Key events
Righto, Giles Richards’ report is with us…
…which means that’s it from me. Thanks for your company, and we’ll see you a fortnight today for Vegas, baby.
So how do we think next season will go? Given equal cars, which there can never be, I’d go with Verstappen, who I think is the best of the Red Bull and Mercedes drivers. And his motor has improved through this season, so I strongly fancy him – but a lot can change over the next few months.
Mercedes are now on the podium celebrating their first constructor championship for the first time since 2021. They’re making the most of it, the whole squad bouncing.
Driver standings
1 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes 390 pts
2 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull 279
3 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes 262
4 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari 261
5 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨 Ferrari 251
6 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren 246
7 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren 246
8 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull 122
9 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Racing Bulls 87
10 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine 42
11 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧 Racing Bulls 38
12 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine 27
13 Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas 23
14 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi 14
15 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi 14
16 Esteban Ocon 🇫🇷 Haas 7
17 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin 7
18 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams 7
19 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams 5
20 Yuki Tsunoda 🇯🇵 Racing Bulls 1
Yet to score:
Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin
Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac
Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac
Norris breaks his champagne bottle, which shatters, so the other two pour theirs on him; he’ll cope.
…and it’s anthem time.
Out come our top three…
Imagine if Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren all have strong off-seasons. Next year could be a helluva chase.
Also going on:
How they finished
1 Lando Norris 🇬🇧 McLaren
2 Max Verstappen 🇳🇱 Red Bull
3 Isack Hadjar 🇫🇷 Red Bull
4 George Russell 🇬🇧 Mercedes
5 Kimi Antonelli 🇮🇹 Mercedes
6 Oscar Piastri 🇦🇺 McLaren
7 Charles Leclerc 🇲🇨
8 Liam Lawson 🇳🇿 Red Bull
9 Lewis Hamilton 🇬🇧 Ferrari
10 Nico Hülkenberg 🇩🇪 Audi
11 Arvid Lindblad 🇬🇧Racing Bulls
12 Fernando Alonso 🇪🇸 Aston Martin
13 Franco Colapinto 🇦🇷 Alpine
14 Pierre Gasly 🇫🇷 Alpine
15 Alexander Albon 🇹🇭 Williams
16 Gabriel Bortoleto 🇧🇷 Audi
17 Oliver Bearman 🇬🇧 Haas
18 Sergio Pérez 🇲🇽 Cadillac
19 Carlos Sainz 🇪🇸 Williams
20 Rafael Câmara 🇧🇷 Haas
21 Lance Stroll 🇨🇦 Aston Martin DNF
22 Valtteri Bottas 🇫🇮 Cadillac DNF
“So, so difficult,” says Hadjar, especially changing tyres and adjusting to the traps. But he’s happy to still be in third and wants to apologise to Verstappen, not sure what for as my screen crashes.
Verstappen says it was a challenging race, but he overtook a lot of cars early on but he’s not sure if he picked up some damage as once he got into P2, he couldn’t do anything.
Very tough race, says Norris. He kept it cool, didn’t make mistakes after the start, and had the pace when he needed it. He felt yesterday that they had an opportunity to win, every time he has, he’s gone for it, and he thanks his team who work hard and he’s happy to give them a reward.
Verstappen, who started 21st on the grid, is named driver of the day, and you can’t argue with that. We fancied him to do something if he got going and though he couldn’t get close to Norris, he was by far the best of the rest.
Mercedes win the constructors championship
Russell and Antonelli, fourth and fifth respectively, do enough.
Lando Norris of McLaren wins the Brazilian Grand prix for the second year in a row
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar are second and third
Lap 71/71 Norris is going to lead us home.
Lap 70/71 Leclerc goes at Lawson on the inside, they touch tyres, both keep their cars straight, and Lawson does superbly to hang on to seventh.
Lap 69/71 Norris is enjoying himself now, up to 14.5s ahead of Verstappen, whose race has been strange – periods of intense speed, periods of trundling.
Lap 68/71 This has been a brilliant drive by Norris, who’s not been threatened at all. He leads by 13.3s, with Hadjar a further 10.3 s behind and Russell 5.2s behind him.
Lap 67/71 Norris leads by 12.3s and it’s now raining; the investigation into Antonelli will come after the race.
Lap 66/71 Antonelli is noted for an unsafe release; Mercedes probably saw that coming and ordered Russell past partly for that reason. Further back, meanwhile, Hulkenberg flies past Lindblad and into the points in 10th.
Lap 65/71 Oh, and Antonelli is ordered aside, Russell’s extra pace giving him a chance of making the podium. Oh, and then we cut to Hamilton spinning; he goes off the track but he returns still ninth, just 25s behind Leclerc now.
