2026 São Paulo Grand Prix – Race Report

Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Sunday, 8 November

Find out what happened during the São Paulo Grand Prix, and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal, Andrea Stella.

The McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team were back on the top step of the podium in Brazil with a superb victory from Pole position for Lando, marking the 50th podium of his career. Oscar also had a strong race day, rising from P10 on the grid to P6 at the flag, ensuring the team leave Interlagos with a strong haul of points. 

Conditions at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace were very difficult to manage. Light rain all morning left the track wet, and the race started with the field all running on Intermediates tyres. Lando experienced a difficult getaway from Pole position and dropped to P3, but the car’s strong pace on Intermediates helped him recover to P2 by lap six. Oscar, meanwhile, had a good start, rising to P8, which became P7 by lap nine. Managing the changing conditions would demand close communication between the drivers and pit wall throughout the race. 

By lap 10, while the atmosphere was still very damp, a dry line was forming on track. Clear dialogue between the team and drivers helped guide the timing of the move to slicks, with strategy and instructions from the pit wall playing an important part. The first cars came in for Soft tyres on lap 14, triggering a cascade, with Lando and Oscar following on lap 16 as the pit crew executed a good double-shuffle pit stop. When the order shook out, Oscar had risen to P6, and Lando, having been seven seconds behind leader Kimi Antonelli, had cut that gap to just one second. With the upgrades and car set-up contributing to a promising MCL40 on slick tyres, Lando reclaimed the lead on lap 20. 

On lap 23, Oscar moved up to P5, passing Liam Lawson, as Race Control declared normal grip conditions and enabled Overtake Mode. His encouraging pace on dry tyres was now translating into progress, while Lando put the hammer down at the front. His lead was five seconds on lap 30 and 10 seconds on lap 40, underlining his speed on slicks as well as Intermediates. Further rain was due, but expected to be light, leaving the team with a difficult strategy call. It was possible that the Soft tyre would go all the way to the end, but a new Soft would cope better with light rain than an old one – provided it was up to temperature before the rain hit. 

Max Verstappen had risen to P2 and was an early adopter of the new Soft, but Lando had enough margin to watch his times, build a tyre delta and pit at the moment of his choosing. He came in on lap 49 and emerged in P3, eight seconds ahead of Verstappen, with Antonelli and Hadjar ahead. They, along with Oscar, were potentially keen to tough it out, but the lap time gains being made by the cars on fresh rubber suggested that was unlikely to succeed. Hadjar pitted on lap 50, Oscar on 51, and Antonelli on 53. This dropped Oscar to P6, with George Russell moving ahead after opting not to make a second stop. Despite his strong dry tyre pace, time spent in traffic had limited Oscar’s progress. The weather would now shape his opportunity to recover. 

The rain started falling almost immediately after the pit stops. At first, it was very light, but around lap 60 of the 71, it began to intensify. Russell came in on lap 61, with the rest of the top six following on lap 62, all swapping to Inters.  

As the rain further intensified, Lando's lead remained rock-solid. Having recovered from the difficult start, he kept his race error-free through the tyre changes and worsening weather, delivering the assured drive Andrea praised afterwards. He came over the line 14 seconds clear of the chasing pack, to make it consecutive São Paulo victories – three in a row counting last year’s Brazilian Sprint race.  

It was a victory built on a collective team effort, with the work behind the scenes matched by execution on track. The garage crew deserved a special mention for a series of excellent pit stops in challenging conditions, including two 2.2s stops: Lando’s initial stop on lap 16 and Oscar’s second stop on lap 51. 

It’s been a tough triple-header across the Americas, but the team leaves in good form. This weekend’s upgrades to the MCL40 have provided a timely boost for the final sequence of races and helped the team understand concepts ahead of next year.  

However, despite today’s performance, the victory must be kept in perspective as the low temperatures worked in our favour. Mercedes on the other hand, appeared stronger in warmer conditions, while our Constructors’ Championship rival Red Bull remained fierce rivals, which shows that there is still plenty of work to do. 

Elsewhere in the world of racing, McLaren Driver Development Programme talent Harry Williams took to track in La Conca for the FIA World Karting Championship, finishing P22 in the Junior-OK category. 

"This was certainly up there with one of our best-ever performances in terms of operational execution, strategy, and pit stop timing. The conditions out there in Brazil were exceptionally tricky, transitioning from Intermediates to slicks on a damp track and back again. We had a difficult launch off the line with wheelspin and lost ground early on, but I stayed patient knowing the weather and potential Safety Cars would bring opportunities back to us. Through flawless communication from the pit wall and keeping the car completely error-free on slicks in the wet, we managed to close down an eight-second deficit, apply pressure on the leaders, and capitalise to take the win. 

"The new front wing and upgrade package we introduced this weekend performed exactly as expected, and without them, we would have been further off the frontrunners' pace. However, we have to stay realistic, we were still a tenth or two adrift in outright performance during practice, and we know we are not yet at the level required to contend for a World Championship consistently. I am immensely proud of the entire team and everyone trackside and back at the factory for their relentless work, and we are fully aware that we still have a lot of work ahead of us to extract the ultimate performance from this car. 

 "Finally, congratulations to Mercedes on their Constructors' Championship, it's a very special achievement and they've done a fantastic job this year in both Championships. I hope they celebrate well and enjoy this moment. We'll be working hard to give them a bit more of a challenge next year." 

"A good result in the end today after a challenging weekend with tricky conditions, especially at the beginning when the conditions were slippery and it took me a while to get into a rhythm. Once I did, the pace was strong, particularly on the Soft tyres, and that’s a real positive. I’m pleased with how competitive we were at points, although sixth feels a little lower than the performance deserved. 

"The car felt like it took a step forward this weekend, but we still need to make it quicker and easier to drive and close the gap to Red Bull and Mercedes. Congratulations to Mercedes for their Constructors’ Championship win, I'm looking forward to battling them at the front next season. Now our focus turns to the final three races, we’ll return to the factory to keep working hard and try to carry this progress into the remaining races of the season." 

Andrea Stella 

Team Principal 

"It’s fantastic to be back on the highest step of the podium! This success is truly the result of a team effort. Lando drove exceptionally well in very difficult conditions, proving to be the fastest on both slick tyres and the Intermediates; he didn’t make even the slightest mistake, apart from the incident on the podium! 

"Oscar was also very quick: perhaps he spent too long in traffic, but his pace on the dry tyres was encouraging. We should be proud of the work done by the whole team. The upgrades, the car set-up, the strategy, the instructions from the pit wall, and a series of excellent pit stops all contributed to the result. 

"The upgrades we’ve brought here are giving us positive signs for the end of the season and have also helped us understand certain concepts ahead of next year. At the same time, we must keep this victory in the right perspective. The low temperatures worked in our favour, whilst Mercedes appeared stronger in higher temperatures. Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari will continue to be fierce rivals, so we know there’s still a lot of work to be done. 

"Congratulations to Mercedes on the Constructors’ Championship and also to our partners at HPP, who have secured the world title for their power unit for the third year running.  

"Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to a great Formula 1 driver, Alan Jones, who passed away a few days ago.