Formula 1 Brazil GP Results and Highlights

Mercedes won the 2026 Formula 1 constructors’ championship at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, November 8, 2026, sealing the title with three races to spare as George Russell finished fourth and Kimi Antonelli fifth at Interlagos. The race itself, officially the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, was won by Lando Norris for McLaren, who took the lead when Antonelli spun on lap 20 and beat Max Verstappen by 14.602 seconds in a race that started wet, dried out and finished in the rain. Verstappen had started 21st after an engine change and Isack Hadjar made it two Red Bulls on the podium. For Mercedes it is a ninth constructors’ title and the first since 2021, and it came exactly one week after Antonelli won the drivers’ championship in Mexico City.

Key Takeaways

• Mercedes are the 2026 constructors’ champions. They have 652 points to Ferrari’s 510, a lead of 142 with only 129 left to score, and they add the teams’ title to the drivers’ crown Antonelli won seven days earlier.
• It is the ninth constructors’ title for Mercedes and their first since the run of eight in a row from 2014 to 2021. It puts them level with Williams, behind only Ferrari on 16 and McLaren on 10.
• Lando Norris won from pole in 1:35:23.504 for his third victory of the season and the 14th of his career, after losing the lead at the start to Antonelli and getting it back when the Mercedes spun at Turn 1 on lap 20.
• Max Verstappen finished second from 21st on the grid, gaining 19 places, and Isack Hadjar was third. Verstappen is now 17 points clear of Russell in the fight for second in the drivers’ standings.
• Ferrari scored six points. Charles Leclerc was eighth after a five-second penalty for hitting Liam Lawson, and Lewis Hamilton was ninth and a lap down on his 400th Grand Prix start.

The Brazilian Grand Prix was round 20 of 23 and the last leg of the Americas triple-header, run over 71 laps of the 4.309km Interlagos circuit. The constructors’ maths going in were simple. Mercedes led Ferrari by 126 points with 172 available, and with no sprints left on the calendar they needed to outscore the Italian team by four points on Sunday to finish the job. Ferrari made that easier before the race began. Both of its cars took new power units and grid penalties, and Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Arvid Lindblad and home driver Gabriel Bortoleto were penalised for engine changes as well. There was also a new name on the entry list: Brazilian rookie Rafael Camara made his Formula 1 debut for Haas in the seat that had been Esteban Ocon’s until the Mexico City weekend.

What happened in qualifying at Interlagos?

Qualifying was stopped by heavy rain less than three minutes into Q1 and did not resume for about an hour and 20 minutes. When it did, Norris was the class of the field. He took pole with a 1:27.470, his third pole in a row at Interlagos, 0.204 seconds quicker than Russell, with Antonelli third, 0.625 seconds back. “It’s not easy conditions out there, especially when you know it’s going to rain a lot more,” Norris said. Russell was furious on the radio after being told to back off on his final lap, and he then dropped five places to seventh for a new power unit, which put Antonelli on the front row. Leclerc qualified fourth and started 14th after a 10-place engine penalty. That promoted Lawson to third and Nico Hulkenberg to fourth, with Hadjar fifth and Oliver Bearman sixth. Fernando Alonso lined up eighth, his best grid position of the season, ahead of Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri, who went out in Q2 for the second race running.

The two biggest names in the field started at the back. Hamilton’s new Ferrari engine failed in final practice, the team fitted a second complete power unit, and he lined up 20th after going out in Q2. Verstappen took an all-new power unit as well, skipped Q2 to save wet tyres and started 21st. The only two drivers to hit the barriers in the wet were the two Brazilians: Bortoleto in Q1, which left him last on the timesheets, and Camara at the end of Q2, which brought out a red flag. Camara still started 11th.

How did Mercedes win the 2026 constructors’ championship?

Not in the style they would have chosen. Mercedes scored 22 points to Ferrari’s six, which was 12 more than they needed, but it was the first race of the season in which neither of their cars finished on the podium, and both drivers spun. Antonelli went off on the wet grass at Turn 12 on his way to the grid and had to return to the garage for checks. He then led from the start and threw it away with a spin at Turn 1 on lap 20. Russell spun in the pit lane as he left his box on cold slick tyres. Antonelli was also given a five-second penalty after the race for an unsafe release into the path of Franco Colapinto’s Alpine, which did not change his position. “Thank you for surviving!” team principal Toto Wolff told Russell on the radio at the flag.

