Norris completes perfect weekend with São Paulo Grand Prix victory

McLaren's Lando Norris capped off a flawless weekend at Interlagos with victory in the São Paulo Grand Prix, leading home Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who produced a remarkable recovery drive from the pit lane to finish third.

“It was a perfect weekend,” said Norris. “An amazing race, nice to win here in Brazil. Amazing track, amazing fans. It was a great win, but to see how quick Max was today, I’m disappointed we weren’t quicker. We need to see what we can do. The championship can change so quickly, so I just focus on myself, keep my head down and keep pushing.”

Max Verstappen and Sir Lewis Hamilton started outside of the top ten but held a potential strategic advantage with new tyres available. Verstappen, starting from the pit lane, and Hamilton, lining up thirteenth, were expected to be major threats if the race unfolded in their favour. Ultimately, only one of them would turn that opportunity into a result.

Chaos from the start

It was another miserable afternoon for Hamilton, who holds honorary Brazilian citizenship and has often spoken of his deep affection for racing at Interlagos. His weekend went from bad to worse almost immediately after lights out, as the Ferrari driver dropped five places off the line despite starting on soft tyres.

His race quickly unravelled after contact at Turn 1 with the Williams of Carlos Sainz, which damaged the floor of his car. Later on the opening lap, a misjudged move behind Franco Colapinto’s Alpine on the main straight caused further damage to his front wing, forcing him into an early pit stop for repairs.

“After the hit it felt like the rear suspension was broken, but they [the team] said that it seemed to be alright,” Hamilton said. “Then the loss of downforce, I think we were losing 30 or 40 points of downforce. So when you were going through the high-speed corners the thing was snapping, and I was giving everything to try and keep up with the guys ahead of me and I had no chance. It was definitely a weekend to forget and it’s a shame because I really love Brazil." He was hopeful, though, that the team would rebound. “We’ll get back up tomorrow and give it all we’ve got.”

Local favourite Gabriel Bortoleto endured a nightmare weekend at his home Grand Prix. After suffering the biggest crash of his career in Saturday’s Sprint, the Kick Sauber driver started Sunday’s race from eighteenth on the grid, hopeful of a better outcome in front of the passionate Interlagos crowd. However, halfway through the opening lap, Bortoleto was squeezed by Lance Stroll and spun into the barrier, retiring to the dismay of the home fans.

“It’s been one of the toughest weekends of my whole career,” said Bortoleto. “I see my fans, my family and my team here, and for them it is also important. One of the biggest accidents I’ve had in my career. I think it was a combination of things and then not doing a single lap in the race after having a good start. Up until that moment I was already up two positions and going for a third move. I just had contact with Lance. I don’t want to point fingers, I think it’s a racing incident. In the first lap anything can happen. Obviously I was on the outside and I didn’t get any space from him, but it’s also difficult for him to judge that I’m there. I just want to move on and focus on the next race.”

The Safety Car was deployed and remained out until the end of lap 5.

Drama on the restart

As racing resumed, Norris, Antonelli and McLaren's Oscar Piastri went three wide into Turn 1. Piastri stayed on the inside while Norris held the outside line, but Antonelli and Piastri made contact, sending the Mercedes into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. Leclerc lost his front-left tyre and was forced to retire. The incident occurred at Turn 1, at the restart, and was reviewed by the stewards, who handed Piastri a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.

Piastri moved to second behind Norris, while Antonelli dropped to third. Meanwhile, Verstappen, having started from the pit lane, had already climbed to thirteenth but then pitted due to a puncture.

Leclerc later commented on the incident saying “Oscar was optimistic, but Kimi knew that Oscar was on the inside, and he kind of did the corner like Oscar was never there. For me the blame is not all on Oscar. Yes, it was optimistic, but this could have been avoided. I’m frustrated, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was all Oscar’s fault. I don’t think it is.”

Verstappen charges through

By lap 21, Verstappen had fought his way up to fifth despite his early stop, showing relentless pace on the medium tyres. Antonelli pitted soon after, dropping to eleventh, while Norris stopped on lap 30, briefly handing the lead to Piastri.

With fresh softs, Norris made rapid progress, passing Verstappen on lap 33 to move into third. Russell pitted on lap 35, rejoining seventh. Verstappen pitted shortly after and fell back to twelfth but began his second charge. Hamilton’s afternoon ended on lap 38 when Ferrari called him in to retire the car.

By lap 51, Norris was back on track after his final stop, while Verstappen took the lead with 20 laps remaining on medium tyres. He pitted again on lap 55 for fresh softs, rejoined fourth and began closing rapidly.

The charge to the finish

By lap 63, Verstappen’s comeback was complete as he passed George Russell around the outside of Turn 1 to move into third. Antonelli trailed just two seconds ahead, making for a tense finish. Norris managed his lead expertly, crossing the line to win. Antonelli held off Verstappen’s late surge for second, while Verstappen completed the podium.

“The race was full on,” said Verstappen. “Our pace was quite strong. To be on the podium from the pit lane, I didn’t expect that at all, especially with the puncture as well. Incredible result for us. We never give up. I just tried to pass as fast as possible, but some cars were in DRS trains so it wasn’t straightforward. With all that, to finish ten seconds from the lead was incredible.”

Antonelli admitted that keeping Verstappen behind was one of the toughest challenges of his rookie season.

“I don’t know where this guy came from to be honest, I didn’t see him coming,” he said with a smile. “The last few laps were very stressful with Max coming with fresher tyres. I found my rhythm, raised the pace and started to push a bit more. In the dirty air it is hard to follow, so I tried to use that to my advantage and it paid off.”

Piastri, who finished fifth despite his penalty, reflected on the incident and his overall pace.

“I had a very clear opportunity, I went for it,” he said. “The other two on the outside braked quite late. There was obviously a bit of a lock-up into the corner, but that’s because I could see Kimi was not going to give me any space. I can’t disappear, but the decision is what it is.

Today, the penalty was one thing, but I don’t think the pace was at the level that I wanted it to be. The second half of the race was potentially not too bad, but the first stint was a little bit tough. Just trying to get back on top of things and have the best weekends we can.”

With 83 points still up for grabs across the remaining rounds, the championship remains wide open between Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen. The fight now shifts to the United States as Formula 1 heads to the Las Vegas Grand Prix, taking place from November 20–22, where the dazzling street circuit under the lights will play host to the 22nd showdown of the season.