Lando Norris survived a late downpour to claim McLaren’s first victory in three months at the Brazilian Grand Prix, as Mercedes sealed the Formula 1 constructors’ title despite their first GP of the year without a podium. Norris lost the race lead almost immediately after the finish line when Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes passed him on the run into Turn 1, and Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls quickly demoted Norris to third position. Norris soon snatched second place from Lawson, but Antonelli escaped in the lead as the field waited for the right moment to switch from intermediate to slick tyres. McLaren and Norris got that decision right when he pitted a lap ahead of Antonelli and closed much of that gap. Antonelli had trouble turning on his soft tires and ended up spinning in Turn 1 on his second lap, allowing Norris to take the race lead. Antonelli’s decline continued as the Red Bulls, Isack Hadjar and Max Verstappen defeated him. He reported that his car was steering itself and was struggling to take left turns in particular. Norris was unthreatened thereafter, building such a solid gap at the front that even a late rain shower and a return to the intermediates did nothing to destabilize his hold on the lead. It marks the first victory for Norris and McLaren since then. Zandvoort at the end of August. The podium was completed by Verstappen and Hadjar, the first of whom started from 21st place on the grid, moving up 10 of those positions in the first laps. George Russell ended up beating Antonelli for the first time since Baku in September, despite spinning in the pitlane after switching from intermediate tires to slicks. He made up some of the lost time by doing just one stint on slicks, while most of the other drivers needed two sets before returning to intermediates. – with three races to spare, as Ferrari suffered a difficult race. Like Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton made a spirited charge on the first lap, moving from 20th to ninth, but fell back as he battled with his intermediates, even being overtaken by the Aston Martin Honda of Fernando Alonso. Hamilton was the first to switch to slick tires and made up positions there, but lost time in a spin just before having to pit again for intermediates at the end of the race. That left him ninth at the checkered flag behind Lawson and teammate Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri finished 56.4 seconds behind his McLaren teammate Norris in sixth place. Nico Hulkenberg took the final point for Audi in 10th place despite having to serve a 10-second penalty for going off track at Turn 1 while fighting with the Alpine of Franco Colapinto. Race result1 Lando Norris (McLaren)2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +14.602s3 Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +24.485s4 George Russell (Mercedes) +33.991s5 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +36.017s6 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +56.475s7 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +1m13.586s8 Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1m15.402s9 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +1 lap10 Nico Hulkenberg (Audi) +1 lap11 Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1 lap12 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1 lap13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine) +1 lap14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1 lap15 Alex Albon (Williams) +1 lap16 Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi) +1 lap17 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1 lap18 Sergio Pérez (Cadillac) +2 laps19 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +2 laps20 Rafa Camara (Haas) +2 lapsDNF Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)DNF Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
