Welcome to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix
McLaren rather lose the championship than compromise Paypa Rules
McLaren CEO Zak Brown says he would rather have the repeat of 2007, where Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso both missed out by a point, rather than favouring Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri.
Ahead of this weekend, where there is a maximum of thirty-three points on the table, Norris leads the championship by one point over Piastri with four rounds remaining, but Red Bull driver Max Verstappen remains a threat as he is third and thirty-six points off the top.
Although Red Bull has placed its full support in its four-time world champion, given Yuki Tsunoda’s poor results, McLaren is refusing to favour a driver, which some worry might cost it. There are fears that Verstappen could steal the title like Raikkonen did when he beat both McLarens by a point, in a bitterly fought and scandalous 2007 season.
McLaren has previously said it will only favour a driver if one is mathematically ruled out of contention, and Brown confirmed its stance remains on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
When asked what his response would be if Verstappen claimed a fifth consecutive title, Brown replied: “I shake his hand and say, ‘job well done’. I want to make sure if we don’t win, he beats us. We don’t beat ourselves – that’s important. We’re well aware of 2007. Two drivers tied on points; one gets in the front. But we’ve got two drivers who want to win the world championship. We’re playing offence; we’re not playing defence.”
“I’d rather go, ‘we did the best we can on our drivers tied in points and the other beat us by one’, than the alternative which is telling one of our drivers right now, when they’re one point away from each other, ‘I know you have a dream to win the world championship but we flipped the coin and you don’t get to do it this year’. Forget it!”
Brown said that was not how McLaren goes racing, rather losing the drivers than compromising its ‘paypa rules’.
Those thoughts were echoed by McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who reckons it’s crucial that the squad sticks to its ethos, having already won the constructors’ title.
He said, “If Max is the champion at the end of the year, for us, the important thing is that we can say we have done our best and we have done our best according to the way we go racing. If Max wins this year, we say we’re going to win next year, we’re going to be there, and we are going to be united as we are.”
Stella says it would be impossible to favour either of its drivers, who are both chasing their maiden championship. Describing it as ‘picking his favourite son,’ as he says it seems “very superficial and just like, I think sometimes people don’t really understand what it means to have two drivers that are with you together in this journey in Formula 1. I just feel very grateful to both.”
Piastri “at (his) limit” says Villeneuve
Former world champion and broadcaster Jacques Villeneuve believes that Oscar Piastri has “already at his limit.” The Australian appeared to be heading towards a maiden Drivers’ Championship when he won the Dutch Grand Prix in late August to score his seventh victory of the season and move thirty-four points clear of Norris.
However, he hasn’t won in the five races since then, and his failure to even make the podium at the last four allowed Norris to reclaim the championship lead for the first time since April with a dominant win at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Going into the final month of the season, Villeneuve is unsure whether Piastri will be able to find the form to overturn his one-point deficit.
He said on Sky Sports F1 Show, “We didn’t have an extremely fantastic Lando early in the season, not the Lando we had at the end of last year. And we kept saying, ‘oh, that’s because Piastri has stepped up, he’s now on Lando’s pace and even quicker.’”
“But was it actually Piastri stepping up or Lando that just wasn’t on it? He kept saying he wasn’t very comfortable with the car. And maybe that made Piastri complacent a bit. When all you have to fight is your team-mate, maybe you don’t push to that last limit, that last tenth of a second.”
Villeneuve explained this was because Verstappen came back and started winning again as well as Norris has been faster and driven better, but he believed that Piastri wasn’t making that next step.
The commanding lead Piastri built earlier in the season was based upon consistency, but errors have crept into his driving in recent weeks. Piastri crashed out of both qualifying and the race in Azerbaijan, and also attempted an overtake that took him and Norris out of the Sprint in Austin.
Villeneuve added, “When you drive within the limit, the car is perfect. It’s easy, you drive, you save your tyres. And suddenly, you have to go a couple of tenths faster. You can’t drive the car anymore. Everything is wrong. You don’t know why.” He explained that the McLaren hasn’t changed that much, though conditions have changed.
Antonelli to show full potential in 2026
Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff believes that Kimi Antonelli will show the “real Kimi” in 2026, with the Mercedes boss feeling confident that the rookie will be better prepared to deal with various aspects of the sport during his debut season.
The Italian’s rookie season has been full of highs and lows, with a good start followed by a tricky spell during the European leg of the season. The Italian has since enjoyed a stronger run of form since finishing fourth in Baku, having also claimed a fifth in Singapore and a sixth in Mexico.
Wolff said, “Kimi has a long-term future. I think it’s very tricky to come into this generation of cars without having driven them against all of the guys who know ground effect cars. Next year’s a reset. He now knows all the tracks, he knows about the media pressure and how to work within the team, so we’re going to see the real Kimi next year.”
