Norris wins wild Brazil GP as Verstappen charges from 21st and Mercedes seal the title

Lando Norris has won the São Paulo Grand Prix. It was his third win of the season, and his second in a row at Interlagos.

It wasn’t easy. Norris lost the lead at the start. The race went from wet to dry, then wet again. He stayed calm, made no mistakes, and won by 14.6 seconds.

Max Verstappen finished second after starting 21st. His team-mate Isack Hadjar was third.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were fourth and fifth. That was enough for Mercedes to win the 2026 constructors’ title, a week after Antonelli won the drivers’ title. It’s the team’s ninth constructors’ crown.

Race results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Pts
1	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:35:23.504	25
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+14.602s	18
3	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	+24.485s	15
4	George Russell	Mercedes	+33.991s	12
5	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+41.017s*	10
6	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+56.475s	8
7	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1:15.402	6
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+1:18.586*	4
9	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+1 lap	2
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+1 lap	1
11	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1 lap	0
12	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+1 lap	0
13	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+1 lap	0
14	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1 lap	0
15	Alex Albon	Williams	+1 lap	0
16	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1 lap	0
17	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+1 lap	0
18	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+2 laps	0
19	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+2 laps	0
20	Rafael Camara	Haas	+2 laps	0
DNF	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	Battery	0
DNS	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	Wheel nut	0

*Includes a five-second penalty. Leclerc’s dropped him behind Lawson after the race. Results: Formula 1, PlanetF1.

How the race played out

Drama before the start. Antonelli spun on his lap to the grid, sliding onto the wet grass at Turn 12. He got going again with no damage.

Bottas never started. His Cadillac had a stuck wheel nut on the grid. The mechanics even tried a hammer, then wheeled the car away.

A bad start for Norris. Everyone began on intermediates, the tyres for a damp track. Norris got wheelspin off the line. Antonelli shot into the lead from second, and Lawson swept around the outside to take second.

Hamilton, on his 400th F1 start, went from 20th to ninth on the first lap. He had to give one place back to Oliver Bearman for passing him off the track. Verstappen went from 21st to 13th, then eighth by lap 5.

The switch to slicks. The track dried fast. Hamilton was the first to pit for soft tyres, on lap 14. Norris, Russell and Hadjar followed on lap 16.

Russell’s stop went wrong. He spun at the pit exit and brushed the wall, losing several places.

Antonelli pitted a lap later and kept the lead, but only by two seconds. On fresh, warm tyres, Norris was right with him. Antonelli radioed that “something is weird with the car”. On lap 20 he spun at Turn 1, and Norris took the lead. Antonelli went off at Turn 1 twice more after that.

Norris pulls away. By lap 23 the track was fully dry. Norris led Hadjar by 3.3 seconds, with Verstappen closing in. Verstappen passed his team-mate on lap 38.

Teams kept warning of rain. It took a long time to come. Most drivers made a second stop for fresh softs. Russell and Leclerc went 45 laps on one set.

The rain returns. Late in the race, it finally started raining again. Russell and Alonso were the first back onto intermediates, at the end of lap 61. Everyone else followed.

Hamilton stayed out too long and spun on the climb from Turn 12, brushing the wall. Antonelli was investigated for pulling out of his pit box in front of an Alpine.

Russell was quicker on his fresher inters, so Mercedes swapped its drivers twice. Antonelli let Russell by for fourth, and that’s how they finished.

Norris was never really threatened at the end. He won by 14.6 seconds.

The race in numbers: Russell and Leclerc did 45 laps on one set of softs, and Antonelli set the fastest lap. Image: Pirelli

What they said

Norris: “I wasn’t too pleased,” he said of losing the lead at the start. But he knew rain or a Safety Car could change things. “Normally, I probably would get a little bit more angry in that situation, but I stayed patient and things came back to me beautifully,” he said in the press conference.

He also said McLaren still isn’t quick enough to fight for a title. “We’re not at the level we need to be to fight for a World Championship just yet.”

Verstappen: it was his eighth podium in a row, but he thinks his car was damaged after the switch to slicks. “I actually did most of the race with a car that was not in good shape, and to finish second, of course, is fantastic,” he said.

Hadjar: it was his third podium of the season, in what he called “definitely the most challenging conditions I’ve ever faced.” He also apologised for a wide moment while fighting Verstappen. “I need to make a few less mistakes,” he said.

The rest of the field

• Piastri finished sixth for McLaren.
• Lawson was second after one lap, but his tyres faded. Leclerc passed him on the second-to-last lap, but got a five-second penalty for colliding with him. So Lawson finished seventh.
• Hamilton recovered to ninth after his late spin.
• Hulkenberg took the last point for Audi, despite a 10-second penalty for going off at Turn 1.
• Albon got a five-second penalty for an incident at Turn 1 while fighting Alonso, and finished 15th.
• Camara reached the finish on his debut, in 20th, after sliding off more than once.
• Stroll retired with a battery problem.

What’s next

F1 heads to the Las Vegas Grand Prix, on 19 to 21 November. The race is on Saturday night. Then come Qatar and the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Both titles are now decided. That leaves wins, podiums and second place in the drivers’ standings to fight for.

Verstappen isn’t sure Red Bull will be quick in Vegas. “It’s so cold over there that you get very different behaviour from every car,” he said. “That’s the key, to be honest, around there.”

Going to Las Vegas? Our Las Vegas guide has the map, schedule and tips.