McLaren’s Lando Norris dominated the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix to extend his title lead.
Norris successfully executed a two-stop strategy to take his first win around Interlagos, whilst Andrea Kimi Antonelli achieved his highest main race finish of second with a resilient defence against Max Verstappen in the final laps.
Mercedes’ George Russell fought off Oscar Piastri for fourth, whilst Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top ten.
In the drivers’ standings, Norris extended his title lead over Piastri to 24 points, whilst Verstappen found himself 49 points adrift of the summit going into the final triple-header of the season.
At lights out, Norris led the top five away from pole but Russell lost sixth to Lawson whilst Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton got hit by Carlos Sainz then collided with Colapinto at the end of the opening lap, which caused him to lose his front wing and he eventually retired on lap 38 due to the severity of his damage.
The safety car meanwhile was deployed until the end of lap five after Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto got spun out by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at Bico de Pato in his first home race as a F1 driver.
Verstappen meanwhile started from the pit lane after Red Bull opted to make setup and power unit changes, and the reigning champion managed to climb to 13th until he was forced into an early stop due to a puncture.
Piastri meanwhile picked up a ten-second time penalty after he made an inside move on the restart on lap six, which saw him nudge Antonelli into Leclerc, which broke the Monegasque’s front-left suspension.
Up front, Norris quietly controlled the race until he pitted on lap 30 which saw him undercut by Verstappen but he repassed last season’s race winner at the start of lap 33 for third, which eventually became the lead on lap 39 after Piastri stopped to serve his penalty and make a tyre change.
Piastri rejoined in eighth but benefitted from second pit stops by those ahead to recover to fifth by lap 46, which became fourth two laps later as Antonelli was the first frontrunner to make his second stop on lap 48.
Norris stopped two laps later to cover the Italian and rejoined behind Piastri and Verstappen who were forced to pit again on laps 52 and 55 respectively, which saw Norris retake the lead ahead of Antonelli and Russell, who had been instructed to save brakes amidst heating issues for the Mercedes pair.
Russell couldn’t protect third as Verstappen’s fresher tyres allowed the Dutchman to sweep past the Brit on the outside of the entry to the Senna S take third on lap 63.
Norris ultimately cruised to a seventh Grand Prix victory of the season which extended his title lead to … points over Piastri.
Antonelli fought off Verstappen’s late charge to claim his best Grand Prix finish of second, whilst Russell fought off Piastri for fourth in a tense finish.
Bearman calmly drove to sixth place ahead of Lawson who mounted a stubborn defence on worn tyres to deny Hulkenberg seventh, which saw the German eventually lose out on eighth to Hadjar, whilst Gasly finished tenth to cap a solid weekend for the Frenchman.
F1 next head to Las Vegas from 20-22 November (21-23 November for European and western countries) with the title fight still finely poised between Norris and Piastri.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 71 | 71/71 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 71 | + 10.388 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 71 | + 10.750 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | 71 | + 15.267 |
| 5 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 71 | + 15.749 |
| 6 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | 71 | + 29.630 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 71 | + 52.642 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | 71 | + 52.873 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 71 | + 53.324 |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 71 | + 53.914 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | 71 | + 54.184 |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 71 | + 54.696 |
| 13 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 71 | + 55.420 |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 71 | + 55.766 |
| 15 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 71 | + 57.777 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 70 | + 58.247 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull | 70 | + 69.176 |
| RET | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 37 | Damage |
| RET | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 6 | Suspension |
| RET | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | 70 | Collision |
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