Lando Norris controlled the Sao Paulo Grand Prix to open up his Formula 1 title lead, as Max Verstappen superbly came through from a pit lane start to finish on the podium.
The Brit survived some early pressure amid a full and Virtual Safety Car period to extend his advantage at the top of the Drivers’ Championship at the Interlagos circuit.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli produced his most mature and measured and fast performance to date to take a career-best second place, holding off a charging Verstappen at the finish.
Oscar Piastri finished in fifth after picking up a 10-second penalty for pushing Antonelli off the road after the VSC restart, to see the gap to Norris widen to 24 points with just three rounds to go.
At the start, Norris swept to the left to cover off Antonelli, with Charles Leclerc maintaining third and Piastri coming under threat from Hadjar into Turn 4.
Miraculously, everyone got through safely, but Lewis Hamilton on Soft tyres slipped down the order to almost the very back after being tagged by Carlos Sainz on the run down to Turn 1.
Home favourite Gabriel Bortoleto caused sighs of anguish the crowd, his Sauber planted into the wall at the entry of Turn 8 having been closed off by Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin.
Hamilton suffered even more problems at the end of the lap, tagging Franco Colapinto’s Alpine on the approach to the start-finish straight. Thankfully for the Brit, the Safety Car was deployed as a result of Bortoleto’s incident, giving him a chance to pit without little consequence.
Racing resumed with Norris getting away well but Antonelli got swamped. Leclerc got the edge on the outside, Piastri got the edge on the inside, and the McLaren eventually ran out of room and punted the Mercedes off line and onto the grass on the swoop down to Turn 2.
Leclerc by default was caught up in it, his left-front suspension bent like a magician’s spoon as the right rear of Antonelli’s car tagged it. The Ferrari was out, Antonelli was down to third with Piastri now up to second.
The Italian was given a reprieve of further action behind him as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, with the Racing Bulls pair of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar swarming behind him. The Kiwi jumped his team-mate for fourth.
In the midst of it, Verstappen was up to 13th but picked up a front-right puncture off the debris that became strewn across the racing line like skittles, and was relegated back down to 18th.
The VSC ended with Piastri looking to get onto the front foot immediately, putting Norris under extreme pressure right away. Norris responded by setting a good middle sector to create a buffer of 1.3 seconds, and just in time with DRS now enabled.
Verstappen on a charge as Piastri picks up penalty
Lawson struggled for grip when racing resumed and dropped to sixth behind Hadjar and Russell, with the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Sainz benefitting from the chaos, now up to ninth and 10th.
Hamilton, despite floor damage sustained in his touch with Sainz, was pushing valiantly, jostling with Colapinto as Verstappen began to bear down on the pair of them.
Lap 12, and Norris opened up a further three tenths on his lead as Russell took Hadjar for fourth. A lap later, Oliver Bearman divebombed Lawson for sixth at the first corner, with Verstappen taking Hamilton for 15th.
Yuki Tsunoda, who had worked his way up to 13th, was given a 10-second time penalty for spinning Stroll. Verstappen quickly dispatched Colapinto as Hamilton complained his car was “crazy unstable,” and said he might crash.
Instead of pitting to retire, Hamilton pitted for Mediums on Lap 15 in a bid to see if he could get some better balance on the compromised SF-25 car.
Inevitably, Piastri was given a 10-second penalty too for his role in the Antonelli incident, giving Norris a net lead of over 12 seconds.
Verstappen was now already up to ninth, taking Alonso at Turn 1, with Bearman and Sainz pitting, both for Medium tyres.
Lawson, Pierre Gasly and Hadjar also pitted, freeing Verstappen into sixth and now within half a second of fifth-placed Albon.
The Anglo-Thai driver chose not to defend as the Red Bull came steaming past into Turn 1, and now Verstappen could set off in pursuit of Russell in fourth, seven seconds away from him.
Antonelli boxed for Mediums on Lap 22, with Norris now five seconds ahead of Piastri on the road.
The rookie was making good headway after that first stop and duly swept by Alonso for seventh into Turn 1 on Lap 26.
Hamilton’s day was compounded by incurring a five-second time penalty for tagging Colapinto on Lap 1, as Norris now stretched out a 6.6 second lead on Piastri at the front.
Norris boxed on Lap 31 for Softs, rejoining fourth behind Verstappen and basically guaranteeing a two-stop race for the Brit’s #4. Within a lap, he was within DRS range of the Dutchman.
