After a damp sprint race yesterday, the drivers were back in action on Sunday for the FORMULA 1 MSC CRUISES GRANDE PRÊMIO DE SÃO PAULO 2025. Although there was a chance of rain around the Interlagos Circuit, it would be a dry race.
Lando Norris had a good reaction time from pole position, immediately moving to the inside to cover off Kimi Antonelli. Further back, Isack Hadjar was pressuring Oscar Piastrir in P4, nearly getting by the McLaren in the second corner.
Lewis Hamilton had a horrific start to his race, getting tapped wide by Carlos Sainz at the first corner. He lost his front wing at the end of the lap, misjudging his closing speed to Franco Colapinto out of the final corner.
But Hamilton’s first lap was not as bad as home favourite Gabriel Bortoleto. Bortoleto had a wheel on the outside of Lance Stroll in turn ten, but the Canadian closed the space under braking. This forced Bortoleto into the outside barrier, bringing his day to an abrupt end.
The safety car was deployed to clear the stricken Sauber, restarting on lap six. But there was more drama on the safety car restart.
Antonelli was caught napping, having a horrible getaway. This allowed Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri to pull alongside, going three-wide into the first corner. Piastri was on the inside, but Antonelli began to close the gap. Piastri responded by braking hard, causing the car to lock up. Piastri tapped Antonelli’s rear wheel, sending the Mercedes wide into Leclerc’s Ferrari. While Antonelli and Piastri got away virtually unscathed, Leclerc suffered front suspension damage that forced him to park at the side of the circuit, prompting the virtual safety car.
Although the collision looked like a racing incident to some, the stewards placed the blame squarely on Piastri, handing him a ten-second penalty for causing a collision.
The VSC ended on the main straight at the start of lap nine. The McLaren championship rivals were initially very close to each other, but Piastri couldn’t stay within DRS range. This allowed Norris to build a strong lead in the race.
The drivers who started on the soft tyres began pitting on lap 18, including Antonelli, who took a set of medium tyres. The medium tyre runners started pitting around lap 30. Norris pitted on lap 30, exchanging his mediums for a set of soft tyres, cementing himself into the two-stop strategy. He rejoined behind Max Verstappen, who was P3 at this point.
Verstappen was forced to pit under the virtual safety car, running over some debris and suffering a slow puncture. Starting the race on the hard tyres from the pit lane, this allowed Red Bull to shake up the strategy. This effectively meant that Verstappen never had to race with the unfavourable hard compound tyres and could do two stints on the mediums while still satisfying the tyre regulations. He took a second set of medium tyres on lap 35.
After he inherited the lead when Norris made his second stop for medium tyres, it appeared that Verstappen’s tyres could make it to the end, putting Verstappen in contention for a race win. But Red Bull decided to pit for soft tyres 15 laps from the end of the race. It was a bit of a bizarre call, as other drivers in the field had managed to complete stints on the medium tyres that matched the distance Verstappen would have needed to make it to the end of the race.
Verstappen rejoined in P4 behind Antonelli and Russell. He used all of the grip from the soft tyres to chase down Russell as the laps ticked down. He finally got to within DRS range, overtaking Russell on the outside of the first corner on lap 63 with the help of the DRS down the main straight.
He moved on to chase down Antonelli, with the prospect of a P2 in sight. It had already been a spectacular recovery for the Dutchman after a pit lane start, but a promotion to P2 would have equalled the record for the highest finishing position from a pit lane start. Verstappen pushed hard, getting to within DRS range of the Mercedes rookie with a handful of laps to go. But Verstappen could not get by the Mercedes, having to settle for P3.
Norris’s race victory from pole increases his championship lead over his teammate. Piastri, who had been as low as P8 after serving his penalty, was right behind Russell in the closing laps, attempting to get by the Brit. He couldn’t get by Russell.
Three races remain in the 2025 season. Next on the calendar is the Las Vegas Grand Prix on the weekend of November 22.
| Pos. | Driver | Laps | Time | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 71 | 1:32:01.596 | 25 | ||
| 2 | 71 | +10.388 | 18 | ||
| 3 | 71 | +10.750 | 15 | ||
| 4 | 71 | +15.267 | 12 | ||
| 5 | 71 | +15.749 | 10 | ||
| 6 | 71 | +29.630 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 71 | +52.642 | 6 | ||
| 8 | 71 | +52.873 | 4 | ||
| 9 | 71 | +53.324 | 2 | ||
| 10 | 71 | +53.914 | 1 | ||
| 11 | 71 | +54.184 |  | ||
| 12 | 71 | +54.696 | |||
| 13 | 71 | +55.420 | |||
| 14 | 71 | +55.766 | |||
| 15 | 71 | +57.777 | |||
| 16 | 71 | +58.247 | |||
| 17 | 71 | +69.176 | |||
| DNF | 37 | ||||
| DNF | 5 | ||||
| DNF | 0 |
| 1 | L. Norris | 390 |  | |
| 2 | O. Piastri | 366 | -24 | |
| 3 | M. Verstappen | 341 | -49 | |
| 4 | G. Russell | 276 | -114 | |
| 5 | C. Leclerc | 214 | -176 | |
| 1 | McLaren | 756 |  | |
| 2 | Mercedes | 398 | -358 |  |
| 3 | Red Bull | 366 | -390 | |
| 4 | Ferrari | 362 | -394 |  |
| 5 | Williams | 111 | -645 | |