The title was really won much earlier in the year. Mercedes took victory in each of the first six Grands Prix of the new rules era and have won 12 of the 20 races so far, nine with Antonelli and three with Russell. “It’s amazing. It was a very strong beginning of the season, and that kind of got us over the line,” Wolff said. “I’m so proud of the organisation; we’ve taken a few years to be back in the top spot.” Those years were long by Mercedes standards. After eight constructors’ titles in a row from 2014 to 2021, the team did not finish higher than second in any of the four ground-effect seasons that followed, and won only seven races in that time.

The ninth title draws Mercedes level with Williams, and that mattered to Wolff, who began his Formula 1 career there. “I never thought that was ever possible,” he said. “I had a close relationship with Frank, and to be there, it’s amazing. I can’t believe it.” He was also quick to point away from the cockpit: “I always say there are not two superstars, the drivers, but there are 2,500 superstars.” Russell was matter-of-fact. “We achieved what we came here to do and won the Constructors’ Championship,” he said. Antonelli, champion for a week, said of the team: “This year they have done an incredible job and that’s why they deserve this championship.” It is the first time Mercedes have won both titles in the same season since 2020.

How did Lando Norris win the Brazilian Grand Prix?

The track was wet at the start and every car was on intermediate tyres. Only 21 of them took the start, because Valtteri Bottas was wheeled off the grid with a cross-threaded wheel nut on his Cadillac. Norris was beaten away from pole by both Antonelli and Lawson and ran third in the early laps. Behind them Hamilton went from 20th to ninth on the opening lap, then handed a place back to Bearman after passing him off the track at Turn 5. As a dry line appeared, Hamilton was the first to gamble on soft slicks on lap 14. Norris, Russell and Hadjar followed on lap 16, and Antonelli and Verstappen a lap later. “Going onto slicks in the wet is always tough,” Norris said.

Antonelli came out of the pits still about two seconds ahead, but the extra lap on intermediates had cost him time and his slicks were slow to come in. By lap 18 Norris was 0.6 seconds behind and Antonelli was on the radio: “Something is weird with the car.” On lap 20 he spun at Turn 1 and Norris was through. From there the McLaren driver controlled the race. The track was declared dry on lap 23, he made a second stop on lap 49, and when Antonelli finally pitted from the lead on lap 53 Norris was back in front.

The last test came from the sky. Rain returned with 10 laps to go. Russell and Alonso were the first to stop for intermediates on lap 61, Norris and Verstappen came in a lap later and the rest of the field followed. Norris led by 11.2 seconds with six laps left and won by 14.602. “It was a very tough race, very, very tough,” he said. It was his third win of the year, his second in a row at Interlagos and the 50th podium of his career.

What were the key incidents and penalties?

The stewards were busy after the flag. Leclerc had passed Lawson for seventh at Turn 3 on the penultimate lap, but five corners earlier he had made contact with the Racing Bulls car at Juncao, and Lawson said the hit damaged his left-rear wheel rim. The stewards ruled that Lawson had the right to the corner and gave Leclerc five seconds, not the usual 10, because of the wet track and the light contact. He had finished 1.816 seconds ahead on the road, so the penalty put Lawson back in seventh. “It was on the limit but it’s part of racing for me,” Leclerc said.

Antonelli’s unsafe-release penalty was explained in similar detail. The stewards said Colapinto was “approaching in the fast lane” when the Mercedes was released, that the Alpine driver had to take evasive action and that it created a “potentially unsafe situation”. Mercedes accepted the release “could have been handled better”. Bearman received the same five-second penalty for an unsafe release at Haas. Hulkenberg was given 10 seconds for leaving the track at Turn 1 and still took the final point, and Albon was penalised five seconds for a Turn 1 incident with Pierre Gasly. Lance Stroll was the only retirement, stopping after 30 laps with a suspected battery problem on his Aston Martin.

Hamilton’s afternoon summed up Ferrari’s weekend. His early switch to slicks did not pay off, and when the rain came back he stayed out too long. “They said in the last message I had that it was going to stay drizzling,” he said, adding that he “didn’t hear that it was raining more in the first sector”. He spun on his way into the pits, was lapped by Norris three laps from the end and called it “a really, really, really tough day and weekend, I think, for the whole team”.