On the run up the start-finish straight, Norris breezed by Verstappen around the outside of Turn 1. Hulkenberg kept himself in the points-scoring contention with a daring overtaking at Turn 1, swooping around Albon on the outside to take sixth place.
Russell was the next big gun to pit, taking on Softs on Lap 35, with Verstappen pitting again too, rejoining in 12th with fresh Mediums bolted on.
Bearman, now fourth, was coming under pressure from Russell, who duly dove down the inside of the Haas at Turn 4.
Verstappen was quickly up to eighth, as Tsunoda incurred yet another penalty as it was adjudged that a team member touched his Red Bull during the taking of his original penalty.
Hamilton and Ferrari finally agreed enough was enough and retired the car, his first DNF at Sao Paulo since 2012.
Piastri pitted on the same lap for Softs, serving his penalty as he did so, with Norris now released back into the lead, nearly eight seconds ahead of Antonelli in second.
The Australian was stuck behind Lawson for one lap but breezed by at Turn 1 on Lap 41. With over half the race now elapsed, it was looking good for Norris.
Verstappen opts for three-stop strategy to make daring challenge for the win
Bearman pitted on Lap 43, releasing Piastri to challenge Verstappen, four and a half seconds. Norris was still maintaining his lead on Antonelli, but his current pace suggested that he would need to overtake on merit to win if he was to pit again.
Bearman quickly dispatched Alonso for 10th, with team-mate Ocon having a stellar drive in seventh, having started at the foot of the field.
Piastri was narrowing his gap to Verstappen but conveyed scepticism at McLaren’s plan on the radio, the pit wall insisting that the degradation on the Softs would play into his favour.
Antonelli pitted for Mediums on Lap 49, dropping him to sixth. Verstappen, now 16 seconds short of Norris, jumped to second as Russell pitted one lap later than his team-mate.
Bearman was showing his precocious talent once again by taking Hulkenberg around the outside of Turn 4 on Lap 50, as Antonelli took Lawson for fourth.
Norris was in again on Lap 51, taking him off the Softs and putting on used Mediums. He rejoined third behind Antonelli, with Verstappen, unbelievably, now in the lead.
Piastri boxed a lap later, also coming in for some Mediums, rejoining seventh behind Bearman.
Lap 55 and Verstappen pitted for the third time, his pace not quite sufficient enough to make it to the end. Red Bull acted decisively and put on Softs with 16 laps to go, rejoining fourth, ahead of Piastri, who was still stuck behind Lawson.
But not for long, as the McLaren aggressively muscled past the Kiwi at Turn 10. Norris was now back in the lead, over five seconds ahead of Antonelli in second.
Reeling off fastest laps, Verstappen was quickly within five seconds of Russell, with Antonelli required to produce a mega stint to keep his second place.
Antonelli complained of overheating as Verstappen neared closer and closer to the sister Mercedes of Russell, the silver cars seemingly sitting ducks as the Red Bull charged forth towards them.
Going into Lap 64, Verstappen was now firmly behind Russell and despite a valiant effort to cover him off on the inside, the momentum of the Red Bull took him around the outside into Turn 1.
He was now just 2.3s behind Antonelli in second, and with seven laps to go, Verstappen would now be required to take a second a lap out of Norris if he were to win the race.
Piastri was now within three seconds of Russell, as Bearman looked secure in sixth, around 12 seconds ahead of Lawson.
Verstappen was now just over a second behind Antonelli, who was now nearly nine seconds behind Norris at the front.
The Dutchman was now squarely all over Antonelli, but the Mercedes was able to fend off the Red Bull at every single DRS point.
Meanwhile, Norris was now 10 seconds ahead, and could cruise along the line to win his seventh race of the season to extend his championship lead.
Antonelli, despite going wide during the twisty second sector, held off Verstappen to take second, but nothing could be taken away from his masterful pit lane-to-podium drive.
Russell took fourth, with Piastri fifth, Bearman a brilliant sixth place, with Lawson holding off Hadjar at the line, with Hulkenberg and Gasly following close behind to complete the top 10.
It was a perfect weekend for Norris, and one he could ask little more from, firmly holding a title advantage going into the final three races.
READ MORE – F1 2025 Brazil Grand Prix – Race Results
Discussion about this post