It’s that time once again for another Grand Prix from another legendary circuit — one of which I hold very close to my heart. I know these are meant to be recaps, but there’s something about the Brazilian Grand Prix that makes me sentimental. I grew up adoring Ayrton Senna, and every year, to this day, before each Grand Prix at Interlagos, I watch the iconic first victory on home soil as Ayrton Senna took the chequered flag after leading the race with his McLaren stuck in 6th gear. The excitement in his voice as he realizes a childhood dream has come true, to win in front of his friends, family, and the people he cares about most, just writing this chokes me up.
Brazil is known for bringing some of the best drivers in the world, from Senna to Piquet to Barrichello, all drivers I’ve loved for decades. Now, after winning his first world championship and spending time with the Senna family, Kimi Antonelli is wearing the colours of Ayrton and an iconic yellow helmet inspired by Ayrton with the green and blue stripes. Interlagos is one of the best tracks on the calendar for its overtaking opportunities, exciting action and very unpredictable weather. I could ramble on forever about why this race is special, but we’ve got a recap to get through, so let’s talk about the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Qualifying
Who doesn’t love qualifying in full wet conditions? In the past, rain has usually meant a unique qualifying, balancing out the field in terms of car and driver performance. To start Q1, George Russell was sitting in the lead for most of the session when a last-lap attempt by Lando Norris put him in the top spot, with Russell dropping to P2. Lewis Hamilton is known for his talent as a wet-weather driver and placed himself in the top three early with P3; right on his heels was a surprise from the Audi of Nico Hülkenberg in P4. Isack Hadjar had a successful start to qualifying with P5, and the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson just behind him in P6. Another welcome surprise was the British racing green Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso in the top 10 in P7, followed by the struggling Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in P8, the unpleasant surprise of seeing Kimi Antonelli in P9, and Oscar Piastri, who was struggling for pace in his McLaren, rounding out the top 10 in the first session.
Round two would see a dry line start to develop on the racing line, meaning teams would start switching from the full wet tire to the intermediate, meaning cars would have more grip and an exorbitant amount of extra pace. The shock would come from two of the bigger teams, Ferrari and McLaren, who both decided to keep their drivers on the full wet compound. George Russell would claim P1 after staying at the top for most of the session, solidifying his fastest lap just shy of the red flag brought out by Rafael Camara after colliding with the barriers. Liam Lawson put on another spectacle of wet weather mastery in his Racing Bull to exit Q2 in P2, followed by the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar in P3. Charles Leclerc made those intermediate tires work, climbing from P8 to P4, with the still charging Audi of Nico Hülkenberg right behind in P5. Alex Albon had a fantastic second session, placing his Williams in P6, with the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso right behind in P7. It was a show of the mid-pack teams as Oliver Bearman put his Haas into the top 10 with P8, Lando Norris dropping off the pace with his intermediate tires down to P9, and Kimi Antonelli would just make it through to Q3 on his set of full wet tires in P10.
In the final round of qualifying, we were delighted to see a mixed bag of teams in the top 10: McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull, Aston Martin, Audi, Haas, Williams, Mercedes, and the Racing Bulls. Wet weather takes the car out of the equation and puts it down to driver skill. Lando Norris would take home pole position in his McLaren after George Russell was held up by the Williams of Alex Albon, placing an unhappy Russell in P2. “I don’t want to be P2, I want to be P1. That was a P1 lap.” Fans of Kimi Antonelli could finally relax after the young Italian found his rhythm and put himself in P3, with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc following close behind in P4. Liam Lawson gave it all he had and placed his Racing Bull in P5, with Nico Hülkenberg trailing in his Audi in P6. Not an ideal finishing position for Isack Hadjar with P7, but Oliver Bearman had a fantastic session with a P8 result. Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin finished in P9, and the Williams of Alex Albon would end the session in P10.
Race
And the Brazilian Grand Prix is underway! Kimi Antonelli, with an impressive start, jumps from P3 to P1 before Turn 1, with the McLaren of Norris having a horrible start, dropping to P2 and under immediate pressure from the Racing Bull of Liam Lawson in P3. Lawson carried more momentum on both the entry and exit of Turn 1, setting him up for a textbook pass on the inside of Norris to take P2; the confidence from Lawson was evident early on. In the back, the Haas of Oliver Bearman and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso ran wide on the exit of Turn 3, fighting for position, but the focus was on the charging Lawson attempting to catch the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli.
