São Paulo GP: Lando Norris takes control of title fight, another Max Verstappen masterclass in Brazil, Ferrari in chaos after disastrous weekend, and more

F1 returned to the fan-favourite Interlagos Circuit for the São Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday, November 9. 

A season-defining win for Lando Norris, another all-time great drive from Max Verstappen, and infighting at Ferrari, there is yet again a lot for F1 fans to discuss after a thrilling weekend of action. 

Sports News Blitz’s F1 writer, Henry Eccles, takes a look at the five big talking points to come out of the São Paulo GP. 

Lando Norris takes control of the championship with a perfect weekend

São Paulo was where Lando Norris’ title bid collapsed last year, but in 2025, Interlagos could very well be where he pulled off the decisive drive in the championship fight. 

By the time Sunday came around, Norris was in a very strong position - on Friday, he topped the FP1 timing charts and achieved Sprint pole, and on Saturday, he held off Andrea Kimi Antonelli in tricky conditions to get the Sprint win before grabbing pole position for the Grand Prix. 

Both of Norris’ title rivals, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, had also suffered major setbacks - Piastri spun out and went point-less in the Sprint and only qualified P4, while Verstappen was starting from the pit lane following major set-up changes. 

It was a prime opportunity for Norris to take a big leap towards his first-ever Drivers’ title, and while last year he succumbed to that pressure, a clean, dominant drive from the Briton delivered a victory that effectively puts one hand on the championship trophy. 

With just three races to go, Norris now leads his struggling team-mate by 24 points, and has a 49-point advantage on Verstappen despite the Dutchman’s latest heroics in Brazil. 

It is now very much Norris’ title to lose, and while many would argue he makes too many mistakes for that statement to ring true, the shift in Norris’ mindset and no-nonsense performances since the summer break now truly portray a champion-in-waiting. 

Despite the “perfect weekend,” Norris did admit Verstappen’s performance in the race was something McLaren have to be wary of, and with just three races to go, he cannot afford to rest on his laurels. 

“It’s not a long way to go but I’m just focused on myself - keep my head down, ignore everyone and keep pushing,” Norris said post-race. 

“The team are doing an amazing job giving me a great car. We’re pushing hard every single weekend and I’m pushing hard away from the track. It’s rewarding.

“It doesn’t come easy, that’s for sure. To be honest, I don’t think we were the quickest out there on track today but I’m glad to take home the win.”

READ MORE: F1 news: Lando Norris hits back at critics after perfect Sao Paulo GP weekend

Max Verstappen pulls off incredible charge from pit lane to podium

Last year at Interlagos, Verstappen delivered one of F1’s all-time great drives, winning the Grand Prix in treacherous conditions despite starting all the way back in P17. 

This time around, starting from the pit lane without being able to rely on his almost supernatural abilities in the wet for what was a dry race on Sunday, Verstappen had an even bigger mountain to climb. 

The four-time world champion said he had a “terrible” feeling in what was an “undriveable” car during Friday’s Sprint qualifying, and despite recovering from P6 to P4 in the Sprint Race, a set-up gamble from Red Bull before Saturday’s qualifying then backfired massively. 

The Dutchman just could not get his changed RB21 under control, and was shockingly knocked out in Q1 - remarkably, it was Verstappen’s first Q1 exit where he set a lap time since China 2017, when an engine issue slowed him down.

And so, more changes to the car were afoot, but this meant Verstappen had to start Sunday’s race from the pit lane, after the Red Bull driver said he could “forget about” completing his title comeback. 

But this is Max Verstappen, not even a puncture that undid his good work in the opening stages of the Grand Prix was enough to stop him from pulling off one of F1’s great recovery drives. 

Scything through the grid, the world champion was in the lead of the race with 20 laps to go after Norris pitted, and despite dropping back after a pit stop of his own, Verstappen used his fresher tyres to charge after the Mercedes drivers in the podium places. 

Verstappen got past George Russell with a brilliant move on the outside of Turn 1, and while he did not quite have enough in his tyres to pip Antonelli for P2, the Dutchman was pleasantly surprised with his astounding performance.

“I think the race was quite full on, a lot of action. I had to overtake some cars, of course, coming from the pit lane. I think our pace was quite strong over all the stints,” Verstappen said. 

“Sometimes it’s difficult to know fully with traffic and stuff, but to be on the podium from the pit lane...I didn’t expect that at all, even with a puncture as well at the beginning of the race. That’s why we had to box again.

“It’s an incredible result for us so I’m very happy with that, and just very proud of everyone within the team as well. Yesterday was very tough for us, but we never give up. We always try to improve and try to find more lap time, and luckily we found that again today.”

However, in spite of the drive of his life, Verstappen did lose significant ground in the title fight - he is still sitting in P3 but now 49 points behind the lead in the Drivers’ standings. 

But with jaw-dropping performances like that still up his sleeve, you surely could not rule him out entirely, even if the man himself does his best to do just that.

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Oscar Piastri has another weekend to forget

Things just go from bad to worse for Norris’ McLaren team-mate Piastri, once in the lead of the Drivers’ championship by 34 points after the Dutch GP. 

Prior to the weekend, many were tipping the Aussie to get back on track. He would be swapping slippery low-grip conditions in Mexico for more favourable high-grip and downforce in Brazil. 

Such a positive turnaround was needed, too. Piastri lost his championship lead to Norris in Mexico, but came into the weekend trailing by just one point - it was an opportunity to seriously reaffirm his title credentials.

Despite qualifying behind Norris and Antonelli for the Sprint, Piastri had a chance to “definitely fight” for precious points, but after just six laps, his race was run - the 24-year-old took too much of what was a greasy kerb at Turn 3 and spun into the barriers. 

