Norris wins from Verstappen storming to second from 21st, Mercedes secure title in Interlagos
Lando Norris converted pole to victory in Interlagos, with Max Verstappen storming from 21st on the grid to second and Isack Hadjar joining his teammate on the podium, as Mercedes officially secured the 2026 Constructors' Championship in an action-packed São Paulo Grand Prix.
Race Report
As Norris led the grid off on the formation lap, intermediate tyres were the order of the day for all the drivers, with the track still damp from earlier showers. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas’ race was over before it began with a wheel nut not coming loose ahead of the start as he was pulled off the grid.
As the five lights went out, Antonelli immediately seized the lead from Norris as Liam Lawson made up a place on the McLaren driver too, Norris dropping to third.
Further back, both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen had incredible starts, making up heaps of positions through the opening lap. By Lap 2, Hamilton was in ninth hunting down Oscar Piastri for eighth while Verstappen was in 11th.
Into Lap 3, the top 10 was led by Antonelli followed by Lawson, Norris, Isack Hadjar, George Russell, Nico Hülkenberg, Alex Albon, Piastri, Hamilton and Verstappen.
Soon enough, Verstappen overtook Hamilton for ninth as the Ferrari driver went wide. This opened up a battle between Verstappen and Piastri, the two drivers going back-and-forth into Lap 5. The Red Bull driver won that fight, overtaking Albon too for seventh.
At the sharp end of the field, Norris continued to find himself stuck behind Lawson, but managed to pass the Racing Bulls driver into Turns 7, 8 and 9. This left Lawson to the mercy of Russell, who got past him into Turn 2.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Bearman, and was ordered to give the position back, as the Ferrari driver fell back to 11th. This quickly became 12th as Arvid Lindblad came through, placing Hamilton right in front of teammate Charles Leclerc.
Meanwhile, fellow driver who’d started at the back of the grid, Verstappen, had scythed through the field to reach sixth.
Hamilton soon began to struggle, as he was overtaken by both Leclerc and Alonso. Hamilton, desperate to swap his intermediates for slicks, was met with a negative to his request from Ferrari.
Up in the podium places, Russell managed to get by Hadjar for third.
On Lap 15, Hamilton blinked first for the soft tyres with a 2.5-second pitstop. Carlos Sainz followed, becoming the second driver to ditch the intermediate tyres. Seeing Hamilton’s out-lap as he fired up his soft tyres, the pitlanes saw a flurry of activity.
While in the pits, Russell spun in the pitlane but managed to keep it out of the barriers as other cars exiting the pits had to take evading action to avoid Russell as he recovered his car and rejoined the track. After the first cycle of stops, on Lap 18, all the drivers had switched to slicks.
As Antonelli’s gap was wiped clean, the newly crowned champion was being hunted down by last year’s champion Norris, as Antonelli came over the radio to complain that his car was feeling weird.
Antonelli’s concerns came to be valid as he spun out of the lead, Norris moving up to first. As the Mercedes driver managed to recover, he was swiftly passed by Hadjar on track.
On Lap 21 of 71, the top 10 saw Norris on top once again followed by Hadjar, Antonelli, Verstappen, Lawson, Piastri, Hülkenberg, Russell, Albon and Lindblad.
The latter two drivers were having an intense battle of their own, going wheel-to-wheel and avoiding race-ending contact by a hair’s breadth.
Meanwhile, Antonelli went off the road once again, allowing Verstappen to breeze past into third after starting 21st. Hadjar, a place ahead of him, was then warned of rain in 15 laps.
Russell was struggling too after his spin in the pitlane and now finding himself stuck behind the Audi of Hülkenberg, but on Lap 30, finally got ahead into seventh.
With 40 laps to go, Antonelli had seemingly settled into a rhythm after his bout of balance issues, steadily running in fourth but nearly seven seconds off Verstappen now in second.
Elsewhere, Lance Stroll recorded his 14th retirement of the season as he was ordered to return to the garage after a problem was spotted on the car. Meanwhile, Stroll’s veteran teammate was duelling for the last of the points with Albon and Lindblad.
On Lap 39, Hamilton came into the pits for fresher rubber with another pair of softs, just as out on track, Leclerc passed Alonso for 10th.
Hamilton rejoined in 14th, right behind Franco Colapinto.
Meanwhile, Albon received a five-second penalty for rejoining the track unsafely during an earlier battle with Pierre Gasly.
On Lap 46, Verstappen peeled into the pits, promoting Hadjar to second. While Verstappen was weary of going long, hence the stop, Hadjar was happy to take his tyres to the end.
At this stage, the top 10 was occupied by Norris, Hadjar, Antonelli, Piastri, Verstappen, Russell, Lawson, Leclerc, Hamilton and Colapinto, after Alonso pitted from 10th.
Hadjar meanwhile reported rain over the radio, as Norris boxed from the lead and rejoined the fray in fourth ahead of Verstappen.
On the fringes of the points, Colapinto, Hülkenberg and Lindblad were tangled up in a dicey scrap for positions, going back-and-forth. The Audi driver was soon noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, resulting in a 10-second time penalty.
Up in the lead, Hadjar’s side of the garage seemed to have bailed out of the one-stop, as he too came into the pits for fresh rubber. Piastri followed suit on Lap 52 while Antonelli took his stop two laps later.
After the latest round of stops, Norris found himself back in the lead followed by Verstappen, Hadjar, Russell, Antonelli, Piastri, Leclerc, Lawson, Hamilton and Hülkenberg who was yet to serve his penalty.
On Lap 55 of 71, Norris received the message that possible heavier rain was to be expected.
Russell was then told not to hold Antonelli up, letting the Italian driver through into fourth. Ferrari was another team executing team orders, after Lawson overtook Leclerc and the Monégasque driver was asked to let Hamilton by into eighth.
The rain soon began to fall, as the lap times plummeted with it. Meanwhile, with 10 laps to go, the battle for third was gaining traction between Hadjar and Antonelli.
As the track became slippery once more and fat drops of rain descended, all the drivers scurried into the pits in quick succession for intermediate tyres.
Hamilton was one of the last drivers to pit, having a spin at Turn 15 before boxing after tapping the wall with his rear wing. Meanwhile, Antonelli was noted for an unsafe release.
On Lap 65 of 71, Norris remained the race leader followed by Verstappen, Hadjar, Russell, Antonelli, Piastri, Lawson, Leclerc, Hamilton and Lindblad. The battle for 10th continued in the rain, as Hülkenberg took the place from Lindblad out of Turn 3, locked in for the final point having served his penalty.
The rain continued into the penultimate lap, as Leclerc and Lawson went wheel-to-wheel for seventh place, making contact. The Ferrari driver got his way, squirreling past the Racing Bulls car, while the incident between the two was noted by Race Control.
As the chequered flag fell, Norris clinched the victory from pole, Verstappen secured second from 21st and Hadjar took another podium with Red Bull.
Just behind the podium finishers, Russell and Antonelli finished fourth and fifth to claim Mercedes’ first Constructors’ title in five years.
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