We start this weekend in São Paulo with a new championship race leader, as Lando Norris is currently 1 point ahead of his teammate Piastri. An exciting prospect for Norris, but now we will see how this will unfold.
Tsunoda has a turbulent practice session as he loses control of the car and crashes into the barrier, damaging several areas of his car.
São Paulo Grand Prix: A Rainy Affair
The Sprint qualifying has begun in São Paulo. A disappointing SQ1 for Sainz as he locks up and goes wide on his final lap, ending his qualifying in last position.
Alongside him are Ocon and Tsunoda, who both couldn’t cut it. Lawson and Colapinto just missed out and took the remaining two positions.
Moving swiftly on to the next qualifying sprint session, we begin with Alonso setting the quickest lap, and the Ferraris lagging behind.
Leclerc locks up on his final lap and spins, getting stuck beside the track. This results in double yellow flags being waved and several drivers having to back off just as they begin their final laps.
Hamilton misses out on completing his final flying lap, so he is out in p11 alongside Albon, Gasly, hometown favourite Bortoleto, and Bearman in 15th position.
A great chance for Hulkenberg to gain a good advantage for the Sprint, as both Aston Martin drivers have made it through to SQ3.
No one can beat Norris’ time as he gets his first pole position for a sprint race in the 2025 season, and his teammate can only manage 3rd.
An astonishing drive from Antonelli as he comes in 2nd place, a brilliant rookie qualifying for him. Mercedes teammate Russel slots into 4th place as Alonso sneaks in behind him.
Verstappen crossed the line and could only manage 6th place as he lost time in the middle sector. Next to cross is Stroll and Leclerc, who slot into 7th and 8th.
Hadjar shows a good effort, finishing in 9th, and Hulkenberg snags the final place in the top 10.
São Paulo Grand Prix: A Raucous Sprint
Wet spots on the track are littered all over from the heavy rain that Brazil had had earlier in the day. For the sprint race, most cars are equipped with medium tyres, while a few have soft tyres.
Norris has a brilliant start to the race, but so does Verstappen as he’s already got past Alonso on the first corner and is up into 5th. Bearman and Lawson have a minor collision, with Bearman spinning on the first corner; as a result, Bearman has lost a few positions.
Antonelli is desperate to stick with Norris and not let the McLaren fly away. We see the cars spray behind them in certain areas on the track, meaning all could be to play for in these erratic conditions.
Hamilton managed to overtake several cars on the line and weaved around Hadjar and Stroll, and he’s now up into 8th place. Antonelli is now over a second behind Norris, so he is out of the DRS zone.
On lap 6, it all goes to chaos as Piastri clips the curb and crashes into the barrier along with Colapinto and Hulkenberg. The session is red-flagged, and Piastri and Colapinto are definitely out of the São Paulo sprint race.
Hulkenberg managed to drive back to the pit lane, and since the session was red-flagged, there was a chance they could fix the car this time, and indeed they did, but he will start in last place.
The sprint race has begun again, this time with a rolling start for Norris to handle. Both Mercedes and Verstappen have medium tyres, whilst Norris sticks to the soft tyre. Immediately on the restart, Norris pushes away as Russel descends on his teammate, and Antonelli is fighting for 2nd place, but Antonelli manages to hold on.
Verstappen’s tyres are not up to temperature, and Alonso makes some moves and nearly overtakes him as Verstappen goes wide, but he manages to hold onto his 4th place. Several lock-ups from the nervous cars, Leclerc locks up as he inches towards Alonso, and Hamilton has to avoid contact with his teammate.
Ten laps to go, and Norris is storming away with just over a second gap from Antonelli. Leclerc is all over the back of Alonso. Ocon manages to pass Lawson after a few close calls.
Norris is struggling with his rear tyres, but with 4 Laps to go, Antonelli is only half a second behind Norris and is closing in on him. Leclerc is also desperate to overtake Alonso, and with two laps to go, he finally passes the Aston Martin, and he’s up into 5th place. Gasly manages to pass Stroll and snag 8th place.
One lap to go, and Bortoleto flies off into the barrier as he went for an overtake and hit the barrier at full force. Albon and Hadjar luckily missed the incident, but Albon picked up a lot of debris and fell out of order.
Lando Norris wins the Sprint in São Paulo with both Mercedes on the podium alongside him. Verstappen finished in 4th place, followed by Leclerc in 5th as he overtook Alonso. Hamilton is in 7th, and Gasly snuck in to grab the final point available.
We’ll see how the qualifying for the race unfolds in a few hours. The engineers will be hard at work to fix the damaged cars from the sprint race.
São Paulo Grand Prix: A Quick Qualifying
Sauber is still desperately trying to fix Bortoleto’s car in time for him to compete in Q1, but it’s not looking good in São Paulo. Bearman set a fantastic fast lap in Q1, whereas Verstappen is having issues with his car.
A critical final lap for Verstappen, which fails him as he comes out in 16th place, it’s the first time he’s been out in Q1 since 2021 without being given any additional grid place penalties.
A devastating qualifying for Redbull as Tsunoda is also out in 19th place. Bortoleto is unable to make it out on track so that he will start 20th alongside Colapinto and Ocon.
On to Q2 now, and the Formula 1 drivers are desperate to make it into the top 10. And it’s another big shock as Hamilton doesn’t make it through and is eliminated in Q2, finishing in 13th place.
A double elimination for Williams as Sainz is out in 15th and Albon in 12th, as both Aston Martin drivers are also eliminated; Alonso misses out in P11.
Now we’re starting Q3 and ready to see who will be in the front rows for tomorrow’s race. Norris messes up his first lap, so it will all come down to his final lap. Piastri is currently the quickest car during this round, with Leclerc and Bearman close to his time.