All of a sudden, the one point behind Norris was now nine, and a P4 qualifying finish later on was far from ideal - a costly error during an early Safety Car restart in the Grand Prix proved exactly why. 

Locking up while trying to pass Antonelli at Turn 1, Piastri forced the Italian rookie into the side of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, ripping the left front wheel off the Monegasque’s SF-25 and ending his race. 

The Aussie was up to P2, but a 10-second penalty swiftly followed, and once that was served in the pits, all Piastri could manage was a P5 finish just behind Russell, despite showing strong pace in his final stint. 

Yet another poor result from Piastri now means he is 24 points behind Norris in the title fight with three races to go. He is also now just 25 points ahead of Verstappen, making the latter stages of the championship all the more unpredictable.

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Career-best finish for Kimi Antonelli marks a ‘young boy becoming a young man’

The words of Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff after a wonderful weekend for 19-year-old Antonelli, who was at the front of the grid throughout and fighting with the very best.

On Saturday, having qualified P2, Antonelli kept leader Norris honest during the Sprint and even mounted a late charge to snatch the win before Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto had a hefty crash that saw the race end under double yellow flags. 

Antonelli’s superior pace through São Paulo’s first few corners, the ‘Senna Esses’, was clear to see on Saturday, and was used again the following day in a superb defensive display against Verstappen. 

Securing P2 again for the Grand Prix, Antonelli avoided any significant damage early on in the collision with Piastri and Leclerc, and had the pace to hold his net position with the former’s 10-second penalty to come. 

The rookie stayed ahead of his team-mate Russell on a steady pace, but was under immense pressure in the final stages of the Grand Prix thanks to a charging Verstappen.

Again, though, Antonelli was immaculate through Interlagos’ first few twisty corners, using several strong exits to keep his place ahead of the DRS zone and overtaking opportunity at Turn 4. 

On the final lap, it was essentially a drag race between Antonelli and Verstappen, with the youngster taking the chequered flag just over three tenths ahead of the world champion. 

Qualifying P2 and finishing P2 in both the Sprint and Grand Prix, it was by far the best weekend of the season for the young Mercedes driver, who has recovered remarkably from a difficult European season in the middle of the year. 

A career-best finish in the race led Mercedes boss Wolff to reflect on how far the young sensation has come. 

“I think all weekend he was strong, from the get-go. It's good to see,” Wolff said.

“Maybe it was coming to a track that he didn't know, it's a bit easier. Expectations are maybe lower, maybe pressure is not as high as some of the Europeans and then the execution was faultless at the end.

“Being able to fend off, fight off Max on the newer, fresher tyre, that was really strong and a testament as to what is to come.”

Wolff also explained how Antonelli, who replaced seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, was always going to have his ups and downs this season, but reiterated his faith in the youngster once again. 

“Today is an up, definitely. A good moment. There will be more difficult ones,” he said.

“Let's see the next three races. I think we're seeing the young boy becoming the young man and performing.”

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Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton told to ‘talk less’ by Ferrari chairman after disastrous weekend

After already struggling since Friday, neither Ferrari finished the Grand Prix race for the second time this season, following separate crashes for drivers Leclerc and Hamilton in the early stages. 

On Saturday, both drivers had to perform recovery drives in the Sprint, with Leclerc qualifying P8 and Hamilton out in SQ2 in P11 - the pair finished P5 and P7 respectively.

Leclerc was the Scuderia’s glimmer of hope for the main race after an impressive P3 qualifying finish, but as already touched on, that hope quickly faded after the collision with Antonelli, who the Monegasque felt was lucky to escape blame. 

“For me it’s a bit more of a 50-50 blame with Kimi and Oscar, I don’t think Oscar deserved all the blame there. But anyway, that doesn’t matter for me, it’s the end of the race which is very frustrating.”

Having qualified a lowly P13 for the main race, Hamilton had a lot of cars around him into Turn 1, and a collision with Williams’ Carlos Sainz saw him lose positions in an unstable SF-25.

Things got even worse for the Briton after he clipped the back of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine later in the lap and lost his front wing as a result - Ferrari then told Hamilton he had floor damage, which he had to manage for 38 laps before eventually retiring the car. 

After the race, Hamilton said: “To come away with nothing, to not finish a race for the second time in the year - it’s really devastating. I feel terrible for the team.

“I’m sorry for my part in qualifying, putting myself in that position. We’ll get back up tomorrow and just give it another go.”

The most interesting post-race comments, however, were made by Ferrari chairman John Elkann, who singled out both Leclerc and Hamilton as the reason for the Scuderia’s poor performance this season. 

On Monday, at an Olympics sponsorship event in Rome, Elkann said: “If we look at the season in F1, we can say we have mechanics who are winning the championship with the performances they're putting in, particularly with everything they are doing in our pit stops.

“If we look at our engineers, the car has undoubtedly improved. If we look at the rest, it's not up to standard.

“We have drivers who need to focus more and talk less, because we still have important races to come, and finishing second in the constructors isn't impossible.”

Elkann is right to say a P2 finish is not impossible, but on current form, it is quite a task - Ferrari have fallen to P4 in the Constructors’ after a strong weekend for Verstappen and Mercedes, who they trail by 36 points.

Although neither driver has directly responded to the comments, Hamilton did sign off on a post-race Instagram post with a strong message: “I back my team. I back myself. I will not give up. Not now, not then, not ever.” 

To lambast a seven-time world champion in Hamilton and a driver as fast as he is loyal in Leclerc, both struggling in a car riddled with issues, is a bold move - the impact of such a public dressing down will be fascinating to follow moving into the final three races of 2025. 

Next up for F1, the triple-header season finale kicks off with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on the weekend of November 21-23. 

The main race gets underway on Sunday, November 23, at 4am UK time, with fans able to catch all the action, coffee in hand, on Sky Sports F1.

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