São Paulo is easily one of the best circuits Formula One still races at. It almost always rains, which causes plenty of crashes and spins. It also almost always ends up being a crucial race for the championship (see 2007, 2008, 2012, 2024, etc. for example). Last year, Max Verstappen qualified P12 but was knocked to P17 because of an engine penalty. His “championship rival” at the time was Lando Norris. Norris qualified on pole. This gave him a free opportunity to shrink his gap to Max by 25 points (or so we thought). In the race, Max Verstappen made no mistakes, while Norris made many. The Dutch Lion won the race, while Norris finished in a low P6. Verstappen completely annihilated Norris’ hopes of winning the championship while being in an arguably slower car.

This year, Brazil was one of the 6 sprint races. This gave us yet even more opportunity for some wet chaos. Thankfully, the circuit didn’t fail to keep us on the edge of our seats during the sprint. Lando Norris qualified on pole for the sprint, with Piastri qualifying 8th, Verstappen qualifying 6th, and my G.O.A.T., Fernando Alonso, qualifying 5th. Antonelli qualified for his highest-ever position with P2, just behind Norris.

When the sprint race started, the track was extremely damp. Pirelli couldn’t supply teams with real wet tires. They can’t make sufficient tires to save their lives. All drivers were either on the mediums or the softs. Norris had stayed in first, but Kimi was rapidly gaining on him. Verstappen had moved into P4. Alonso was in P5 and started a mini DRS train with Leclerc, Hamilton, Stroll, and Gasly. Kimi was catching up to Lando. Then the camera cut to Franco Colapinto, Oscar Piastri, and Nico Hulkenberg. They all crashed into the barrier after slipping on some water. Norris had kicked up the water a few seconds earlier after driving directly over a kerb filled with puddles, like a banana in Mario Kart. Therefore, Antonelli’s high-speed chase of Norris was neutralized.

The aforementioned crash resulted in a red flag. Although Colapinto and Piastri DNF-ed, Hulkenberg kept going, and the Sauber team was able to repair his wings in time. The race restarted about 15 minutes later, with Norris keeping his lead while Kimi had to fend off his teammate, George Russell. Then, Alonso was randomly told to perform LICO. Maybe Aston Martin stole some Ferrari upgrades over break! Alonso still managed to keep Leclerc behind him for 10 laps or so before finally dropping to P6. Pierre Gasly managed to overtake a slow-moving Lance Stroll for P8, the final points spot. Moreover, Liam Lawson bumped into Ollie Bearman while attempting an overtake, spinning the latter off of the track. Although we’ve seen Lawson doing well this season, he’s been involved in many incidents that are inarguably his fault, including this one.

The last lap started, and Norris had made a lead big enough to be comfortable. As the backmarkers started their final laps, Gabriel Bortoleto, a native Brazilian, crashed violently into the turn 1 barriers. He nearly missed Alex Albon and crashed again into the right-hand barriers. Gabi escaped the crash unharmed. Albon’s car accidentally hung onto a large chunk of the Sauber’s front wing. As a result, he dropped to the back of the pack. The race ended under a safety car. Norris won. Kimi finished P2. George finished P3. Max, Leclerc, Alonso, Hamilton, and Gasly occupied the remaining point spots.

Lando extended his championship lead to 9 points due to Oscar’s early DNF. Oscar fell within 30 points of Verstappen. Although Brazil unfortunately did not deliver much when it came to the weather, it surely delivered chaos during the sprint. More chaos is expected in the race. The forecast for the main Grand Prix doesn’t seem to have much rain. We can expect the McLarens to dominate, probably. The race is at 20:00 here in Riyadh, so see you for the race summary!