Brazilian Grand Prix
Norris wins – Verstappen’s crazy comeback
Updated on November 9, 2025 – 7:53 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Lando Norris confirmed his title ambitions at the Brazilian Grand Prix. World champion Max Verstappen also had a strong race.
McLaren driver Lando Norris is on course for his first world title with a victory in the wild race in São Paulo – but the man of the day was Max Verstappen again: The world champion experienced a spectacular rebirth after a start from the pits, plowed through the field and kept his minimal chances of the title alive with an outstanding third place.
The strong Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli came second. Norris’ team rival Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, couldn’t get past fifth place in another disappointing race and lost further points.
After his second win in a row, Norris is now 24 points ahead of Piastri, Verstappen is now 49 points behind the leader. Formula 1 is making stops in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi this year – the World Cup is still not decided, although Verstappen had his RB21 completely rebuilt after a failed qualifying and had to start from the pit lane as punishment. Meanwhile, Nico Hülkenberg in Sauber scored points in ninth place.
Before the start, Red Bull had hoped for rain, which could have helped them catch up. In fact, a few drops came, “but it’s just drizzling, that’s not much,” said Verstappen shortly before it started, sounding almost disappointed. The world champion had to forgo the rain, but there was still the obligatory chaos in São Paulo on the first few laps. First, Gabriel Bortoleto was hit in the second Sauber, the first Formula 1 home race by a Brazilian in seven years ended against a wall on the first lap.
A safety car phase brought the field closer together, and after the race was cleared, Piastri wanted too much from fourth place: in turn one he squeezed onto the inside lane next to Antonelli, pushed the Mercedes into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari – and received a 10-second penalty for it a short time later.
At the front, Norris and Piastri were initially traveling together, but the Englishman was faster and quickly opened up a small gap. Far back, Verstappen reported a flat front tire on the first laps, came into the pits and was subsequently very fast. After just a quarter of the race he was in the top 10, and a few laps later he was in fourth place.
The next stops were completed around the halfway point of the race. Norris came in for the first time, Verstappen for the second time, Piastri had to serve his penalty before changing tires and thus fell behind the world champion. Both McLarens now had soft tires on, Verstappen had the longer-lasting medium tires on the car.
Norris now became noticeably slower, Verstappen got closer, and when Norris got new tires again, Verstappen slipped past. “I didn’t think I’d be allowed to say this today: You’re leading the race,” radioed his race engineer. “Not bad,” replied Verstappen and surprisingly a short time later he got the soft tires again for the final sprint. “We have nothing to lose,” said Verstappen and once again attacked the Mercedes in front of him.