The drivers start their final quick laps to determine the order; it’s all to play for, it could be any driver at any team.
And it’s the same podium positions as it was for the Sprint race, with Norris on top, Antonelli slipped into 2nd, and Leclerc snatched 3rd from Piastri, who went down to 4th place.
A brilliant showing from Racing Bulls (the only RedBull team left in Q3) as Hadjar finishes 5th and Lawson in 7th with Russel splitting them. Bearman isn’t able to do better than his previous time and settles into 8th place, but it was a brilliant effort from him.
The underdogs Gasly and Hulkenberg secure the two final spots in the top 10, with an ongoing fight between both teams in the constructors’ standings.
Three different teams, three different drivers in the top 3 spots. Bring on the São Paulo Grand Prix.
São Paulo Grand Prix: Pit Lane to Podium
The race begins with Verstappen and Bearman starting from the pit lane after changes to their cars.
The lights go out, and Norris has a quick getaway. Piastri and Hadjar are fighting hard for 4th place, as is Alonso, who goes wide off track.
Within a matter of moments, a yellow flag is shown as Bortoleto has a heartbreaking crash into the wall after a fight with Stroll, and a safety car is brought out. Much to Hamilton’s advantage, as his front wing has come off.
Sainz and Hamilton had a minor collision, but it was Colapinto who caused Hamilton to lose his front wing; even a slight impact can cause significant damage. After a few laps, the safety car was called off, but it was too soon for any of the cars to make any pit stops to change tyres.
On the restart, Norris is quick off the line, but Piastri and Leclerc swamp Antonelli on either side of him. All three cars collided as Piastri hit Antonelli, and he then spun into Leclerc, forcing him off the track and breaking his front suspension.
Leclerc is unable to continue, and we are under a virtual safety car on lap 8. Verstappen was up to 13th but decided to make a pit stop as he had a puncture after the restart.
Now we continue racing, with Norris leading the way, followed closely by his teammate Piastri, and then by Antonelli and Hadjar.
Russel was fighting hard with Hadjar and managed to pass him, and now both Mercedes are in 3rd and 4th, which could gain a good amount of points for their team.
Tsunoda receives a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Stroll, which might be detrimental to his race. Bearman makes a brilliant move on Lawson and goes up into 6th place, a second behind Hadjar. A brilliant rookie battle might be coming our way.
Hamilton is clearly struggling, especially with the damage he received from the first lap. Verstappen is making his way up and overtakes him, moving into 14th place. Piastri is given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Leclerc and Antonelli.
On lap 18, Verstappen overtakes Alonso and goes up into 9th place as Sainz and Bearman pit early. A few laps later, Antonelli has a quick pit stop, but unfortunately, is released into 11th place, and he’ll have to make up some places to get back up the top.
Halfway through, Norris decides to pit, which lets Piastri lead the race for now, although he’s got his penalty to serve soon. Verstappen has crept up into 3rd and is crucially ahead of Norris.
Not for long though, as Norris is now on fresh soft tyres compared to Verstappen, who had been on these tyres for about 20 laps, Norris swiftly passed him into 3rd position.
It was an awful race for Tsunoda as he came in to complete his 10-second penalty, but there was an issue, and he is now being investigated for not completing his penalty correctly. Verstappen comes in to pit again and comes out in 10th place.
Bearman and Russel are battling hard, but Russel manages to overtake Bearman and regain his 4th place. After 39 laps, Piastri comes into the pit and completes his penalty whilst Hamilton boxes to retire from the race.
A double DNF for Ferrari, an awful weekend for them in São Paulo.
With only 20 laps to go, all cars have pitted at least once, and the order is now aligned. With Norris in 1st and leading the race, Antoneli is in 2nd, and Russell is in 3rd. A big fight is coming their way as Bearman, Verstappen, Lawson, and Piastri are behind them, and all are desperate to fight for a podium position.
Twenty-four laps to go, and Antonelli pits for a second time and comes out just behind Lawson in 6th. Russell Pitt is one lap later and comes out behind Antonelli, the step, and is now moved into second. Red Bull has done a brilliant strategy for today’s race.
With 20 laps to go, Norris now comes into the pit, and luckily, it’s a quick pitstop, and he comes out 3rd. So Verstappen is now leading the race, but we’re unsure if he will need to pit again.
Piastri is the last of the top cars to pit and comes out in 7th. He’ll have to fight hard to get a podium place. Verstappen is called into the box, and they have put him onto new soft tyres, so he’s got 15 laps to try and catch up to Norris.
Now the Mercedes drivers are having issues as Russell has to manage his brakes, and Antonelli is struggling with Verstappen. But Verstappen manages to swoop around the outside down the main straight and overtake into 3rd.
Hulkenberg and Lawson are fighting for 7th place; they both managed to do a one-stop strategy, which works out for both of them. So many battles are still playing out with only 3 laps to go as Verstappen is trying to overtake Antonelli, and Piastri is all over the back of Russel.
Lando Norris wins the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, his 7th win this season, and extends his advantage in the driver championship.
A fantastic drive for Antonelli, who came in 2nd place, his best finish in his rookie season. And an outstanding drive from Verstappen from the pit lane to 3rd place; this Red Bull driver really is powerful.
Mercedes has an excellent performance, with Russell finishing in 4th and Piastri coming in 5th. Bearman finished in 6th, which is Haas’s best finish to date, a superb showing from the rookie. Both racing bulls managed to score points in 7th and 8th, with Hulkenberg and Gasly gaining the last points of the weekend.
A fantastic and action-packed weekend in Formula 1. The championships are all still to play for. We leave São Paulo with no certain decisions.
Join us in a couple of weeks for the Las Vegas Grand Prix; you won’t want to miss it!
