São Paulo GP winner Lando Norris: “That was my recipe for first place today”

The São Paulo Grand Prix has been won by Lando Norris; the 26-year-old Englishman claimed victory in Brazil’s entertaining, long-standing race in commanding fashion, ahead of the two Red Bull Racing drivers, Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.

For Norris, this is his 14th victory in the premier class (the same number as Emerson Fittipaldi, Jack Brabham and Graham Hill), his third victory of the season (following wins in Hungary and the Netherlands), his second in Brazil since 2025, and also his 50th Formula 1 podium finish (the same number as Jenson Button). Norris’s team, McLaren, has now won for the 206th time and for the 14th time in Brazil.

After his outstanding performance, Norris said: “That was hard work. My start wasn’t exactly brilliant. The conditions were tricky; at times we were driving on slicks on a wet track. The key to first place today was keeping a cool head and making as few mistakes as possible.”

“I was always able to step it up when I needed to. It feels good to finally win a race again, and the fact that I managed to do so after such a tricky Grand Prix makes it twice as sweet.”

“The team has worked very hard over the past few months, and I always find it frustrating when you can’t reward their efforts with a win. Today, it finally worked out again.”

Topic of the week

World Champion Kimi Antonelli: record-breaker, heart-breaker, the Tifosi’s dream

With his third-place finish at the Mexican Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest of the 36 Formula 1 world champions to date. The 20-year-old Italian is on a record-breaking run. The Tifosi are dreaming of Antonelli in a Ferrari.

Mathias Brunner

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How the São Paulo GP unfolded

A wet Grand Prix, as expected, with the entire field on the green-marked intermediate tyres: pole-sitter Lando Norris got off to a decent start, but Antonelli was clearly better, and Lawson also slipped past Norris.

Lewis Hamilton emerged in P9 after Lap 1, Verstappen in P13. And that from 20th and 21st on the grid!

Top ten after 1 of 71 laps: Antonelli, Lawson, Norris, Hadjar, Russell, Hülkenberg, Albon, Piastri, Hamilton and Bearman.

At the start of the third lap, Verstappen overtook Bearman and moved up to P10 behind Hamilton.

A lap later, Hamilton strayed from the ideal line; Max took full advantage and moved up to 9th place.

Verstappen set off in pursuit of Piastri in P8. It was striking how Verstappen took significantly different lines through the various corners compared to his rivals and compared to when the track was dry.

A heated battle then ensued between Piastri and Verstappen; after Max had stormed Piastri’s stronghold on lap 5, he immediately overtook Albon as well, putting Max in P7, just 12 seconds behind leader Antonelli.

At the front, world champion Antonelli pulled away, whilst four seconds behind him, Lando Norris was putting pressure on the strong Liam Lawson.

An investigation was launched against Hamilton for cutting the corner (during a duel with Bearman on the first lap). Ferrari radioed Hamilton, telling him to let the Haas driver past.

Norris squeezed past Lawson on lap 6, and shortly afterwards Lawson also had to let Hadjar through.

Standings on lap 7 (of 71): Antonelli, Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Russell, Hülkenberg, Verstappen, Piastri, Albon and Hamilton.

On lap 8, Russell also overtook Lawson (Russell now fourth), whilst further back Max Verstappen snatched P6 from Hülkenberg.

Ferrari’s pace? Mediocre: Hamilton gave the position back to Bearman, but also briefly went off the track. On lap 9, Hamilton was down to P12, Leclerc in P13.

The two Ferraris were wheel-to-wheel, with a nervous team principal Fred Vasseur in the command centre, but the drivers gave each other enough space. Hamilton was clearly struggling with his rear tyres and also had to let Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin-Honda pass.

Lap 11: Russell moved up to P3, at the expense of Isack Hadjar.

Hamilton requested a switch to slick tyres over the radio, but race engineer Carlo Santi refused – the timing wasn’t right.

Verstappen was on the radio almost simultaneously: “It’s too early for slicks.”

Lap 13 of 71: Antonelli was already 8 seconds ahead of Norris, who was just 1.2 seconds ahead of Russell, followed by Hadjar, Verstappen now in P5, Lawson, Piastri, Hülkenberg, Albon and Bearman. The Ferraris were in P12 (Leclerc) and P14 (Hamilton).

Hamilton asked for slicks again, but the track was still too wet on the long stretch back to the start-finish line.

On lap 15, Hamilton pitted: new soft tyres! The English superstar dropped back to P20. Naturally, everyone was watching his lap times closely.

Then things happened in quick succession: Norris in, Russell in, Hadjar in; Antonelli stayed out, Verstappen stayed out too and was now second.

Drama: Russell spun on exiting the pit lane! A lot of time was lost there.

A lap later, Antonelli also pitted, as did Verstappen, as Hamilton was now setting by far the fastest laps. So slicks were the right choice.

On lap 18, the new order was: Antonelli, Norris, Hadjar, Verstappen, Lawson, Piastri, Russell, Hülkenberg, Albon, Lindblad, Hamilton.