Asked if he has confidence that Antonelli can be a future World Champion from what he has shown already, Wolff responded: “Yeah, absolutely.”
While Antonelli has faced some highs and lows in 2025, Mercedes have also seen dramatic performance swings with their car across different tracks.
Leclerc and Saint Mleus announce engagement
Last weekend, Charles Leclerc and his partner, Alexandra Saint Mleux announced their engagement on social media. The post has over six and a half million likes on Instagram alone and quickly drew the attention of those within the F1 paddock and fans.
Rumours about their relationship began in early 2023, with their first public appearance together in July of the same year at Wimbledon. Since then, Saint Mleux has been seen supporting the Monegasque driver during grand prix weekends, with her and Leo being popular additions to the paddock.
While details have been kept private for obvious reasons, the post showed that the couple’s beloved long-haired dachshund, Leo, was involved in the proposal with a collar tag engraved with “Dad wants to marry you!” The photos also showed a room full of red roses with rose petals and candles arranged in a heart shape.
Leclerc’s former Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz commented, “Yesssss,” while current teammate and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton wrote, “Congratulations to you both.” McLaren’s Oscar Piastri wrote, “Congrats!” The Ferrari F1 team posted, “Fantastic news!! Congratulations.”
Some of the other F1 drivers’ partners also reacted to the news. Francisca Gomes, who is in a relationship with Pierre Gasly, wrote, “Oh my god!!!! SO happy for you guys!!!!!” and Alex Albon’s partner and professional golfer Lily Muni He commented, “Congratulations!!” and George Russell’s long-term partner Carmen Montero Mundt added, “So happy for you!!”
Adrian Newey’s wife, Amanda Newey, also commented: “It makes me want Adrian to propose again, but he would need to step up his game! Congratulations to both of you. I love the dog collar (and the ring)!”
Talking Points Interlagos
Round twenty-one brings F1 to São Paulo for one of the highlights and challenges of the season at Interlagos. Built in the 1940s, retains many of the challenges that it had back then despite being halved in length thirty-five years ago. The circuit was built on a hillside around a natural bowl, is also a circuit which presents a variety of different challenges for teams and drivers.
Adding to the challenges are the inclines, grass run-off areas, bumpy track surface and unpredictable weather. Anything can happen, mixed conditions are also common, being in a region of the world where the weather can change in minutes from a warm sunny afternoon to torrential rain.
Momentum appears to be on Lando Norris’ side in Mexico City. The Englishman took his first win since April and took the lead of the championship in a dominant weekend as he overturned a thirty-four point lead to a point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri with five rounds to go.
A year ago, Norris effectively lost any hope of beating Max Verstappen after a chaotic weekend. With rain again in the forecast, this could become another unpredictable Interlagos race. Interlagos is sometimes described as where champions are born, Norris can’t follow in the footsteps of his fellow Somerseter Jenson Button this weekend.
Piastri, meanwhile, has plenty to prove. The Australian hasn’t been on the podium since Monza and currently looks a shadow of his early-season self. With Norris in form and Verstappen closing in, he can’t afford to lose further ground. The evidence suggests Piastri has lost confidence, and this weekend could be like it has so many times decided the championship if Norris has a strong weekend.
Verstappen’s season has turned around following a stellar run that saw him win three out of four races and slash his points deficit to the top of the F1 standings. A factor which could play into his hand is weather and unpredictability, rain is forecast again this weekend.
In rough conditions, the championship protagonists all have varying form. Norris has increasingly found his feet in wet conditions and won the mixed weather season opener in Australia. But as that race showed he – like Piastri – also hasn’t been completely flawless when the rain starts coming down. The Dutchman’s drive last year to victory is regarded as one of the great wet drives.
Mercedes and Ferrari are just a point apart with four weekends remaining, once again, their battle for runners up spot will take centre stage. However, predicting this fight has been very difficult because weekend to weekend the performances have varied at this crucial point in the season.
George Russell’s two wins in Canada and Singapore. Russell will be feeling pretty good about his chances to repeat in Las Vegas as well. Russell should be in the conversation as one of the drivers of the season, making up for his new team-mate Kimi Antonelli’s rookie inexperience to hold a convincing fourth in the drivers’ championship.
Ferrari has had a fairly flat season with zero Grand Prix wins, and while Charles Leclerc has scored a decent haul of podiums whenever he had the tools to do so, Lewis Hamilton has had a much more difficult time adapting to his new machinery. Their performance swings make it hard to predict which of the two teams is going to come out on top. But with time running out, neither can afford any more missteps, especially as Verstappen is single-handedly dragging Red Bull back to within striking distance…
Gabi Bortoleto goes into the weekend having scored points in Mexico City, which has raised expectations for this weekend. But despite growing up in São Paulo he doesn’t know Interlagos that well. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg famously took his maiden pole in Brazil in 2010 with Williams.
