Grand Prix

F1 Brazilian Grand Prix 2025: Full Results And Report As Championship Battle Intensifies

Lando Norris extended his championship lead with a dominant win.
Jude Short|
Lando Norris, McLaren
Lando Norris, McLaren | McLaren Racing

It was a dominant performance from Lando Norris as he claimed his seventh victory of the year, following up on his victory in the sprint race with another 25 points on Sunday, extending his championship lead to 24 points over Oscar Piastri.

Early race incidents would leave Oscar Piastri with a shock penalty and lead to the retirement of Charles Leclerc through no fault of his own.

And in unexpected fashion, Max Verstappen would grab fans' attention following his conversion of a pit-lane start all the way to a P3 finish, grabbing a podium on a day many fans would expect his championship shot to slip away from him.

Incidents mar opening laps as Verstappen surges

Max Verstappen, Brazil 2024
Max Verstappen, Brazil 2024 | Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

None of the top ten were able to get past each other in the initial portion of Lap 1 except Liam Lawson on George Russell, with Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari having the weakest start of any on the grid, dropping four places into 17th.

A loss of control from home favorite Gabriel Bortoleto in the Sauber occurred only halfway through the first lap, causing the 21-year-old to hit the barriers, bringing out a safety car and ending his race.

The safety car was brought out for the third time in a row at the Brazilian Grand Prix, lasting for three laps and coming in on Lap 4.

There was more chaos immediately, as Charles Leclerc, Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri went three abreast at Turn 1 after the Italian struggled to keep up with Lando Norris' pace following the restart.

Piastri and Antonelli would collide, sending the Mercedes into Leclerc's Ferrari and causing the Monegasque racer to lose both a tire and incur suspension damage, ending his race prematurely.

Unable to continue, Leclerc's Ferrari would pull over and bring out a Virtual Safety Car, with the McLarens of Norris and Piastri leading from the Mercedes of Antonelli and the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar.

Laps 14 and 17 would see ten-second penalties applied for both Yuki Tsunoda and Oscar Piastri, with Tsunoda's given for an incident with Lance Stroll and Piastri's for the aforementioned crash after the safety car restart.

Verstappen, who had taken an early pit stop to change from hard tires to mediums, found himself up to seventh by Lap 19 thanks to Hadjar and Pierre Gasly entering the pit lane.

Seventh turned into fifth by Lap 21, the Dutchman having gained 15 places in the first third of the race and looking impressive as he looked to restore his championship ambitions.

MORE: F1 Standings After The 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Pit lane drama takes the headlines

Tsunoda's misfortunes would continue on Lap 27 as stewards noted that the Japanese driver had served his stop incorrectly and therefore was handed another penalty.

Norris would have a comfortable pit stop on Lap 30, as he pitted seven seconds in front of teammate Piastri, who had yet to serve his ten seconds.

The Briton would emerge fourth, behind Verstappen, whom he would overtake with ease thanks to his new soft tires only three laps after his stop, moving into third.

Verstappen and Russell would both pit on Lap 35, granting enough of a gap for Lando Norris to hypothetically pit and emerge ahead of both.

Piastri would come in from the lead on Lap 39 to serve his penalty, dropping to eighth place as his teammate Norris regained the lead, followed by Kimi Antonelli, who did not sustain any long-term damage from his earlier incident with Leclerc and the number 81 McLaren.

Verstappen and Piastri sat fourth and fifth by Lap 45, but both Mercedes in front of the duo came in for mediums on Laps 48 and 49, followed by race leader Norris on Lap 51, with the championship leader holding a 15-second advantage.

Teeth-clenching finish

In a season that has seen few dramatic endings and 20-second margins established from race winners, the Brazilian Grand Prix's top five all looked close as Interlagos' drama came to a close.

Piastri would take heed from his McLaren teammate and decided to swap his degraded softs for nine-lap-old mediums. Meanwhile, Verstappen's pace was clearly a surprise and had many fans questioning if he would pit again or pull his medium tires all the way to the end, as he held the race lead.

It was not to be, with the Dutchman taking the decision to swap onto softs for the final 16 laps of the race, dropping back behind both Mercedes and giving the McLaren of Norris the lead yet again.

By Lap 60 the McLaren had a lead of six seconds over Kimi Antonelli in second, but the question was still unanswered as to what position Verstappen would finish in, now in fourth.

The Red Bull star was not able to get both Mercedes, but was able to race past George Russell on the outside of Turn 1 by the time that Lap 63 rolled around.

Ultimately, it would be Norris, Antonelli and Verstappen taking the top three positions, thanks to strong defense by Antonelli on Verstappen in the final couple laps, as Norris finished a comfortable ten seconds ahead to claim his seventh win of the season.

Round out the top ten were Russell and Piastri, separated by less than a second in fourth and fifth, while Ollie Bearman's Haas ended up sixth after a great performance, claiming his second top-six finish from the past two races.

Ollie Bearman picked up his best result in F1 ever in Mexico, finishing fourth.
Ollie Bearman picked up his best result in F1 ever in Mexico, finishing fourth. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Lawson, Hadjar, Hulkenberg, and Gasly rounded out the point scorers.

Position

Driver / Team

1

Lando Norris / McLaren

2

Kimi Antonelli / Mercedes

3

Max Verstappen / Red Bull

4

George Russell / Mercedes

5

Oscar Piastri / McLaren

6

Ollie Bearman / Haas

7

Liam Lawson / Racing Bulls

8

Isack Hadjar / Racing Bulls

9

Nico Hülkenberg / Sauber

10

Pierre Gasly / Alpine

11

Alex Albon / Williams

12

Esteban Ocon / Haas

13

Carlos Sainz / Williams

14

Fernando Alonso / Aston Martin

15

Franco Colapinto / Williams

16

Lance Stroll / Aston Mart

17

Yuki Tsunoda / Red Bull

DNF

Lewis Hamilton / Ferrari

DNF

Charles Leclerc / Ferrari

DNF

Gabriel Bortoleto / Sauber

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Jude Short
JUDE SHORT

After graduating from the University of Essex in 2024, Jude spent time as both a writer for Breaking the Lines and NBA Editor for VAVEL USA, before publishing work for GRV Media, GPFans, and startup site The Deck. Jude had a brief stint back with VAVEL in the summer of 2025, before joining Grand Prix on SI in September of that year.

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