Lap 64/71 Norris leads by 12.4s, and he’s surely going to win from here. Russell, meanwhile, who went on to intermediates sooner, is moving up; he’s fifth, 0.8s behind Antonelli.
Lap 63/71 Antonelli comes in but does he get in Colapinto’s road when he comes out? Perhaps…
Lap 62/71 Verstappen’s expected in to change tyres … but he opts to stop out. Norris, though, comes in and, with his lead, will come out in front. He takes intermediates, so needs it to keep raining.
Lap 61/71 Antonelli attacks Hadjar, who closes the door well, but he’s got nine more laps of this. I don’t the pace to keep him at bay.
Lap 60/71 Norris has driven very nicely today, minimum fuss and maximum prejudice. I can’t see Verstappen getting close with 11 laps to go.
Lap 59/71 Antonelli is closing on Hadjar, the gap down to 0.6; Norris’ lead at the front is now above 10s.
Lap 58/71 Hamilton, 2.648s behind Leclerc, who’s ninth, tries to get within overtaking range … and there he goes, past on the inside. Leclerc has barely featured in this race, his Ferrari not performing for him.
Lap 57/71 Hadjar is moving better than Verstappen but will he be allowed by Red Bull to attack him? You have to assume not. Norris, though, won’t care, 8.2s in front.
Lap 56/71 Norris leads, from Verstappen, from Hadjar, from Russell, from Antonelli, from Piastri, from Leclerc, from Lawson, from Hamilton, from Hulkenberg.
Lap 55/71 Norris leads Verstappen by 7.3s; Antonelli now lies fifth.
Lap 54/71 Russell, now third, has Hadjar looking to attack, the gap 0.2s, and he’s beaten on the inside; meantime, Antonelli comes in and Norris oozes past. He’ll take some stoping from here.
Lap 53/71 Norris is taking half a second a lap out of Antonelli, the gap down to 4.7s; Verstappen is a further 7.4s behind.
Lap 52/71 Piastri pits, while Norris closes the gap on Antonelli, now 6.1s. He’s moving nicely.
Lap 51/71 Now Hadjar pits and, when he comes out, Russell goes by. Norris is now up into second, 7.7s behind Antonelli, who’ll have to pit shortly.
Lap 50/71 Norris pits so Hadjar leads from Antonelli … and Norris rejoins the race in fourth. He’ll need a couple of lap for his tyres to get warm, whereupon the race will be decided; who’s quicker, him or Verstappen?
Lap 49/71 Verstappen sets a fastest lap and is driving at 1.4s faster than Norris. It’s 81s to Piastri in fourth, but he’ll surely come in soon.
Lap 48/71 Norris has already put a second on his lead over Hadjar, but it’s just started raining; might Verstappen’s cross prove to be well-timed, his tyres nice, fresh and warm?
Lap 47/71 Verstappen emerges fifth, the gap from Norris to Hadjar 12.8s. I imagine we’ll see the leader in shortly.
Lap 46/71 Yup, in comes Verstappen, the lead now 12.4s, while Russell, who’s been threatening it for a while, finally takes out Lawson around the outside to move sixth.
Lap 45/71 Gosh, Norris is flying, now 11.2s ahead of Verstappen; I doubt he’ll come in before Red Bull, who need to force the issue.
Lap 44/71 Let’s run down the leaderboard:
1 Norris
2 Verstappen
3 Hadjar
4 Antonelli
5 Piastri
6 Lawson
7 Russell
8 Hulkenberg
9 Lindlblad
10 Leclerc
11 Alonso
12 Hamilton
Lap 43/71 Told that Norris is thinking about going to the end without aa pit, Verstapen is emphatic in his refusal. I wonder if was a ruse from the leader to try and force his pursuer to make a bad call.
Lap 42/71 Russell is now 2.8s behind Lawson, while Albon, 12th, is given a 10-second penalty for re-entering the race unsafely after a pit. Norris leads by 10.8s.
Lap 41/71 Norris continues building his lead, while Russell sets another fastest lap. Hamilton, though, is behind Norris, lapped when pitting, but he must just have the pace to unlap himself.
Lap 40/71 Russell sets a fastest lap, but it’s roughly four seconds to Lawson in sixth; rather than close the gap to Norris, Verstappen sees him extend it to 10.0s.
Lap 39/71 Just when we think Hamilton is going at Hulkenberg, he pits, Norris now leading by 9.4s.
Lap 38/71 Other hand, if it rains, Verstappen has a chance of catching him, and Hadjar is told by the team to move over, his dream of a first P2 dashed by orders.
