Lando Norris won the São Paulo Grand Prix in Formula 1 after a race marked by rain, spins and frequent strategy changes. The McLaren driver started from pole position, lost places at the very beginning, but regained second place on lap six and later took the lead after a mistake by Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
The Italian started second but got away better than Norris and took the lead before the first corner. Liam Lawson also overtook the McLaren driver at the start, but Norris quickly reclaimed his position. Antonelli built up a lead of more than eight seconds before spinning on the entry to the first corner on lap 20.
After the incident, Norris moved into the lead, while Isack Hadjar took second place. Max Verstappen, who started from the back of the grid, gradually moved up to the front. On lap 38, Hadjar was instructed by the team to let his teammate through, and a little later Verstappen said over the radio: “I don’t think I can catch Lando.”
Rain once again complicated the strategies in the closing stages. Norris pitted on lap 49, while Hadjar and Antonelli temporarily overtook him. Hadjar came in for a tyre change two laps later, while Antonelli made his second stop on lap 54. At that point, Norris led Verstappen by 7.6 seconds, with Hadjar in third.
The victory was Norris’s second consecutive success in São Paulo. The result also handed Mercedes the constructors’ world title. The team needed to score at least three more points than Ferrari to become unreachable in the standings. Antonelli had already secured the drivers’ title before the race.
The São Paulo Grand Prix was the 20th round of the season. The next Formula 1 race is the Las Vegas Grand Prix, which will take place on 21 November 2026. The races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will follow.
Sources: sportal.bg, formula1.com