: sprint win; race win in Brazil.
“That’s a really good race for us,” says Verstappen. He’s not usually a driver happy with third, but he’d have taken it after the dire qualifying and starting from the pit lane.
Lando Norris wins the São Paulo Grand Prix!
The McLaren driver wins from pole to extend his title lead after a dramatic race! Kimi Antonelli is second, Max Verstappen in third having started from the pit lane.
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Final lap! Antonelli is holding on here, Verstappen may have to settle for third. Piastri is still behind Russell in fourth …
Lap 70/71: Verstappen has is down to his last chances to pass Antonelli in second.
Lap 69/71: Antonelli is defending well so far, Verstappen is struggling with the grip of his tyres. Russell is still defending as well, trying to hold on to fourth with Piastri on his gearbox.
Lap 68/71: Verstappen is in DRS range behind Antonelli in second. He’s hunting the young Italian – but does he have enough laps left?
Lap 67/71: Norris lays down his fastest lap, stretching his lead. Will we see one more big move further back in this overtake-filled race?
Lap 66/71: Piastri is closing in on Russell, looking to take fourth. The gap between Verstappen and Antonelli in second is 1.2sec.
Lap 65/71: Bearman is in sixth, by the way – and looking good for it. Norris looks to be cruising to victory. Has Verstappen got enough left in his tyres to catch and pass Antonelli?
Lap 64/71: Piastri closes in on Russell – fast, Verstappen in on Antonelli. The gap is just over two seconds, but the laps are ticking down.
Lap 63/71: Verstappen swoops around the outside and takes third from Russell! That was a thrilling move. Now he’s after Antonelli.
Lap 62/71: Verstappen is on third-placed Russell’s gearbox. How are the Red Bull’s tyres though? Norris is out on his own up front, barring any late drama.
Lap 61/71: Ten laps to go. Piastri is in fifth, he’s not catching Verstappen – but maybe he can get to Russell if Max goes past first. What a great race this has been.
Lap 60/71: “P2 is on here Max,” Red Bull inform Verstappen. Norris is firmly in the lead, barring anything dramatic, but clearly they fancy their chances against the Mercedes.
Lap 59/71: George Russell in third is on the radio to Mercedes, concerned about a break issue. He may well have a Verstappen issue pretty soon – the gap is down to 2.5sec.
Lap 58/71: “I’ve got nothing to lose,” says Verstappen when Red Bull warn him to look after the “fragile” tyres. The fastest drivers on the track? Max and Piastri in fourth and fifth.
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Lap 56/71: So, 16 laps to go. Norris leads, Antonelli second, Russell third – but with Verstappen soon to be all over him like a cheap suit, you suspect. Can Piastri make any inroads from fifth?
Lap 55/71: Piastri is all over Lawson – the McLaren driver takes fifth place with a dashing move. Verstappen is fourth but on fresh tyres. Now: can he get past the two Mercedes ahead of him?
Lap 54/71: Piastri overtakes Bearman, he’s up to sixth. Norris is indeed gaining first on the leader Verstappen. Red Bull are out in the pits! Max is coming in again.
Lap 53/71: The big question: will Verstappen stop a third time? Red Bull could leave him out there but Norris on fresh rubber could well track him down … Antonelli is third, by the way, Russell fourth, Lawson fifth.
Lap 52/71: Piastri indeed comes in – a fine stop by McLaren again. He’s back out in seventh. There’s no driver between Verstappen the leader and Norris in second.
Lap 50/71: Norris is coming in to the pits. Yes, his times were not up to scratch – now he’s third behind Verstappen (the leader!) and Piastri, who likely still has to pit. Now, can Max hold on to his pace?
Lap 49/71: Verstappen is second – within 16 second of Norris, the leader, and taking half a second a lap out of the leader. Piastri is third with the Mercedes.
Lap 48/71: “Don’t shout at me OK?” says Isack Hadjar on the team radio, as they tell him to keep his head down in 12th. Yeah, don’t shout at Isack. (They didn’t appear to be.)
