SAO PAULO LOWDOWN: All the key moments as Norris extends his championship lead and Verstappen rises to the podium

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix provided another thrilling weekend of action at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, from an action-packed Sprint through to a fascinating race on Sunday.

While Lando Norris was victorious in both events – bolstering his championship lead in the process – there were mixed fortunes across the three days of action for his fellow title contenders Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, the latter bouncing back from a nightmare Qualifying to claim an unexpected podium.

For all that and more, here are the key moments from Sao Paulo…

Norris’ perfect weekend extends the lead

Lando Norris has long stated that he does not believe in momentum, but from the outside the Briton certainly looked to be on a positive run as he arrived at Interlagos for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend.

Having retaken the Drivers’ Championship lead via a dominant win last time out in Mexico, Norris again looked strong as the Sprint format returned for Round 21 on the calendar. The 25-year-old set the pace in Friday’s sole practice session before grabbing pole in Sprint Qualifying.

He then converted this into a win during an eventful Sprint on Saturday, resisting pressure from Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli late on to triumph amid changing track conditions. Just hours later, his successful sequence continued with another pole position, this time in Qualifying for Sunday’s race.

With championship rivals Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen facing trickier sessions – more on which below – the odds looked even more in Norris’ favour ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. And so it was that the British racer executed another impressive performance to seal a seventh victory of the campaign.

While Norris conceded afterwards that he was “disappointed that we weren’t quicker” following the eye-catching pace of Verstappen – who finished 10 seconds behind in third – meaning that he will not be resting on his laurels, the result certainly added to his title chances.

Leading the way throughout the weekend has seen Norris’ points tally grow to 390, giving him a 24-point advantage over Piastri in second while he now sits 49 points clear of third-placed Verstappen with three rounds to go.

Verstappen’s rise from pit lane to podium

As touched on above, Verstappen experienced quite the rollercoaster weekend in Sao Paulo, a track at which he memorably won in 2024 after storming through the field from P17 on the grid.

The Dutchman was unhappy with his car on Friday, lamenting a “terrible” feeling in Sprint Qualifying that saw him take P6 on the grid. While he recovered to fourth in the 100-kilometre dash, worse was to come for Verstappen a few hours later in Qualifying for the Grand Prix.

Changes made to his Red Bull before the session backfired as the four-time World Champion struggled for grip and made a shock Q1 exit in P16. As such, the team opted to make various changes to his RB21 prior to the race, in Parc Ferme conditions, meaning Verstappen would subsequently start from the pit lane.

After gaining positions in the opening laps, Verstappen’s comeback drive soon hit a snag when he picked up a puncture, resulting in an early pit stop. However, from there the 28-year-old set about picking off the cars around him as he worked his way up the order.

At one stage Verstappen was even leading – following a pit stop for Norris – but he again slipped back a little following a late visit to the pits to bolt on a fresh set of soft tyres. However, this allowed the reigning champion to go on the hunt, culminating in an exciting battle with Antonelli for P2 in the closing stages.

Verstappen was unable to make a move by the chequered flag and had to settle for third, but being on the podium at all was an outcome that he acknowledged he “didn’t expect at all” just a few hours earlier. “It’s an incredible result for us,” he remarked afterwards.

Another blow for Piastri

What was a single point deficit to Norris in the standings heading into the weekend in Sao Paulo has now widened to 24 points, summing up a wholly frustrating round for Piastri.

He knew that he could progress from P3 at the beginning of the Sprint, going as far as to pledge that he would “definitely fight”, but he ended up in the barriers after just six laps.

The Australian took too much kerb at Turn 3 and the greasy surface sent him into the wall – an error which Nico Hulkenberg and Franco Colapinto quickly replicated, forcing a red flag. With Norris later winning the Sprint, his advantage was already up to nine points by the end of Saturday.

Piastri then qualified in P4 for the Grand Prix and had his sights firmly set on a podium at the very least, but his ambition of recovering positions proved to be his undoing. Whilst trying to pass Antonelli on the Safety Car restart, he locked up and clipped the Mercedes, with the Italian driver subsequently crashing into Charles Leclerc.

Piastri did succeed in improving to P2, but he was soon handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision and it was an uphill battle from then onwards. After serving it, he could only manage to get up to fifth place before getting stuck behind George Russell, finishing half a second behind him.

Norris’ victory and Verstappen’s supreme performance now sees Piastri 25 points ahead of the Dutchman in the standings and 24 behind his team mate, leaving the title battle as unpredictable as ever.

Antonelli scores his best-ever result

Mercedes do not hide the fact that their car massively prefers cooler weather, making the grey skies and drizzle in Sao Paulo an alluring prospect for Antonelli and Russell.

The rookie driver adapted to the conditions rapidly, maintaining his second-place spot throughout the Sprint and boldly challenging Norris for the lead, before he secured P2 once again in Qualifying for the main event.

Doubt was cast on his hope of returning to the podium as he collided with both Piastri and Leclerc, but while those two suffered with a penalty and DNF respectively, Antonelli emerged without any significant damage.

He stayed out of trouble for the rest of the race but came under immense pressure from a charging Verstappen in the final laps. Keeping his cool, he took the chequered flag just three-tenths ahead of the Red Bull, earning himself his best finish of his Formula 1 career so far.

“It was definitely the most complete weekend of the season so far,” he said. “I think we’ve finally been putting things together. I’m just happy. I think we maximised the performance, the result, and got some good points in the Constructors’. We need to keep pushing.”

Ferrari suffer double DNF pain

Ferrari had a weekend to forget at Interlagos, suffering their second double retirement of the season after Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc crashed out of the Dutch Grand Prix back in August.

It started with a tricky Sprint Qualifying, where Hamilton was eliminated in SQ2 and Leclerc could only place eighth – behind both McLarens, both Mercedes cars, both Aston Martins and Verstappen’s Red Bull.

There was a glimmer of hope on one side of the garage in the main Qualifying session, which saw Leclerc charge his way to P3 after another second-phase exit for Hamilton, but any hopes of converting that into strong points were soon dashed.

Leclerc was the innocent victim in a Lap 9, Turn 1 collision that started when Piastri dove up the inside of Antonelli – the pair making contact and the Italian teenager being sent into Leclerc’s path.

Hamilton, meanwhile, had been nursing significant damage after early contact with Colapinto’s Alpine, so severe that the seven-time World Champion – who had admirably ploughed on – was eventually called back to the pits to retire his car.

Not only was it hugely frustrating for both drivers, whose pain was visible during their post-race TV interviews, but it also served as a setback to Ferrari’s ambitions of finishing second in the Teams’ Championship – Mercedes’ strong double points finish moving them well clear and Red Bull also slotting ahead.

Interlagos delivers another eventful weekend

There was drama from start to finish over the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, at an Interlagos venue that has produced so many classic races and decisive championship moments over the years.

It all started with a gripping Sprint Qualifying and Sprint, which saw Norris and Antonelli do battle over pole position and the win, with plenty of scrapping and overtaking behind to keep fans on the edge of their seats.

The 100-kilometre dash took a scary turn when home hero Gabriel Bortoleto crashed out heavily at the first corner while trying to clear Williams rival Alex Albon, but he thankfully managed to walk away from the incident unharmed.

A huge shock followed in the main Qualifying session when Verstappen – who had been struggling with his Red Bull all weekend – got knocked out in Q1, forcing him into another recovery drive after his P17-to-victory effort last year.

Another drama and overtake-filled race on Sunday delivered plenty more talking points, from Bortoleto’s emotional exit to Ferrari’s nightmare and Verstappen’s remarkable drive that involved him turning a pit lane start into a podium finish.

Rising above it all was Norris, who edged further ahead of team mate Piastri in the race for the 2025 Drivers’ title – just three more rounds to come, all in a back-to-back sequence, to settle who wins it.