Norris Wins In Sao Paulo, Mercedes Clinch Title

How to watch: Lando Norris vs Max Verstappen, Sunday, November 8, 2026, at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Sao Paulo
TV (Canada): TSN
Stream: TSN, F1 TV

Sao Paulo Grand Prix Results Settle The Constructors’ Title

The maths going into Interlagos were simple, and Mercedes finished the day well past them. The team arrived in Brazil on 630 points, 126 clear of Ferrari, and needed to outscore its rival by three points to put the championship beyond reach, because only 129 points remain on the table across the final three rounds. Russell’s 12 points for fourth and Antonelli’s 10 for fifth gave Mercedes 22 on the day. Ferrari took six, with Charles Leclerc eighth after a post-race penalty and Lewis Hamilton ninth, and the standings after the race put Mercedes on 652 points to Ferrari’s 510, a gap of 142 with those 129 left to win.

It is Mercedes’ ninth constructors’ title and its first since 2021, when a run of eight in a row from 2014 came to an end. Sky Sports’ report on the race notes that the ninth title lifts Mercedes level with Williams in third place on the sport’s all-time list of constructors’ winners. The title also completes a championship double a week after Antonelli secured the drivers’ crown in Mexico City, the story iimiTV covered when Antonelli became the youngest champion in Formula 1 history. Team principal Toto Wolff, whose ninth title as a team principal matches the record Frank Williams set with Williams, told his drivers over the radio, in the Associated Press account of the race: “We secured the championship. I think this is the most important thing. Thank you for surviving.”

Norris Loses The Start, Then Owns The Weather

Norris had to win this race twice. He claimed pole in soaking conditions on Saturday, his third pole at Interlagos, but a poor launch dropped him to third on the opening lap as Antonelli jumped him at the start and Liam Lawson also came past briefly. Antonelli, the 2026 champion racing the 2025 champion, pulled a lead of six seconds before the race turned on the first round of stops. As the track dried and the field switched to slick tyres, Antonelli delayed his stop by a lap, struggled with tyre temperatures, and spun at Turn 1, handing the lead back to Norris, who had been closing on him.

From there Norris controlled a race that started wet, ran a long dry middle, and turned wet again in the closing laps, when rain forced the whole field back onto intermediate tyres. He led 47 of the race’s 71 laps and crossed the line 14.6 seconds clear. “It was a very tough race,” Norris said afterwards. “Obviously, not the best of start launches off the line. A lot of challenges today, with the conditions. Going from slicks in the wet is always tough, especially when you are pushing for the lead and trying to catch up a bit. The main thing today, I just kept it cool and didn’t make any mistakes. I had the pace when I needed it.” The win is his third of the season, his second in a row at Interlagos, and the 14th of his career, on his 50th podium.

Verstappen Climbs From 21st To Second

The drive of the day came from the back. Verstappen started 21st on the grid and finished second, gaining 19 places in the wet and dry chaos, with his team mate Hadjar third to give Red Bull a double podium. It was the latest in a line of Verstappen recovery drives at this circuit, and it still was not enough to beat a McLaren driver who made no mistakes in the conditions that caught out almost everyone else.

The list of drivers the weather caught is long. Antonelli spun once in the race and had already spun across the grass on his way to the grid before the start, narrowly avoiding the barriers. Russell spun at the pit lane exit and recovered to fourth. Hamilton, making his 400th Formula 1 start, spun as well and finished ninth, a lap down, after starting 20th. Remarkably, none of it brought out a safety car. Oscar Piastri was sixth for McLaren, Leclerc passed Lawson on the penultimate lap to take seventh from the Racing Bulls driver, and Nico Hulkenberg took the final point in tenth for Audi. Canada’s Lance Stroll retired mid-race for Aston Martin, Valtteri Bottas was wheeled off the grid before the start with a problem on his Cadillac, and Rafael Camara finished 20th on his Formula 1 debut for Haas.

A Title Won The Hard Way On The Day

Mercedes’ afternoon was far rougher than the final standings suggest, which is part of why the radio messages at the flag sounded relieved as much as triumphant. Both of its drivers spun, Antonelli led and lost the race at Turn 1, and Russell’s engineer called it, in the Fox Sports account of the team radio, “quite an afternoon, quite an adventure.” Russell answered at the end: “Well done everybody. It’s great to see what we have achieved this year.”

Wolff’s own summary, reported after the race, framed the title as a comeback rather than a coronation. “Overall I’m so proud of the organisation, we have taken a few years to get back to the top spot,” he said. “Not many teams can come back.” The numbers behind the comeback season are the ones Ferrari now has three races to chase for pride alone: Mercedes has won 12 of the 20 rounds so far, Antonelli holds the drivers’ title at 390 points, and the team’s 140-point lead cannot be caught with Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi still to run.

Both championships are now decided, and the rest of the season runs for position. Formula 1 heads to the Las Vegas Grand Prix next, from November 20 to 22, with the fight for second in the drivers’ championship still open behind Antonelli. Norris, the outgoing champion, has now won two straight races at Interlagos and three this season in a year that belonged to Mercedes. Sunday in Sao Paulo showed both halves of that story at once: the best driver on the day in a McLaren, and the best team of the year, spinning, surviving, and still finishing far enough up the road to take the title home.