Marco Rossi · F1 Correspondent
A weekend that began around midday on Friday with lap times separated by hundredths of a second and ended on Sunday afternoon with a world championship trophy for Mercedes and one of the most impressive comeback drives of the season.
Lando Norris won the São Paulo Grand Prix at Autódromo José Carlos Pace on Sunday, his third victory of the 2026 season, in a race that swung back and forth between wet and dry. But what stays from this weekend is more than the name on the top step of the podium: Max Verstappen went from 21st on the grid all the way to second, Mercedes wrapped up the constructors' championship early thanks to fourth and fifth place for George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and between first practice on Friday and the checkered flag on Sunday afternoon the balance of power in the field shifted more than once.
Three practices, three pacesetters, then the wave of penalties
The weekend opened with a lively back-and-forth at the front. Norris was fastest in first practice, Antonelli took over on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday morning it was none other than Verstappen who set the benchmark, knowing full well that it would have no bearing on the grid: He had exceeded his season allocation of power unit parts and was going to start from the very back regardless of the result. In qualifying proper on Saturday afternoon, interrupted twice by red flags for torrential rain and for Rafael Câmara's trip into the wall, Norris secured his third straight pole at Interlagos, ahead of Russell, Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.
But qualifying told only half the story. Russell had to give up five grid places for a new internal combustion engine, Leclerc was hit even harder with ten places, and Hamilton, after a change of his complete power unit, as well as Verstappen and Sergio Pérez, after swapping several power unit parts beyond their allocation, were starting from the back anyway. The beneficiaries of the reshuffle were drivers who had already outdone themselves in wet qualifying: Liam Lawson and Nico Hülkenberg had put together strong laps in the rain to take fifth and sixth and moved further up thanks to their rivals' penalties, and Oscar Piastri benefited as well, starting 10th instead of 12th.
Verstappen's drive through the field, a tight midfield and a difficult back of the pack
Norris lost the lead to Antonelli at Turn 1 but got it back through the tire change, when McLaren switched to slicks one lap earlier than Mercedes and Antonelli spun while leading shortly afterward. From then on Norris managed his advantage with ease, even when rain returned in the closing laps and forced the field back onto intermediates. At the finish he was 14.602 seconds clear of Verstappen, who worked his way forward from the last row through all the changing conditions and delivered the standout individual performance of the weekend. Isack Hadjar completed the podium in the second Red Bull. He ran ahead of Verstappen for part of the race before letting him by on Lap 38 on team orders so that Verstappen could chase Norris. Antonelli picked up a five-second penalty for an unsafe release from the pits but kept fifth place.
In the midfield, Piastri in particular delivered a strong result: Starting 10th, he finished sixth and salvaged valuable points for McLaren alongside Norris' win. Liam Lawson, who had benefited from a favorable grid position, moved up to seventh thanks to a post-race five-second penalty against Charles Leclerc for colliding with him, while the same penalty dropped Leclerc to eighth. Behind them came Hamilton, who crossed the line a lap down in ninth in his 400th Grand Prix start after coming from far back, a result that had little to do with the milestone and much to do with Ferrari's difficult weekend. Hülkenberg, who had started fourth, finished 10th after a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Toward the back of the field, the biggest gap between qualifying and the race belonged to Oliver Bearman: After eighth in qualifying and sixth on the grid, he dropped to 17th following slow pit stops, the steepest fall of anyone in the field. His five-second penalty for an unsafe release made no difference. Arvid Lindblad finished 11th, Fernando Alonso 12th, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly took 13th and 14th for Alpine, Alexander Albon was 15th, and Gabriel Bortoleto worked his way up to 16th after his crash in Q1 and starting 19th. At Cadillac it was, as team principal Marcin Budkowski put it, a challenging day: Sergio Pérez fell back to 18th after a slow pit stop, Carlos Sainz (Williams) was 19th. Rafael Câmara ended his first home weekend as a Formula 1 driver, his debut for Haas, in 20th, Lance Stroll retired, and Valtteri Bottas never made it to the start because of a cross-threaded wheel nut on the right rear.
Mercedes crowned constructors' champion, the standings behind Antonelli remain open
Fourth and fifth for Russell and Antonelli were enough for Mercedes to secure the constructors' championship for the ninth time and the first time since 2021, a week after Antonelli had already clinched the drivers' title in Mexico. With 652 points, the team is well clear of Ferrari on 512 and Red Bull on 415, while McLaren follows on 398 despite Norris' win, an indication that Mercedes built its dominance over the entire season and not just on individual weekends.
In the drivers' standings, Antonelli leads with 390 points ahead of Verstappen on 279, Russell on 262, Hamilton on 261, Leclerc on 251 and Norris on 246. The McLaren winner's deficit to the leading group shows how uneven the season has been for him, while Verstappen's comeback at least demonstrated that he remains among the fastest drivers in the field even from the most unfavorable starting position. In the three remaining races, the focus is likely to be on the places behind Antonelli, on the constructors' duel between Red Bull and McLaren, separated by just 17 points, and on whether drivers like Hadjar or Lawson can confirm their strong showings from São Paulo through the end of the season.
