Verstappen storms to P3 from the pit lane as Norris wins dramatic São Paulo Grand Prix

Lando Norris took a dominant victory in São Paulo to cap a clean-sweep weekend, while Max Verstappen charged through the field to third from the pit lane, missing out on second to Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli.

Credit: Formula One

The number of rounds left this season is steadily ticking down, with São Paulo as one of the last stops on the calendar. A venue steeped in racing history, Formula One returned to another sprint weekend in Interlagos with Lando Norris back in the championship lead for the first time since April.

Norris extended this lead with a dominant victory ahead of Kimi Antonelli's stellar weekend, while Max Verstappen executed one of his career-best drives to claw his way through the field from the pit lane up to third.

Meanwhile, it was a disastrous weekend for Oscar Piastri who finished sixth following a 10-second time penalty, who now slips further behind in the championship.

Here's how an action-packed São Paulo Grand Prix played out.

Race Report

Verstappen’s camp opted for a pit lane start following extensive changes made to his RB21 under parc fermé, who was joined by Esteban Ocon.

Norris on the medium compound led off 18 cars from the grid down to the Senna S, hanging onto the lead ahead of Antonelli on the soft compound. 

The top three of Norris, Antonelli and Charles Leclerc remained intact through the first lap, while further back, Brazilian rookie Gabriel Bortoleto crashed out yet again at Bico de Pato, bringing a miserable home Grand Prix to an unfortunate end on the opening lap.

Lewis Hamilton had a disappointing start too, plummeting down to 19th from 13th after a tap with Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto, the Alpine driver locking-up.

A Safety Car was quickly brought out to clear the debris from both incidents, Yuki Tsunoda and Hamilton popping into the pits and the Ferrari driver taking a front-wing change.

The top five down to Isack Hadjar remained as they were before the five-lap Safety Car period, with Liam Lawson managing to get past George Russell for sixth.

The restart was as chaotic as the race start, another yellow flag brought on after Piastri, Antonelli and Leclerc went three-wide into the Senna S, the McLaren driver tapping Antonelli who in turn made contact with Leclerc. 

The Ferrari driver sustained heavy damage to his front-left, taking him out of the race and bringing out a Virtual Safety Car (VSC).

Meanwhile, Verstappen picked up a front-right puncture that forced him to peel back to the pits for a change of boots.

Max Verstappen was forced to take an early stop after picking up a puncture | Credit: Formula One

As the VSC ended on Lap 9, the top two were championship rivals Norris and Piastri, the Australian driver tucked right behind Norris with DRS enabled.

Leclerc’s retirement promoted Hadjar to fourth, while Red Bull’s senior driver Verstappen was beginning to make progress again, now running 16th with the fastest lap.

Just ahead of the defending champion, Hamilton in 15th was battling Colapinto, struggling for pace with floor damage.

At the head of the field, Russell slipped past Hadjar to take fourth, making up two positions from where he started.

Meanwhile, Tsunoda received a 10-second time penalty for an incident with Lance Stroll early in the race.

His teammate Verstappen was on a charge of his own, climbing up to 14th behind Tsunoda after overtaking Hamilton.

The seven-time champion took yet another trip through the pits, taking on the grippier medium tyres in an effort to salvage something from a disastrous day for the Scuderia.

A defining moment in the race came with a 10-second time penalty for Piastri for the incident at the Safety Car restart, no doubt good news for Norris and Verstappen too, who had managed to claw his way to ninth.

Hadjar, Gasly, Bearman and Sainz took their stops on Laps 18 and 19, promoting Verstappen further up the order.

The first of the front-runners to stop was Antonelli who had started on the softs, and in the lead, Norris extended his gap to nearly five seconds ahead of Piastri, while Piastri’s camp was planning to go long.

The mid-field pack was alive with overtakes left and right, Bearman and Gasly being the stars of many of those passes. On the other hand, Bearman’s experienced teammate Ocon was clearly struggling after starting from the pit lane and was unable to make inroads on track.

On Lap 26, the top 10 was occupied by Norris, Piastri, Russell, Verstappen, Alex Albon, Nico Hülkenberg, Antonelli, Fernando Alonso, Bearman and Colapinto – everyone  yet to pit barring Verstappen, Antonelli and Bearman.

Meanwhile, Tsunoda’s weekend further unravelled as he was pinged for not serving his 10-second time penalty correctly, adding another 10-second penalty to his card.

It was yet another busy day in the stewards’ office, as Hamilton in 14th was handed a five-second time penalty for tagging Colapinto at the start.

Alonso came in for his stop on Lap 29, while on track, Antonelli moved up to sixth after overtaking Hülkenberg. 

The Aston Martin was followed into the pits by race leader Norris, McLaren executing a 2.2-second stop and the Briton rejoining the track fourth but dramatically, just behind Verstappen who was now running in the podium positions.

It was an easy pass for Norris on a driver he’s often come to odds with in the past, with much fresher soft tyres compared to Verstappen’s worn out mediums.