Kimi on the radio: “Something’s wrong with the car.” The Italian now had Norris hot on his heels. Were the tyres not up to temperature? Antonelli on the radio again: “No, it’s the suspension.”

Then came the shock on lap 20: Kimi spun in the first corner, and Lando Norris took the opportunity to overtake.

Where was Hamilton, who’d got it right with the slicks? In P11.

Hadjar squeezed past Antonelli on lap 21, whilst Kimi remained in trouble, with Verstappen closing in.

Kimi on the radio again: “Bono, the car’s pulling to one side when I accelerate, that’s really odd.”

Lap 23 of 71: Radio problems again at Red Bull Racing with Verstappen, who remained fourth behind Norris, Hadjar and Antonelli.

On lap 24, Kimi went wide again at Turn 1, allowing Verstappen to slip past. Max was now in a podium position!

Ferrari were struggling: Hamilton in P11, Leclerc in P14. The Monegasque driver couldn’t get any heat into his rear tyres.

Antonelli was instructed to keep a cool head. Kimi was in despair over the radio: “Yes, but there’s a problem with the car – I can’t take left-hand corners; it’s as if the car is steering itself.”

Mercedes could find no damage to the car; the suspicion was that the tyres hadn’t warmed up evenly. Antonelli was in P4.

A duel lasting several laps between Hülkenberg and Russell for P7; further back, Hamilton regained pace, sitting in P9 ahead of Lindblad.

Lap 30 of 71: McLaren warned leader Norris that rain was due in ten minutes. And Russell finally overtook Hülkenberg.

Verstappen in P3 couldn’t close the gap on Hadjar: too little downforce on the rear axle compared to the front, throwing the car off balance. The team were unsure whether Max had lost a part of the car.

Standings on lap 33 of 71: Norris 5 seconds ahead of Hadjar, who was 3 seconds ahead of Verstappen, who was 8 seconds ahead of Antonelli, followed by Piastri, Lawson, Russell, Hülkenberg, Hamilton and Lindblad. Charles Leclerc was still in P14.

Subsequently, Hadjar lost time to the leader Norris, whilst Verstappen closed the gap, sensing a chance of P2 (and that from P21 …).

A massive rain cell passed over the northern part of the circuit, but threatened to brush the track.

Lap 38: Red Bull Racing asked Hadjar to let Verstappen through; the young Parisian immediately made way. Max, however, was now already 9 seconds behind Norris.

Hamilton pitted again on lap 39 for a fresh set of soft tyres. Lewis dropped a lap behind the leader, Norris.

On lap 44, the driver in car number 44 found his rhythm: Hamilton overtook Norris. Lando discussed over the radio whether he should simply finish the race on his current set of tyres.

Verstappen was asked if he would consider doing the same. Max: “No, we can’t do that.”

Verstappen wasn’t closing the gap on Norris at this stage, and Hadjar behind him timidly enquired whether he could get his P2 back.

By lap 45, the matter had resolved itself: Verstappen picked up a second set of fresh, softer tyres.

Standings on lap 47: Norris, Hadjar, Antonelli, Piastri, Verstappen, Russell, Lawson, Leclerc, Hamilton and Alonso, with Hülkenberg in P12.

McLaren brought leader Norris into the pits on lap 50. Lando dropped back to P4.

As Hadjar also pitted, Antonelli was back in the lead, 7 seconds ahead of Norris, who was 6 seconds ahead of Verstappen.

Mercedes’ strategy for Antonelli: wait and see what happens in terms of safety car periods or rain. But the tyres didn’t hold out: Kimi also came into the pits.

A bitter pill to swallow for Audi driver Nico Hülkenberg: a 10-second penalty for the German for running off the track and, according to the stewards, gaining an unfair advantage. This occurred during Nico’s duel with Colapinto.

It started to drizzle again on lap 56. With heavier rain setting in about five or six laps from the end.

Mercedes asked Russell not to hold up Antonelli as he was closing in. Which George didn’t do.

Standings on lap 58 of 71: Norris, Verstappen, Hadjar, Antonelli, Russell, Piastri, Lawson, Leclerc, Hamilton and Hülkenberg.

It began to rain harder and harder. On lap 60, Antonelli was in Hadjar’s slipstream. The conditions called for intermediate tyres. The old fox Alonso was the first driver to pick them up.

Norris pitted on lap 63, Verstappen followed suit, as did half the field.

Then a yellow flag: Hamilton spun halfway round, hitting the wall with his rear wing! Miraculously, the Ferrari star avoided the wall on the uphill section – and finally picked up his intermediates as well.

Mercedes swapped the drivers round: Russell overtook Antonelli, as George was faster at this stage and the chance to take third place from Hadjar beckoned.

But Russell had his concerns: “Something’s just not right with this car.” – “Wait until the tyres are up to temperature.” – “It’s got nothing to do with tyre temperature.”

Norris took the win in this race, ahead of Verstappen and Hadjar. Having secured the Drivers’ Championship with Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes also clinched the Constructors’ Championship thanks to Russell’s P4 and Kimi’s P5.