Marco Rossi · F1 Correspondent
Lando Norris wins the São Paulo Grand Prix, but the bigger drama is written by Max Verstappen, who fights his way from the last row of the grid to the podium, while Mercedes wrap up the 2026 constructors' championship early.
Lando Norris won the São Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace ahead of Max Verstappen, who worked his way up from 21st on the grid to second place. Isack Hadjar completed a double podium for Red Bull in third, while fourth and fifth places for George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli secured the 2026 constructors' championship for Mercedes before the end of the season.
Norris profits from Antonelli's spin
Lando Norris won the Grand Prix in a time of 1:35:23.504 after taking pole position the day before. At the start, the McLaren driver lost the lead to Antonelli at Turn 1 and only regained it on lap 20, when the world champion spun. At the finish he was 14.602 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen.
The weather dictated the strategy. All the drivers started on intermediates, and from around lap 15 the field gradually switched to slicks. On laps 61 and 62 the rain returned and forced everyone back onto intermediates.
It was Norris's third win of the season. Oscar Piastri finished sixth, 56.475 seconds behind his teammate, to bring home points for both McLarens after starting only tenth. As racingnews365.com reported, the red flag after Rafael Câmara's crash at Turn 12 had prevented his final qualifying attempt.
Verstappen's drive from the very back
The most striking name of the afternoon was nevertheless not the winner. Max Verstappen deliberately skipped Q2 in qualifying because of his penalty, was classified 16th and had to start from 21st, on the last row of the grid. That the Dutchman crossed the line just 14.602 seconds behind Norris ranks among the most impressive comeback drives of the season.
Isack Hadjar provided the perfect complement in the second Red Bull and finished third, 9.883 seconds behind his teammate. On lap 38 he had let Verstappen through on team orders. The double podium underlined the team's form this weekend.
Mercedes crowned constructors' champions
George Russell finished fourth, 33.991 seconds behind Norris, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli just 2.026 seconds further back in fifth to complete a double points finish for Mercedes. That confirms Mercedes as constructors' champions, for the ninth time and the first since 2021.
Antonelli led until lap 20, then spun at Turn 1 and ran straight on there again four laps later. He had already secured the drivers' title a week earlier in Mexico. For Mercedes, that completes the set of drivers' and constructors' titles in the same season.
Ferrari fight their way forward, Stroll retires
Ferrari worked their way through the field after the penalties for both cars. Charles Leclerc started 14th and finished seventh, 17.111 seconds behind Piastri, while Lewis Hamilton, in his 400th Grand Prix, came home ninth and a lap down after starting 20th. Hamilton was already up to ninth after the first lap, but dropped back on his worn intermediates and spun on slicks when the late rain came. Leclerc passed Liam Lawson shortly before the end, and contact between the two kept the stewards busy after the race.
Lance Stroll had to park his Aston Martin on lap 32, with a battery problem ending his race early. Valtteri Bottas never made it into the race at all, as a cross-threaded wheel nut on the right rear prevented his Cadillac from starting.
The classification was still provisional in the evening: alongside Leclerc and Lawson, the stewards also summoned Antonelli over a possible unsafe release in the pit lane, and their decisions were still pending at the time of writing. With Mercedes already crowned constructors' champions and Antonelli confirmed as drivers' champion, the focus for the remaining races of the season shifts above all to the form of individual drivers, led by the comeback ability Verstappen demonstrated so impressively in São Paulo.
