A Championship defining weekend as a perfect Lando Norris finishes first in everything except fastest lap, taking advantage of more bad luck and management from his team mate. Talking of taking advantage, our 2025 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix Result Summary takes advantage of the 3am start time (here) to have a race report done before most normal people are awake (here).
This 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix Result, Laps that Matter summary, Review & Ratings gives you just enough to catch up with. With just a hint of cynicism, bias, opinion and colour. The perfect bite sized review for those who couldn’t be bothered, or don’t have enough time.
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2025 Brazilian F1 Grand Prix Result Race Summary
Didn’t see the race live? Don’t have time to watch the whole race? Here’s where we capture the laps where stuff happened. We write these live as we go, sort of like a minute by minute for the football, but marginally more interesting.
Setting the scene – It’s a Lando Norris kind of weekend so far, as the new Championship leader takes Sprint Pole and a Sprint Race win, then doubles down by taking Pole for the main race too. The fact that all of that happening was a bonus, as a nearby Cyclone was threatening to spoil the party on Saturday. The Sprint Race was damp and a little pool of water caught out a few drivers including Oscar Piastri who crashed out of third. Kimi Antonelli and George Russell completed the Sprint Race podium.
The big news in qualifying for the main race wasn’t Lando Norris’ pole position but Max Verstappen failing to get out of Q1, meaning he lines up 19th on the grid for today’s race (qualified 16th). Other disappointments include Lewis Hamilton (13th) and Oscar Piastri (4th). Surprises are Kimi Antonelli (2nd) the RBs (5th/7th) and Pierre Gasly (9th) who scored Alpine’s first point in months in the Sprint Race.
Race day and the track is mainly dry, but the threat of rain hangs.
GRID (Starting Order) – NOR ANT LEC PIA HAD RUS LAW BEA GAS HUL
Lap 1 – Pole sitter Lando Norris makes a good start and leads into the first corner Senna S, and up the front it is all very polite and orderly as they all remain in position, with the closest battle Piastri coming under some pressure from Hadjar. Further back Lewis Hamilton has a shocker and is 18th. Then halfway around the lap Gabriel Bortoleto crashes into the wall into one of the slow corners, this accident being a lot slower speed than his huge crash in the Sprint Race yesterday, he looked to be pushed off the road by an Aston Martin. The home crowd favourite (we presume because he’s Brazilian) is out. Hamilton has front wing/nose damage, and his first lap misfortune looked to be caused by Carlos Sainz clipping into turn one, but continues after a pit stop. For the record Max Verstappen dived into the pit lane at the start so could be trying something different strategy-wise. He is 16th in the first lap shake up.
SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
ORDER – NOR ANT LEC PIA HAD LAW RUS BEA GAS ALO
RACE RESUMES
Lap 6 – Lando Norris bunches up the cars for the restart which gives his team mate a chance to make ground and the McLaren attempts to overtake two cars into the first turn and clips Kimi Antonelli who runs into Charles Leclerc. Piastri gets second place (for now) and Antonelli drops a position but the Ferrari has wheel/suspension damage and is at the back of the field. On replay, the move was on, Piastri was close enough as the cars were really bunched on the restart, and Antonelli’s Mercedes looks to squeeze Piastri a little who was well up alongside, as Leclerc was sweeping around both. What looked a certain Piastri penalty at first may just end up a racing incident. But is Piastri that lucky?
ORDER – NOR PIA ANT HAD LAW RUS BEA GAS ALB ALO
VIRTUAL SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED
RACE RESUMES
Lap 9 – The race resumes and Oscar Piastri takes advantage and is right on his team mate’s tail going around the restarted lap, well for a while as Norris clears out by the end of the lap. Max Verstappen sets fastest lap in 16th.
Lap 11 – Lando Norris has cleared out from Oscar Piastri by 1.5 seconds already, continuing his dominant weekend, and recent patch of form vs his team mate. His Championship lead is out to 16 points already, just as stewards announce they have noted the Piastri-Antonelli incident.
Lap 12 – George Russell is looking racey as he passes the second RB since the VSC restart, this time taking 4th off Hadjar.
Lap 13 – Action a-plenty into turn one further back as Oliver Bearman continues his good Mexican form by taking 6th off Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen passes Lewis Hamilton for 15th. A pass that historically would have been Championship defining. Verstappen is flying, he passes Colapinto for 14th within the lap.
Lap 15 – Lewis Hamilton pits for tyres after radio catches him calling his car undriveable. He rejoins last. He also has two investigations noted, one for Carlos Sainz incident and the other for Bortoleto.
Lap 17 – Stewards announce a 10 second penalty for Oscar Piastri. With a very tight train of cars just outside that 10 second window behind him, including a fast Max Verstappen, Piastri is staring at potentially a low amount of points this weekend. Enough loss to fall a whole 25 points + behind in the Championship.
Lap 18 – Max Verstappen is up to 9th after passing Fernando Alonso and a pitstop for Oliver Bearman. The Haas’ earlier pitstop sees him overtake the previously 5th placed Hadjar on track as the RB pits on lap 19. More midfield runners pit giving more gained places for Max Verstappen.