Bortoleto won’t be short of support on his home debut as Brazilian fans finally get to cheer on one of their own again, eight years after Felipe Massa’ last race at Interlagos. It will undoubtedly make one of the best race weekends on the F1 calendar extra vibrant.
Lawson, “very surprised” being blamed for near-miss with marshals
Liam Lawson was “very surprised” by the FIA’s Mexican body blaming him for his near-miss with marshals during the Mexico City Grand Prix. During the last race, the New Zealander came across two marshals collecting debris following the messy start of the race.
However, were caught out by Lawson pitting, however, as he needed a new front wing from his collision with Carlos Sainz, which left too short a gap for marshals to safely recover debris. The incident is therefore being investigated by the FIA, whose Mexican body quickly blamed Lawson – claiming he failed to sufficiently slow down under the double-waved yellow flags.
However, the governing body has cleared Lawson of wrongdoing, but is yet to release its findings. Asked in Sao Paulo about the Mexican federation putting blame on him, he said: “I was very surprised. I think the FIA’s statement was very clear and very accurate. I don’t really need to say too much more than what was put in that statement.”
“It was obviously checked into, everything that led to that happening, to the fact that they got caught out there, and everything I did in the car to obviously slow down and avoid them, and take a completely different line to what I’ve taken through the entire weekend. But yes, I was extremely surprised. Still am very surprised.”
Lawson labelled the incident as a “miscommunication” and confirmed that the FIA apologised to him that Sunday night.
Adding “I had a talk with them and I appreciated that a lot. I do understand we’re in a sport with a huge amount of variables, and these things, as much as they can’t happen again, they shouldn’t happen.
Adamich dies aged eighty-four
The former F1 driver Andrea de Adamich has died aged eighty-four. The Italian took part in twenty-nine Grands Prix for Ferrari, McLaren, March, Surtees and Brabham between 1968-1973.
He never quite scored a podium but finished fourth at both the 1972 Spanish and 1973 Belgian GPs, and scored top threes in a trio of non-championship F1 events. Adamich started his career in hill climbing and Formula Junior, but he was best known for touring car and sports car racing. He became an Alfa Romeo stalwart and was the 1966 European Touring Car champion, with four wins, driving Alfa’s successful 1600 GTA run by Autodelta.
He took the Division 2 class title again the following season and won the Tourist Trophy at Oulton Park, which that year run for touring cars. At the same time, he won the Italian F3 title and 1968 F2 Temporada series in Argentina with Ferrari against a strong field that included future world champion Jochen Rindt.
It was with the famous Italian team that the bespectacled de Adamich, who studied law, made his first F1 starts: the non-championship 1967 Spanish GP and the points-paying 1968 South African GP. But he was not kept by Ferrari following a big crash at the Brands Hatch Race of Champions.
He then joined McLaren who ran a third car as an Alfa, but the Cosworth wasn’t powerful enough, meaning he rarely qualified. He joined Brabham during 1973, taking another fourth at Zolder, but was the main victim of the infamous Jody Scheckter-triggered multi-car crash at the British GP. It took nearly an hour to free de Adamich from the wreckage and the serious leg injuries he sustained ended his F1 career, despite some Alfa appearances in 1974. “I couldn’t stand for three months,” de Adamich told Autosport in 2013.
After retiring, de Adamich remained involved with the sport, as a journalist, TV personality and boss of a driving school. His links with Alfa Romeo also continued, de Adamich becoming a director of the N.Technology squad that scored numerous successes in touring cars.
Sainz misses media day
Carlos Sainz missed media day at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix because of illness. The team is yet to confirm whether Sainz will return to the track tomorrow. This weekend is the penultimate sprint race of the season, meaning there will be just one practice session ahead of sprint qualifying, the sprint race, grand prix qualifying and grand prix.
A statement said, “Unfortunately Carlos is unwell and will not be coming to track today.
Sainz explained in the team’s race weekend preview, “Heading to Brazil for what will be another sprint weekend, I’m looking forward to driving around this iconic track where anything can happen. Being a Sprint, we’ll be limited on practice sessions, so we’ll look to get up to speed early on car setup. Sao Paulo weather always plays a part across the weekend, so we’ll look to capitalise on any opportunities we can.”
Heading into the final four rounds of the 2025 season, the Spanish driver is eleventh in the drivers’ standings with thirty-eight points. It is unconfirmed if he will return for practice and sprint qualifying tomorrow.