Lap 47/71: Franco Colapinto with the fastest lap of the race so far, albeit he’s last of the runners in 17th. As you were at the top.
Lap 45/71: we’re past halfway, the first pit stops all played out. Here’s the top 10:
1) Lando Norris (McLaren)
2) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
3) George Russell (Mercedes)
4) Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
5) Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
6) Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
7) Esteban Ocon (Haas)
8) Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber)
9) Alex Albon (Williams)
10) Ollie Bearman (Haas)
Lap 43/71: Ollie Bearman pits from fourth; Verstappen is up to fourth, Piastri up to fifth. It’s all intriguingly poised!
Lap 42/71: Norris is still in control in the lead, but he’s not pulling out a big gap like he did in Mexico – he’s babysitting the soft tyres, perhaps. Verstappen’s lap times are far quicker.
Lap 41/71: Norris leads, Antonelli second, Russell third, Bearman fourth – Verstappen is now up to fifth, Piastri is sixth.
Lap 39/71: Piastri comes in, serves his penalty – he’s eighth but on soft tyres. Hmm, let’s see about that one-stopper. Lewis Hamilton retires – yep, that looked inevitable. His Ferrari was clearly not operating corrretly.
Lap 38/71: Piastri is coming in for his pit stop. He’s on a one-stopper.
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Lap 37/71: Verstappen is charging back up towards the front. Up to ninth, eighth … he’ll finish this race with an astonishing number of overtakes, if nothing else.
Lap 36/71: Piastri, no stops and penalty pending, leads – Norris is second. Antonelli is in third.
Lap 35/71: Russell pits; Verstappen pits. Max is clearly backing himself to charge through the field once again – Red Bull having to be aggressive with their strategy, of course.
Lap 34/71: Nico Hülkenberg overtakes Alex Albon to go up to sixth, a fine racing move.
Lap 33/71: Lando Norris flies past Verstappen, Max deciding not to really defend his position as his tyres are worsening and Norris is on fresh rubber – no point slowing them both down.
Lap 32/71: Piastri leads but with a penalty to come – Russell is second. Both yet to stop.
Lap 31/71: A smooth pit stop for the incoming race leader Norris. He’s back out in fourth, behind Verstappen, but the McLaren driver is on the fresh soft tyres.
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Lap 30/71: The McLaren pit crew is out. Lando Norris is coming in.
Lap 29/71: Antonelli passes Hülkenberg up to sixth. A reminder that Norris is in control of this race up top – but Verstappen is doing similar times in fourth. He’ll be eyeing the podium.
Bill Taylor emails: “Nothing against Lando Norris and it would be great to see Kimi Antonelli on the podium, but wouldn’t you just LOVE to see Max Verstappen win this race? I wouldn’t bet against it.”
From the pit lane, it would be some achievement.
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Lap 25/71: Antonelli is on the back of Fernando Alonso, who is seventh – but possibly not for long.
Lap 24/71: Antonelli is making up a few places after pitting, he’s made up two places and is ninth. Hamilton is last and really struggling with a damaged car. A bad day for Ferrari.
Lap 23/71: Norris (first) and Verstappen (fourth) are doing similar lap times here. This is a different Red Bull to the one we saw in qualifying for sure.
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Lap 22/71: Kimi Antonelli pits and he’s back out in 11th. We’re going to see some strategy variety here.
Lap 21/71: Verstappen flies past Alex Albon, no point in trying to hold them up and slow them both down. Now, Russell is in front of him: this might be trickier.
Lap 20/71: A reminder: Norris still leads, Piastri second – pending penalty – Antonelli third, Russell fourth, Albon fifth, Verstappen … sixth.
Lap 19/71: New engine, new drive, new hope? Max Verstappen is on a mission, flying past those in front of him – he’s up to seventh!