While excitement was occurring at the front, many didn’t realise the charge Max Verstappen had made on the opening laps. Due to a penalty, Verstappen was set to start P21, and by only lap 4, Verstappen had passed Lewis Hamilton for P9, meaning he climbed 12 spots in just 4 laps. Let that sink in. Verstappen quickly caught the rear bumper of Oscar Piastri in P8, and while Piastri was able to defend, Verstappen found the quicker line around the outside of Turn 1. Piastri defended it beautifully on the exit of Turn 2, but a snap of oversteer due to wet track conditions gave Verstappen the advantage to attack, passing not only Piastri but also Alex Albon for P7 in the process just before the entry of Turn 4. Verstappen was on a mission.
Back to the front, the intermediate tires were finally coming to life for Norris, and the charge back to P2 was underway. The battle was back and forth, Lawson defending beautifully against the better-handling McLaren, but the battle was allowing the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar to catch up and join in the fun. Norris made a successful pass to reclaim P2; now Lawson had to worry about Hadjar, who clearly had more life in his intermediate tyres. Hadjar was getting ever closer and gained P3 with a pass on the inside of Turn 1 on Lawson, dropping him back to P4 after an already impressive performance.
Isack Hadjar would only have an opportunity to enjoy P3, as the Mercedes of George Russell was on his way. Lap after lap, after a rough start to the grand prix, Russell seemed to find more pace, and his Mercedes was coming to life. After a brave manoeuvre to the inside of Hadjar on entry to Turn 13, Russell got the job done, reclaiming his spot on the podium, but there’s still plenty of time for the tides to change.
After an impressive stint, it was time to pit, and plenty of teams were switching to the soft compound tire due to the track rapidly drying. Russell was in, up, four intermediate tires off, four soft tires on, and away he went. Now, when you have dry tires on a wet pit road, there are a couple of things that can happen; I know you know where I’m going with this. On the exit of the pits, there was a Mercedes facing backwards, and that Mercedes was George Russell. After a quick attempt to get a bit of heat in his tires, Russell spun the car, blocking the exit of the pits, causing many drivers to take evasive action around him to avoid losing track time. Russell managed to get his Mercedes facing the right direction, but not before grazing the pit wall attempting to do so, slightly damaging his front wing and putting a damper on his Brazilian Grand Prix.
The drama didn’t end for Mercedes just yet. For a team that could clinch the Constructors’ Championship this race, there was a lot of bad luck and mistakes, but that’s another story. On his fresh set of soft compound tires, Kimi Antonelli was beginning to lose quite a bit of pace, voicing his concern about a suspension issue to the team. After the team confirmed they couldn’t see anything in the data, Antonelli carried a bit too much speed into Turn 1 on still cold tires, running his Mercedes wide and spinning off the track on entry.
After recovering, Antonelli was quickly under attack from Isack Hadjar. Again, on the entry of Turn 1, Antonelli ran wide, opening the door for Hadjar to overtake, giving him P2 and causing Antonelli to drop to P3. The Turn 1 drama didn’t end there either. Verstappen, who started P21, I’ll remind you, was pushing, rapidly gaining on the Mercedes of Antonelli. Antonelli, still struggling with his Mercedes, ran wide on the entry of Turn 1, leaving the track and opening the door for Verstappen to secure his place on the podium. Verstappen could see the rear wing of his teammate Hadjar getting closer and closer, lap by lap. Before we knew it, Max Verstappen had gained 19 positions, passing Hadjar for P2, meaning we had a Red Bull 2-3 finish.
It was a Sunday drive for Lando Norris, and after a difficult season and handing his championship title to Kimi Antonelli in Mexico, he crossed the line to a satisfying win at the Brazilian Grand Prix. After an impressive comeback, both Verstappen and Hadjar brought home more hardware for the trophy case, with Verstappen in P2 and Isack Hadjar in P3. After an uncomfortable Grand Prix filled with spins, suspension issues, and almost a penalty after an unsafe release in the pits for Kimi Antonelli, which I didn’t talk about, Mercedes has clinched their 9th Constructors’ World Championship, which puts them level with the legendary Williams.
These last two races have been beyond exciting; champions crowned, racing as close as it’s been in years, Red Bull with a superb comeback from the start of the season, and Mercedes is, once again, a double World Champion. As much as I don’t want to say it, we’re getting closer to the end of the 2026 season, and with so much pressure out of the way, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season has in store. The next race will be under the lights of Las Vegas on November 21st, so we’ll see you in the next recap from the Las Vegas Street Circuit.
FEATURE PHOTO: FORMULA ONE, MERCEDES-AMG PETRONAS F1 TEAM, 2026 SÃO PAULO GP. KIMI ANTONELLI, GEORGE RUSSELL, TOTO WOLFF.