What was the full Brazilian Grand Prix 2026 race result?

Lindblad was 11th from 18th on the grid, just outside the points, ahead of Alonso, Colapinto, Gasly, Albon, Bortoleto and Bearman, all one lap down. Perez, Carlos Sainz and Camara were two laps behind, the debutant finishing 20th in his home race. Stroll retired and Bottas did not start. The gaps for Antonelli and Leclerc include their five-second penalties. Antonelli set the fastest lap, a 1:12.689 on lap 55.

Who were the standout performers at Interlagos?

Verstappen, again. He won at this circuit from 17th in the rain in 2024 and reached the podium from the pit lane in 2025, and this time he went from 21st to second. He was up to second by lap 38, when Hadjar let him through at Turn 1, and the only car he could not catch was Norris. He was still unhappy. “Of course P2 is nice, but not in this way,” he said. His opening stint on intermediates “went really, really well”, but on slicks “the car was like night and day different”, with oversteer in the fast corners, and he asked Red Bull to check whether something had broken. Hadjar’s third place gave the team its double podium and made it 33 points for Red Bull on a day when Mercedes scored 22 and McLaren 33.

Norris deserves equal billing. Pole by two tenths in the wet, a calm recovery from a poor start and no mistakes in a race where both Mercedes drivers, Hamilton and half the midfield had at least one. Lawson was running second on the first lap and brought the Racing Bulls home seventh, Hulkenberg scored for Audi despite a penalty, and Russell, for all the pit-lane embarrassment, was the quicker Mercedes on the day. “I had really strong pace in the race, especially on the soft tyre,” he said. “We got it over the line, which was the most important.”

What does the result mean for the 2026 championship?

Both championships are now decided, and both belong to Mercedes. What is left is the order behind them. Verstappen has 279 points and a 17-point cushion in the fight for second in the drivers’ standings, with Russell on 262 moving back ahead of Hamilton on 261 by a single point. Leclerc has 249 and Norris, with 25 points from Brazil, is only three behind him on 246. Among the teams, Ferrari’s second place is not safe either. Red Bull’s 33-point haul took them to 415, 95 behind Ferrari with 129 available, and McLaren are 17 further back on 398 in what has become a close contest for third.

When is the next Formula 1 race?

Formula 1 has a weekend off before the Las Vegas Grand Prix on November 19 to 21, with the race on Saturday night, November 21, at 20:00 local time, which is 04:00 on Sunday in the UK. The season then ends with Qatar on November 27 to 29 and Abu Dhabi on December 4 to 6. There are no sprints left, so each weekend is worth a maximum of 25 points to a driver and 43 to a team. Wolff, for his part, said his mind was already on why Mercedes had not done better on Sunday, and on 2027.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix?

Lando Norris won for McLaren on November 8, 2026, from pole position, beating Max Verstappen by 14.602 seconds with Isack Hadjar third. It was his third win of the 2026 season, the 14th of his career and his second in a row at Interlagos.

Did Mercedes win the 2026 constructors’ championship in Brazil?

Yes. George Russell finished fourth and Kimi Antonelli fifth, which gave Mercedes 652 points to Ferrari’s 510. The lead of 142 is more than the 129 points still available, so the title was sealed with three races to spare.

How many constructors’ titles have Mercedes won?

Nine. Mercedes won eight in a row from 2014 to 2021, and 2026 is their first since then. That puts them level with Williams, with only Ferrari on 16 and McLaren on 10 ahead of them.

Where did Max Verstappen finish after starting 21st?

Verstappen finished second, 19 places higher than he started. He took a new power unit, skipped Q2 and started 21st, and took second on lap 38 when team mate Isack Hadjar let him through at Turn 1.

Why was Charles Leclerc penalised at the Brazilian Grand Prix?

Leclerc was given a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Liam Lawson at Juncao in the closing laps. He had finished seventh on the road, 1.816 seconds ahead of Lawson, so the penalty dropped him to eighth.

What are the F1 championship standings after the Brazilian Grand Prix?

Antonelli is champion on 390 points, ahead of Verstappen on 279, Russell on 262, Hamilton on 261, Leclerc on 249 and Norris on 246. Mercedes are constructors’ champions with 652 points, from Ferrari on 510, Red Bull on 415 and McLaren on 398.