“Woohoo,” emails John Wester. “They’re trading paint just like in NASCAR!”
Lap 17/71: Verstappen is flying, up to 12th. He’s 14 seconds behind Piastri – and a lot of places, of course, but Oscar has that penalty.
Penalty for Oscar Piastri
A 10-second penalty for Oscar Piastri after he’s ruled to have caused the collision between himself Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.
Lap 15/71: Hamilton pits, Verstappen overtakes Yuki Tsunoda – Tsunoda is facing a 10-second penalty for causing an incident – Max up to 13th.
Lap 14/71: Max Verstappen is flying – though in 14th – he’s passed the struggling Hamilton (who may not last much longer in his damaged Ferrari).
Lap 12/71: Yep, the stewards are looking at the Piastri incident. George Russell overtakes Hadjar to go fourth.
Lap 10/71: Only lap 10? So much has happened. Norris leads, Piastri is second, Antonelli third, Isack Hadjar fourth.
The unfortunate Charles Leclerc strolls around by his stricken Ferrari with a face like thunder. Now – will the stewards have a view on Oscar Piastri’s bold move on Antonelli and Leclerc? It was aggressive, but may have been fair. They will definitely have a look.
Antonelli is fine despite the contact, the Mercedes suspension is strong.
Lap 8/71: Interlagos never fails to entertain. We are under the virtual safety car – Max Verstappen pits, as he had a puncture. He’s at the back of the pack. It’s all happening.
Piastri takes second, Leclerc is out
Wow – at the restart, Oscar Piastri gets on the front foot. But he makes contact with Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc, who spins, loses a wheel and the Ferrari driver is out! Piastri is second, behind Norris.
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Gabriel Bortoleto made contact with Lance Stroll – hence his spin. Ferrari confirm there is damage to the underside of Hamilton’s car. We’re on lap five and the safety car is due to go in.
Lewis Hamilton may have more damage to his care than just the wing. He had contact Carlo Sainz’s Williams – a first-corner squeeze, after Hamilton had made a poor start. Just unfortunate really.
Safety car
… is out. They need to get Gabriel Bortoleto’s Sauber off the track. The good news is the driver is fine – but a wretched home weekend for the Brazilian. That wasn’t his fault. Lewis Hamilton has damage to his front wing, so he’s got that changed.
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Lap 2/71: Gabriel Bortoleto is out already, the local lad! Oh dear, a tough weekend for him. The yellow flags are out around. He’s crashed out, apparently forced wide.
Lights out
We are under way in São Paulo! Lando Norris gets away smoothly!
A mix of colours as the tyre covers came off, by the way. Good. We’ll see some different strategies today.
We’re close to go time in São Paulo: formation lap has just begun. The flags are flapping in the wind, but no sign of any heavier rain despite the cloud cover. Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon (who also has a new power unit) will start from the pit lane.
One thing going into turn one: perhaps Lando Norris, the fastest driver all weekend so far, will ease away. But if Kimi Antonelli challenges him at the front of the grid, who has more to lose – the driver in a title fight with points to protect or the teenager desperate for a sniff of a first F1 victory?
Not that I’m suggesting Kimi will be super-aggressive. More if it’s elbows out between the pair, it would be sensible for Norris to back off. Possibly. We shall see!
Ten minutes until this race is due to start and still so many individuals – necessary and otherwise – on the track. It’s amazing how quickly they can get it clear.
“I’ll try and make it entertaining,” Oscar Piastri tells Martin with a grin which suggests he’s not feeling the pressure. Perhaps doing the chasing in the title battle will take a weight off his shoulders?
“A bit of mist in the air – it’s a British autumn day out there,” says Oliver Bearman, who will start in eighth.
Martin Brundle is doing his grid walk – quizzing people about what they think the weather will do today like a True Brit. Billy Idol and Seb Vettel are duly collared. Now he’s talking to Linkin Park. Not sure any of these people are trained meteorologists, but it’s all good.