On Lap 35, Verstappen and Russell took to the pits, while on track, fellow Frenchmen Gasly and Hadjar were engaged in an exciting scrap for seventh. 

At this point, Piastri was still in the lead following Norris’ pit stop, nine seconds ahead of his teammate. The two McLarens were joined at the top by former Formula 2 teammates Antonelli and Bearman, but Russell soon swept past the Haas rookie for fourth.

Piastri then peeled in to change tyres and serve his penalty, while Hamilton was finally put out of his misery with a call to retire the car, recording a double DNF for Ferrari and packing a blow to their Constructors’ battle with Mercedes and Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton's retirement completed a disastrous weekend for Ferrari who have now dropped down to fourth in the Constructors' standings following their double DNF | Credit: Formula One

Verstappen was now firmly in the fight for the final podium spot, the Dutchman flying during the race after the complete overhaul of the RB21 following his Q1 exit.

On Lap 43, Bearman took his second stop of the day, rejoining the pack in 11th after a sticky change of tyres. The Briton then slipped back into the points after a smooth overtake on Alonso, his charge continuing with a clinical pass on Hülkenberg for seventh.

Piastri on the other hand was enduring a bumpier afternoon, coming on the radio to state that his strategy “doesn't look very pretty”, with his championship hopes on the line.

Antonelli took his final stop on Lap 48, taking a fresh set of mediums, while Tsunoda also entered the pits to serve his second penalty. Mercedes then called Russell in too, the Briton also in contention for a podium against Piastri and Verstappen.

With 20 laps to go, Norris took his final stop of the day, promoting Verstappen to the race lead after starting from the pit lane, the Red Bull driver quipping: “Not bad!”

Piastri was called in as well, who came back out in seventh. The top five were now the flying Dutchman, Norris, Antonelli, Russell and Lawson.

The gap between Verstappen on the used mediums and Norris on the fresher compound was now seven seconds, when Red Bull called the race leader back into the pits, who rejoined ahead of both Lawson and Piastri in sixth.

Piastri now had the fastest lap, and made a much-needed pass on Lawson to slot in behind Verstappen, who began to pile the pressure on Russell ahead in third.

At this stage, it was all down to tyre management between the top five — Verstappen on softs with the rest on mediums — his race engineer informing him: “P2 is on, assuming you can control the deg.”

With Verstappen on the charge and 10 laps remaining, the Mercedes pit wall was no doubt sweating. On Lap 63, the driver bearing the number 63 was clinically passed by Verstappen through the Senna S, promoting the Red Bull driver to an astounding third place after starting from the pit lane.

At six laps to go, Piastri was closing in on Russell while Verstappen began to hunt down Antonelli.

Meanwhile, another battle was gaining traction, this one for seventh between four cars: Lawson, Hülkenberg, Hadjar and Gasly.

Verstappen was looming large in Antonelli’s mirrors throughout the penultimate and final laps, but the Italian rookie’s sturdy defence kept Verstappen at bay, who ultimately finished third after a truly mighty effort from dead last. 

Norris cruised to a perfect victory to extend his championship lead over Piastri, the Australian driver unable to get past fourth-placed Russell and having to settle for fifth. 

Bearman, Lawson, Hadjar, Hülkenberg and Gasly completed the points-scorers after a drag race to the chequered flag, all drivers collecting crucial points in the extremely tight Constructors’ battle.

Full results can be found here.

Championship Standings

Norris' dominant weekend, with both a sprint and Grand Prix win, sees the Briton extend his lead to 24 points ahead of Piastri, just one point under a race win.

Meanwhile, the threat of Verstappen looms ever-larger, the Dutchman just one race win's sum behind Piastri in third.

With the top three within 49 points of each other, the three-way battle for the title is now completely on, at just three rounds and a sprint remaining.

The Constructors' title is just as dramatic: Ferrari's double DNF sees them drop down to fourth in the standings, four points behing Red Bull who are in turn 32 points behind second-placed Mercedes.

Further back, the mid-field battle is tightly packed as well, Racing Bulls, Aston Martin, Haas and Sauber all within 24 points of each other.

Key Quotes

Despite Norris' dominant victory, the Driver of the Day was undoubtedly Verstappen, who was jubilant after the race: "The race was full on. Our pace was quite strong. To be on the podium from the pit lane, I didn't expect that at all - with the puncture as well.

"Incredible result for us. We never give up."

Race winner Norris shared: "It was a great win, but to see how quick Max [Verstappen] 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."

Rookie driver Antonelli also had reason to celebrate, scoring his highest F1 finish till date with P2 after holding Verstappen off: "The last few laps were very stressful with Max coming with fresher tyres.

"I found my rhythm, I raised the pace and started to push a bit more. In the dirty air it is hard to follow, I tried to use that to my advantage and it paid off!"

Up Next

It’s down to the final three now, with Las Vegas coming up next from 20th to 22nd November. F1 will head to the entertainment capital of the world for a thrilling battle under the lights, as we continue the chase to crown this year’s champion.