ORDER – NOR PIA ANT RUS VER ALB HUL ALO TSU COL
Lap 22 – The first of the front runners pit as Kimi Antonelli stops for tyres, he drops from third to 11th.
Lap 23 – Oscar Piastri is a full five seconds behind Lando Norris, who is doing it so easy in front. Piastri would only lose a place to George Russell behind with his 10 second penalty at the moment.
Lap 28 – Kimi Antonelli showing some good speed and race craft as he slices through the midfield after his pit stop. He’s up to 7th, but has eyes on Alex Albon’s 5th and Nico Hulkenberg’s 6th. He gets 6th om lap 29. And 5th a lap later.
ORDER – NOR PIA RUS VER ANT ALB HUL BEA HAD GAS
Lap 31 – Lando Norris pits from the lead. It could be close to whether he gets out in front of Max Verstappen in 4th….he does not. Norris is behind for now but on fresher tyres. Norris also falls behind George Russell and Oscar Piastri. One does wonder how Verstappen and Norris will get along when the McLaren gets close enough to pass.
Lap 33 – It doesn’t take long to find out how Norris and Verstappen play. Norris passes him easily into turn one at the beginning of lap 33.
Lap 34 – Nico Hulkenberg passes Alex Albon for sixth as Oliver Bearman lines up to do the same within a lap or two. It was one lap for the record. Further back Pierre Gasly takes 9th from Hadjar as the Alpine looks faster than usual. Lots of overtaking in the midfield today.
Lap 35 – George Russell and Max Verstappen pit. Russell drops to 7th, while Verstappen ends up 12th. Only Oscar Piastri has yet to pit of the front runners.
ORDER – PIA NOR ANT HUL BEA RUS HAD GAS LAW VER
Lap 38 – Russell and Verstappen aren’t stuffing around, the Mercedes is already up to 4th, with a pass on Bearman and Hulkenberg pitstop helping. Max Verstappen passes Pierre Gasly and is only four seconds behind Bearman for 4th.
Lap 39 – Oscar Piastri pits and takes his ten second penalty. He rejoins in 8th, behind Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly (who subsequently pits) and Max Verstappen. Piastri is currently 28 points behind in the Championship. Like 2024, the Brazilian Grand Prix looks to be a Championship defining event. This time in Norris’ favour.
ORDER – NOR ANT RUS BEA VER LAW PIA OCO ALO HUL
Lap 41 – Piastri gets by Liam Lawson for 6th, he is five seconds behind Max Verstappen who continues to close in on Bearman. Further ahead Lando Norris’ lead to Kimi Antonelli is 7.6 seconds, with another 5.5 to George Russell. Bearman pits on lap 43.
Lap 46 – Team radio between Piastri and his team lays out the McLaren plan for him, they are racing Russell, Bearman and Verstappen. Piastri sounds pessimistic on radio for his prospects.
Lap 48 – Kimi Antonelli makes his second pit stop and rejoins 6th after a very solid drive so far in 2nd. George Russell pits a lap later also rejoins 6th.
Lap 50 – Oliver Bearman puts a nice move on Nico Hulkenberg for 7th, and looking for another swag of points from the weekend.
Lap 51 – Lando Norris pits from the lead and falls behind Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri. Interesting scenario, that Piastri could delay Norris catching Verstappen to help himself. But don’t think Piastri is that hard edged. He doesn’t get the chance to do that, as McLaren pit Piastri next lap. Piastri drops behind Bearman in 7th.
ORDER – VER NOR ANT RUS LAW BEA PIA HUL ALB HAD
Lap 55 – Max Verstappen pits for tyres, potentially setting up an exciting end to this grand prix. He rejoins just in front of Bearman and Piastri. He is just under 15 seconds behind the leader Norris. Halfway around the lap Piastri gets the elbows out and puts a great move on Liam Lawson for 5th.
Lap 56 – Max Verstappen has already shaved nearly two seconds off the lead of Norris, he is under 13 seconds behind and flying.
Lap 61 – Max Verstappen within sight of both Mercedes now, as his team advise second place is on if he can control the degradation of the soft tyres. He’s on George Russell’s tail with ten laps to go.
Lap 63 – Max Verstappen passes George Russell around the outside of turn one in a brilliant move. That’s third from the back of the grid for the Red Bull and second isn’t far away. Oscar Piastri is also catching Russell, but can’t see him being as quick or decisive as Verstappen was there.
Lap 65 – Verstappen is catching Antonelli, but not as quickly as he caught Russell. Perhaps those soft tyres are going off already. Both Verstappen and Piastri are 1.4 seconds behind a Mercedes by the end of the lap.
Lap 68 – Verstappen is under a second behind Antonelli now, so will help himself to DRS. It’s not enough for passing going into lap 69’s first corner. Further behind it’s a similar gap and story for Russell and Piastri.
Lap 70 – Closer, but still not close enough for Verstappen going into turns one and four. Antonelli is hanging on for now with just under two laps to go.
FINAL LAP – Verstappen tries, but can’t quite get past Antonelli in the usual places, but does catch up around the last lap, but not enough. Ditto for Russell v Piastri as Lando Norris crosses the line for a win almost unnoticed.
