As I stated previously in the sprint article, São Paulo is by far one of the most entertaining circuits on the calendar. There’s rain, crashes, chaos, and drama. Moreover, the circuit’s unique position as the 21st race on the calendar always makes it crucial for the World Drivers’ Championship.

The indisputable highlight of the weekend was Max Verstappen’s performance. In qualifying, he only managed P16 due to a lack of grip. It was his first ever Q1 exit in 10 years of Formula One on pure pace. Lando Norris qualified on pole yet again in his flawless weekend. Kimi Antonelli qualified P2, Charles Leclerc P3, and Oscar Piastri P4. Isack Hadjar achieved an amazing P5. George Russell, Liam Lawson, Ollie Bearman, Pierre Gasly, and Nico Hulkenberg occupied the remaining Q3 spots.

Before the race started, we were entertained by the drivers’ parade. Similar to Miami, it consisted of each team having their own 1960s-style car. They had to race these cars across the track. The standout team from this event was Williams. Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon had a child-like footrace the minute they realized that only one person could drive the car, which ended up in Albon getting shotgun. Then, they both decided to take a cheeky shortcut through the track, saving them minutes. The Aston Martin drivers were forced to take a ride alongside McLaren due to their car crashing. Ferrari ended up winning the “race”, so surely that meant that they would have success in the real race, right?

RedBull had decided to make their star driver, Max Verstappen, start the race in the pit lane. After all, you’d rather start dead last with faster parts than start close to last with old machinery. The race started, and, surprisingly, there weren’t any real incidents. That was, until Gabriel Bortoleto, home hero, crashed into the wall on the first lap, ending his race. It was very depressing for the fans, as they had seen their favorite driver crash in both the sprint and the main Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton then tore his front wing after attempting to overtake Franco Colapinto, which caused so much damage to his chassis that he had to eventually retire. Bortoleto’s aforementioned crash brought out a Safety Car, which ended shortly after.

Once the Safety Car ended, Norris restarted the race, but Piastri had gotten a better start. He dived towards the inside of Turn 1, but Kimi Antonelli didn’t leave enough space for him. This resulted in Piastri making strong contact with Antonelli, which knocked the latter into Charles Leclerc like bumper cars. Although this incident has been somewhat controversial, I firmly believe that Kimi Antonelli was to blame, since he did not leave any space for Oscar. Charles Leclerc suffered from severe damage to his front left wheel, causing him to DNF. Both Ferraris, within a few laps, had not finished the race, making the drivers’ parade their only real success this weekend in Brazil. The FIA, however, disagreed with my opinion, and chose to punish Oscar for the incident with a 10-second penalty.

Max Verstappen, who had found himself in the top 10 within 20 laps, was unfortunately forced to pit due to a puncture. Surprisingly, both Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson were in the higher points positions, with the latter continuously battling George Russell for position. Towards the final 20 laps of the race, Verstappen had found himself battling for the podium places. Did we expect anything less? He pulled an amazing turn 1 overtake on George Russell, and proceeded to chase down Kimi Antonelli in P2. In the end, Lando Norris won, Kimi Antonelli finished P2 (his second ever podium), and Max Verstappen, after starting from the pitlane, finished P3.

As a result of the race, Norris extended his championship lead to 24 points, while Max Verstappen closed the gap to Piastri to 25 points. It’s undeniable that Lando Norris, after having a mediocre first half of the year, has been driving the McLaren superbly since Austin. On the other hand, Oscar Piastri, who was leading the championship from April, has had a disastrous slump in the second half of the season, allowing Norris to overtake him in the standings. This upcoming weekend we’ll watch the third ever Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, there is a decent chance that Max Verstappen is eliminated from championship contention if Norris wins and he finishes P3 or lower, meaning that Max has to win the race to have a decent shot at winning the championship. We’ll see how this race weekend goes, and I’ll see you in the next article.