Norris Wins in Sao Paulo as Antonelli Spins Twice and Mercedes Clinch the Title

Lando Norris won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix by 14.6 seconds from pole, Formula1.com reports, in a race that started wet, dried out and ended in rain again. New world champion Kimi Antonelli spun twice, once before the start and once while leading, and still finished fifth. That was enough for Mercedes: George Russell’s fourth and Antonelli’s fifth clinched the constructors’ championship, the team’s ninth title and their first since 2021.

How did Norris win in Sao Paulo?

By making no mistakes in conditions that punished everyone else. Norris started from pole but lost the lead at the start, when Antonelli jumped him into Turn 1, Formula1.com reports. He retook it on lap 20 when Antonelli spun, then controlled the race through a dry middle stint and a late rain shower that sent the whole field back to the pits for intermediate tyres.

The margin at the end was 14.602 seconds over Max Verstappen, and Norris led 47 of the 71 laps, the Associated Press reports. “It was a very tough race, very, very tough,” Norris said, Formula1.com reports. “The main thing today was I just kept it cool and I didn’t make any mistakes.” It was his third win of the season and his second straight win at Interlagos, a year after he won here on his way to the 2025 championship.

What happened to Antonelli?

The worst day of his championship season, and it still ended with a title. The trouble started before the race, when Antonelli ran wide at Turn 12 on his reconnaissance lap and spun on the wet grass while the drivers assessed a damp but drying track, Formula1.com reports. He recovered to the garage for precautionary checks with no lasting damage, then jumped Norris off the line and led the early laps.

The lead lasted until the first round of pit stops. Antonelli rejoined in front after stopping on lap 17 but reported that something was weird with the car, suggesting a suspension issue, and on lap 20 he spun at Turn 1 and handed Norris the lead, Formula1.com reports. He ran deep at the same corner again on lap 23 and slipped behind Verstappen. He finished fifth, 36 seconds behind Norris, and was placed under a post-race investigation for pulling into the path of an Alpine as he left his pit box.

The spin count is the story of Mercedes’ day: Antonelli twice, and Russell once, in the pit-lane exit after his lap-16 stop, where he spun backwards, glanced the wall and lost crucial time, Formula1.com reports. Russell recovered to fourth, and on lap 57 he moved aside to let Antonelli through, then was told to swap the positions back. Both drivers spun, and the team still clinched the title.

How did Mercedes clinch the title?

On arithmetic, not on pace. Mercedes needed only three more points than Ferrari to put the championship beyond reach, Reuters reports, and Ferrari never threatened, with Charles Leclerc seventh and Lewis Hamilton ninth. Russell’s 12 points for fourth and Antonelli’s 10 for fifth gave Mercedes 22 on the day, and that was enough.

The title completes a double a week after Antonelli became the youngest drivers’ champion in Mexico City, Reuters reports. It is Mercedes’ ninth constructors’ championship and their first since 2021, when a run of eight in a row from 2014 came to an end, Frontstretch reports. Antonelli clinched the drivers’ title in Austin on the arithmetic this desk tracked all month, and the team title landing on a day he spun twice is the fitting bookend: the championship was won on the season’s body of work, not on this race.

What did Verstappen do from the back of the grid?

The drive of the day that did not win. Verstappen started 21st after an engine penalty and was 13th by the end of the opening lap and eighth by lap 5, Formula1.com reports. He took second from team-mate Isack Hadjar on lap 38 and held it through the closing rain, finishing 14.6 seconds behind Norris with Hadjar third for a Red Bull double podium.

It was the second straight year Verstappen produced a comeback at Interlagos: he won this race from 17th in the rain in 2024. This time the gap was too big and the McLaren too quick in the wet, and Norris had the pace whenever he needed it. Verstappen and Hamilton had both argued before the Singapore sprint that Formula 1 should not run sprints where cars cannot pass, and Interlagos answered them: a 21st-place start still produced a second place.

What else happened in the race?

Hamilton’s 400th start was the subplot that kept pace with the title race. He started 20th, charged to ninth by the end of the opening lap, and finished ninth, Formula1.com reports, after being placed under investigation for passing Oliver Bearman off track on the first lap and handing the position back. He spun on the climb from Turn 12 in the late rain and glanced the wall before recovering to the pits. Hamilton’s 400th start was already the weekend’s milestone before the lights went out.

Behind them, Liam Lawson ran second in the opening laps before fading as his intermediate tyres overheated, Oscar Piastri finished sixth, and Leclerc passed Lawson on the penultimate lap for seventh. Lance Stroll retired mid-race, Valtteri Bottas was wheeled off the grid before the start with an issue on his Cadillac, and Rafael Camara finished 20th on his Formula 1 debut for Haas. Russell started the weekend at the back of the grid in Singapore after a new engine, so a recovery drive was already familiar to him.

What happens next?

Las Vegas, on November 20-22, Formula1.com reports, with both championships decided and the rest of the season running for position. The fight for second in the drivers’ standings is still open behind Antonelli, and the three remaining rounds will settle the money places in the constructors’ order. The Singapore sprint set the record with nine retirements, and Sao Paulo came close to matching its chaos without matching its count. Antonelli’s post-race investigation is the one loose end from Sunday: if it produces a penalty, it moves him down the order but cannot touch the title Mercedes clinched on the day.