FINAL ORDER (Across the line) – NOR ANT VER RUS PIA BEA LAW HAD HUL GAS
Here we go through the field and highlight the very best (Great) of the race, and the plodders, the over-ambitious, the out of luck, and simply hopeless (Grape).
These points get added to our Driver of the Season scores. 5 points for a great nomination, and -5 for the worst or grapest driver in the pack. Then it is +2 /-2 for honourable or dishonourable mentions.
THE GREAT-EST – LANDO NORRIS
Could barely have asked for more this weekend. Fastest in Practice. Takes Sprint Pole and win while his team mate and Championship rival crashes out. Takes main race pole and wins easily, while his team mate gets a penalty for a clash trying to take second. Extends the Championship lead to just under a race worth of points. So many boxes ticked. The Championship is now his to lose.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
KIMI ANTONELLI – A bunch of second places in Sprint Qualifying and Race, main Qualifying and the race. An outstanding weekend, building on some recent progress.
MAX VERSTAPPEN – A shock Q1 exit in qualifying, he turns around his 19th starting spot for the race with some decent strategy and race craft. Pushes for podium position towards the end of the Grand Prix and gets as high as third in the end. Tries his best to steal second from Antonelli.
OLIVER BEARMAN – Another solid weekend from the Haas driver. No Sprint points but a solid 8th in main race qualifying and raced confidently in the top ten throughout, scoring more points.
LIAM LAWSON – A very solid double 7th for both qualifying and the main race. Holds off a bunch of cars at the finish with his one stopping effort.
PIERRE GASLY – A pair of one-pointers for Sprint and Main Race from the Alpine driver is welcome.
THE GRAPE-EST – GABRIEL BORTOLETO
Two crashes in two races at his home Grand Prix is as bad as it gets. The main race crash was annoyingly slow, but his Sprint Race was frightening and lucky not to see him injured.
DISHONOURABLE MENTIONS
LEWIS HAMILTON – Missed Q3 and qualified 13th, which has potential to find lap one trouble, which he found plenty of. Looked to be bumped by Carlos Sainz at the first corner, made contact with Bortoleto, loses his front wing by clipping Peirre Gasly at the end of lap one. Spends the rest of the race towards the back, calling his car undriveable at one stage.
OSCAR PIASTRI – Dead unlucky in the Sprint Race as he is caught up by water thrown onto the track by his team mate and crashes out. But it does prove his luck has turned and nothing is going his way now. Then qualifies 4th for the race, but almost takes 2nd at the first safety car restart in the main race, but instead clips Kimi Antonelli who punches Leclerc out of the race. Piastri is blamed and penalised 10 seconds. The Championship lead blows out to almost a race worth of points.
CHARLES LECLERC – A mediocre but not terrible Sprint Race was the highlights as he is wiped out on a Safety Car restart early by Piastri-Antonelli, spoiling his 3rd qualifying effort.
Was it a good race, loads of action, a tense ending, a surprise result or DNF, or just a big, fat, snooze-fest?
We rate the big race itself, so we know which races to go back and watch in the off season or one to simply remember the winner for the post season quiz nights.
PRE RACE ACTION (FP, QUAL, SPRINT, OFF TRACK etc) – 4 / 5
Plenty happening with a Sprint race and potential cyclone.
ON TRACK ACTION (RACE) – 9 / 10
Lots of overtaking and pit stop to mix up the strategy. It helps to have a first corner that just works for overtaking.
ANY SURPRISES? – 4 / 5
Max Verstappen failing to make it out of Q1. Oscar Piastri crashing out the Sprint Race. Oscar Piastri crashing out of Sprint Race. A very solid second placed-filled weekend from Kimi Antonelli. No rain in either race.
SEASON IMPORTANCE – 5 / 5
Like Max Verstappen’s win in Brazil last year essentially stopped the Championship fight, this weekend from Lando Norris in conjunction with not-so-good weekends for Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri gives you the feeling that the Championship is now basically done and dusted.
ENDING – 3 / 5
Max Verstappen’s pursuit of a podium at the end made it reasonably interesting while Lando Norris cruised in front.
OVERALL RATING – 25 / 30
An entertaining race as ever in Brazil, even without the rain. Championship defining too.
2025 F1 Season Race Ratings
R1 – Australian Grand Prix – 27/30
R2 – Chinese Grand Prix – 11/30
R3 – Japanese Grand Prix – 18/30
R4 – Bahrain Grand Prix – 19/30
R5 – Saudi Arabia Grand Prix – 17/30
R6 – Miami Grand Prix – 17/30
R7 – Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix – 20/30
R8 – Monaco Grand Prix – 21/30
R9 – Spanish Grand Prix – 15/30
R10 – Canadian Grand Prix – 18/30
R11 – Austrian Grand Prix – 20/30
R12 – British Grand Prix – N/A but was great
R13 – Belgian Grand Prix – 13/30
R14 – Hungarian Grand Prix – 22/30
R15 – Dutch Grand Prix – 22/30
R16 – Italian Grand Prix – 16/30
R17 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – 20/30
R18 – