2026 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Race Review

Linus O'Howell

7 hours ago

4 min read

Norris Returns to Winning Ways as Mercedes Crowned Champions

Despite a difficult start, Lando Norris was successful in his attempt to convert Pole into the Win as Mercedes were crowned Constructors’ Champions! Max Verstappen managed to continue his impressive Podium streak by going from 21st to 2nd, whilst Isack Hadjar was able to complete a double Podium for Red Bull!

The Biggest Talking Points

Before the Race could even begin, Valtteri Bottas was already out due to an issue with his tyres, whilst when the lights went out, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was quickly able to dispatch Lando Norris for the lead of the Grand Prix, with Liam Lawson also making it past the McLaren! By the start of Lap 3, both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were already in the Top 10, despite starting at the back, as Verstappen continued to make quick progress through the field! Hamilton, on the other hand, after being told to give the place back to Oliver Bearman, fell backwards, with the two Ferraris eventually going wheel to wheel as, unlike his teammate, Charles Leclerc wasn’t able to get a good start! As the track started to dry out, the pace of the leaders was simply too much for both Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg, with Lando Norris, George Russell, Isack Hadjar, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen all making their way through successfully! Eventually, the track would dry up well enough for slick tyres to be usable, with Lewis Hamilton pulling the trigger first to a good level of success! However, the pitlane was still incredibly slippery; something Russell found out as the Mercedes driver spun in the pit exit, taking him out of contention for the win!

Sadly for Mercedes, George Russell wasn’t the only driver who struggled with the switch to dry tyres, as Andrea Kimi Antonelli also lost it at Turn 1, losing the lead to Lando Norris as a result! Things would then get worse for Kimi, as he continued to struggle, losing places to both of the Red Bulls, whilst Russell lost another place to Nico Hulkenberg! At this point, Charles Leclerc was having an absolute disaster; running all the way down in P14, whilst Alex Albon’s strong attempt at staying in the points would eventually come to an end once Overtake mode was enabled! With about 20 laps to go, Red Bull got Isack Hadjar to move out of the way for Max Verstappen; a decision that’s worth a debate at some point, as Verstappen never pulled away from Hadjar; in fact, he may even have been holding him up! To create a little bit of drama, the rain would start to intensify again, with everyone having to go back into the pits to put the Inters back on! This helped George Russell massively, who hadn’t pitted for another fresh set of softs, as he was able to move ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli thanks to Mercedes team orders! Ultimately, those team orders wouldn’t end up mattering as Kimi received a post-Race penalty for an unsafe release! Just before the crossover point, Lewis Hamilton went spinning around on the main straight, resulting in him dropping down to P9, whilst Nico Hulkenberg was successfully able to re-overtake Arvid Lindblad for the final points-paying position (after initially losing it due to serving a 10-second time penalty)! Out front, Lando Norris would continue to pull further and further clear out front, whilst Charles Leclerc, who also benefited from making one less pit stop, was able to overtake Liam Lawson for P7 on the penultimate lap after making contact at the penultimate corner! Rightfully so, Leclerc would receive a post-Race penalty for this incident, meaning Lawson would get that P7 back!

The Standout Drives in the Race

I’ve given out three 10’s for the 2026 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, and the first one is obviously for Lando Norris! Lando has been consistently exceptional in tricky conditions for years now, and he proved that once again by taking his third victory of the season! The second driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Max Verstappen, who went from 21st to 2nd! 21st to 2nd! The craziest part about this is that it didn’t even feel like a big deal, which sums up Verstappen’s brilliance in a nutshell! The final driver I’ve given a Perfect 10 to is Liam Lawson, who not only finished best of the rest, but he also beat both of the Ferraris! Considering how much of this Grand Prix took place in the dry, that’s another very impressive job for Liam! Elsewhere, Isack Hadjar showed good pace on his return to the Podium, whilst Nico Hulkenberg picked up an important point in Audi’s Constructors’ Championship battle with Haas! Fernando Alonso also showed his class, although the lack of straight-line speed was obvious, whilst congrats to Mercedes on recapturing the Constructors’ World Championship!

Drivers Who Had a Shocker

Due to nobody crashing out in Interlagos, I haven’t given out a single 1 for this Race! Despite this, there are teams/drivers that we need to talk about! After a brilliant Qualifying, Oliver Bearman completely dropped through the field, whilst Carlos Sainz had no pace whatsoever! It wasn’t a good day for Brazil’s home heroes, either, with Gabriel Bortoleto only finishing P16, whilst Rafael Camara finished last on debut! The only reason I didn’t give Camara a 1 was because it was his debut, as he was absolutely nowhere! Alpine had a pretty disappointing day, or should I say weekend, whilst Ferrari finishing 8th and 9th is pretty disappointing, even if both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton started out of position! I also need to include Mercedes in this section, as Andrea Kimi Antonelli was clearly going to win this Race up until the switch onto dry tyres, whilst George Russell also would’ve been in contention for the win had he not spun in the pitlane! Also, Mercedes seemed to have serious issues when it came to pace after changing tyres, which they need to try and solve quickly!