Interlagos delivers changeable conditions as Norris wins ahead of Verstappen and Hadjar

Interlagos always delivers a spectacular show. This year, a single race took us from wet conditions to dry and back to wet again in the closing stages. Lando Norris mastered its challenges best to take victory.

The British champion produced a flawless drive in demanding conditions to claim a deserved victory. Max Verstappen finished second, taking his Red Bull to the podium after starting from the back of the field at this circuit for the third time, with team-mate Isack Hadjar joining him on the podium. Fourth and fifth places sealed the constructors’ title for Mercedes.

Intermediates for the start

The weather caused disruption again before the start. Rain stopped a few minutes before the lights went out, but the forecast remained highly uncertain. Although it was no longer raining, intermediates were the clear choice for the start, with every team opting for them.

On the formation lap, Fernando Alonso reported that the track was “drier than he had expected”, suggesting a significant strategic twist could come as early as the opening laps. Kimi Antonelli made an excellent start to take the lead from Lando Norris, who then lost second place to Lawson as well.

Lewis Hamilton also made an excellent start, gaining eleven(!) places on the opening lap. Verstappen was making rapid progress too, moving into tenth at the start of lap three. Leclerc, by contrast, was only 14th at the same stage. On lap four, Hamilton had a poor exit from Turn 12 and Max swept past him on the start-finish straight to take ninth.

Verstappen then set about chasing Piastri, who was stuck behind Albon, and a fierce three-way battle followed. Verstappen wasted no time and passed them both. Up front, Norris finally passed Lawson on lap six to move into second, but was already more than five seconds behind race leader Antonelli. Hadjar and Russell then attacked Lawson, dropping him to fifth.

Verstappen continued his charge on lap eight, passing Hülkenberg to move into sixth. Hamilton’s struggles began at that point. Lewis had to give a position back to Ollie Bearman, whom he had apparently passed off the track on the opening lap. Hamilton was then overtaken by Lindblad, leaving him directly ahead of Leclerc.

Another battle between the Ferrari drivers followed. This time, Leclerc managed to get ahead and immediately began pulling away from the struggling Lewis, who was then passed by Alonso as well.

On lap 11, Russell passed Hadjar for third and Verstappen overtook Lawson. At this point, the order was: Antonelli, Norris, Russell, Hadjar, Verstappen, Lawson, Piastri, Hülkenberg, Albon and Bearman. Leclerc was outside the points in 12th, with Hamilton 14th.

The switch to slicks

A struggling Hamilton began asking insistently to pit. A dry line was appearing in many places, but the final sector still looked decidedly wet. At the end of lap 14, Lewis got his wish and took on fresh softs. Sainz also pitted.

Lewis immediately set a purple middle sector and the others followed him into the pits. At the end of lap 16, Norris, Russell, Hadjar, Lawson, Piastri, Hülkenberg, Leclerc and others all stopped.

George Russell made another huge mistake, spinning at the pit exit and losing a host of positions. Antonelli and Verstappen came in on the following lap. Lando gained significantly by stopping earlier and was right on Kimi’s tail by lap 19. This year’s champion reported that something was wrong with the car. Mercedes, however, dismissed that suggestion, believing it was simply down to tyre temperatures. Antonelli disagreed, insisting it was definitely the suspension, and then spun at Turn 1.

Norris took the lead, while Antonelli only just held on to second ahead of Hadjar. A fierce battle for second followed, with Kimi losing out on lap 21 and dropping to third, straight into Verstappen’s clutches. “Bono, the car is pulling on one side when accelerating. It’s so weird,” Antonelli complained.

By lap 26, the top ten had settled into the following order: Norris, Hadjar, Verstappen, Antonelli, Piastri, Lawson, Hülkenberg, Russell, Lindblad and Hamilton.

Overtaking was difficult at this stage. Making a move meant venturing onto the wet part of the track. Many drivers were also struggling with their tyres. Mercedes remained convinced that tyre temperatures were behind Antonelli’s problems. Leclerc’s Ferrari, meanwhile, could not get its rear tyres up to temperature.

On lap 29, Hamilton passed Lindblad and Russell overtook Hülkenberg, but otherwise the order barely changed. On lap 38, Isack Hadjar was instructed to make way for Max Verstappen and let him through into second.

The second round of pit stops

On lap 38, Ferrari decided to try something different. The Scuderia was clearly going nowhere and called Hamilton into the pits. It did not quite work out for Ferrari, however, as Lewis rejoined directly behind Norris, who was a lap ahead. That did not stop Lewis from soon taking the position back and unlapping himself.

On lap 45, Red Bull called Verstappen in, beginning the second round of pit stops. Some drivers, however, did not want to stop. Hadjar, for instance, agreed to go to the finish on a single set of softs. On lap 49 of 71, Norris pitted and rejoined behind Hadjar and Antonelli.

An intriguing battle was therefore developing between the drivers on two-stop and one-stop strategies. Although Hadjar had requested a one-stop strategy, he too pitted at the end of lap 50. He rejoined in sixth, behind Russell on old tyres. Piastri eventually pitted as well.

Mercedes initially appeared ready to gamble on a one-stop strategy, but eventually called Antonelli in. With 17 laps remaining, the order was therefore: Norris, Verstappen, Hadjar, Russell, Antonelli, Piastri, Leclerc, Lawson, Hamilton and Hülkenberg.

Once Antonelli had passed Russell, the biggest questions heading into the closing stages were whether the rain would return — as the forecast suggested it would — and how Ferrari’s battle with the midfield teams would end.

On lap 58, Lawson, on fresh tyres, passed Leclerc, on old rubber, to move into seventh. Charles was then instructed to let Hamilton through on his fresher softs.

Rain returns to Interlagos

With ten laps remaining, Antonelli closed right up to third-placed Hadjar and the heavens opened again at Interlagos. This time, Russell was the first to pit. Lawson and Leclerc also stopped. Norris, Verstappen, Hadjar and Antonelli all came in on the following lap. Kimi emerged from the pits directly into Colapinto’s path.

Hamilton waited another lap and paid a heavy price. Just metres before the pit entry, he spun and only narrowly avoided a crash. In the blink of an eye, everyone was back on intermediates. Mercedes ordered Antonelli to let Russell through, as his tyres were better prepared and he wanted to attack Hadjar.

The rain grew heavier in the final laps. On the penultimate lap, Leclerc managed to pass Lawson for seventh after a superb battle, giving Ferrari’s disastrous weekend a slightly brighter ending. Otherwise, the order remained unchanged in the difficult conditions. Lando Norris was a deserved winner, guiding his McLaren through all the challenges Interlagos threw at him to repeat last year’s victory.

Max Verstappen crossed the line second, having started from the back of the field at Interlagos for the third year running and reached the podium for the third successive year with another brilliant performance. Isack Hadjar finished third. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli took fourth and fifth, securing the constructors’ title for Mercedes with that result.

Oscar Piastri finished a lonely sixth. Charles Leclerc took seventh after a difficult day, with a post-race investigation still to come over his battle with Liam Lawson, who finished eighth. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hülkenberg completed the points finishers.

There is a break from F1 next weekend, before the Las Vegas Grand Prix.