A note to say Max Verstappen is starting this race from the pit lane: he’s taken a new engine, hence the penalty. Red Bull clearly rolling the dice here, anything to try and give their driver a boost – not much of a disadvantage, seeing as he was set to start in 16th.
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I know what everyone is really talking about this weekend: the constructors’ championship!
1) McLaren 721pts
2) Mercedes 368pts
3) Ferrari 362pts
4) Red Bull 351pts
5) Williams 111pts
6) Racing Bulls 72pts
7) Aston Martin 72pts
8) Haas 62pts
9) Sauber 60pts
10) Alpine 21pts
… OK, maybe not, with McLaren boasting a (*crunches numbers*) million-point lead. But look how tight the battle for third is between three teams! Plus there’s an even tighter four-way tussle for sixth … no? You’re still more interested in the drivers’ title? So be it.
Lewis Hamilton has a brief lock up; nothing dramatic but that could well be the sign of a slightly slippery track. The skies look a bit ominous (or hopeful, depending on your view) – they will all start on dry tyres. But, well, let’s see if that lasts.
The drivers are out, getting a feel for the track today. They’re all on dry tyres, not nearly damp enough for anything else, but there is drizzle in the air and a few ponchos in the crowd in Brazil. Interesting.
Drivers’ championship standings:
Lando Norris (McLaren) 365pts
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 356pts
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 326pts
A reminder that Norris – who seems to have all the momentum – is only one result away from ceding the title lead back to his teammate. (Or from Verstappen closing right up on him, if Red Bull can find the balance/pace they seemed to have just a couple of races ago.)
There are speckles of rain in São Paulo – is the rain dance being performed (probably) by Red Bull/Max Verstappen working? We shall see, the forecast isn’t for a downpour like last year. But any rain will be welcomed by Verstappen – even if the McLarens have actually performed very well in the wet this year.
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Qualifying standings
This is how they line up in Brazil.
1) Lando Norris (McLaren)
2) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
3) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4) Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5) Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
6) George Russell (Mercedes)
7) Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
8) Ollie Bearman (Haas)
9) Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
10) Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber)
11) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
12) Alex Albon (Williams)
13) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
14) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
15) Carlos Sainz (Williams)
16) Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
17) Esteban Ocon (Haas)
18) Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
19) Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
20) Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
Max Verstappen in 16th is the headline talking point: the first time he’s gone out in Q1 since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix, which was due to engine problems. Can Red Bull tinker their way to find a setup that lets the four-time world champion take some places? He’ll need to – and fast.
Preamble
Lando Norris is in P1 at Interlagos and No 1 in the title race. Already a sprint winner in Brazil, he’s in pole while his title rivals have struggled this weekend: Oscar Piastri – who crashed out of the sprint – will start fourth, Max Verstappen qualified in 16th(!)
But let’s not count our (McLaren-orange) chickens. It was only two rounds ago when Verstappen seemed to have all the momentum – maximum points from the US GP weekend briefly had him a narrow oddsmakers’ favourite in this three-way title tussle – while Piastri, despite his struggles of late, is only nine points behind Norris. With this race to go, then another three plus a sprint in Qatar, that’s so easily overhauled.
As dominant as Norris looks now, have we had the final twist in this intriguing season? I doubt it. And Interlagos is one of those F1 tracks where magic seems to happen. Last year, Verstappen started a place lower than he is today but earned one of his greatest victories from 17th (on pole that day Norris).
Admittedly, that was in torrential rain and with a Red Bull he actually enjoyed driving, whereas he hasn’t found a setup he likes at all in São Paulo in 2025. But still: Verstappen remains a threat any time he’s on the track and if Piastri can get out of his funk, he has the car and the skill to challenge. Then there’s the wild card of Kimi Antonelli, second in the sprint and on the grid, gunning for his first F1 win and little to lose compared to Norris. The race begins at 5pm (GMT) and it’s an enticing prospect. Feel free to drop me an email with your thoughts!
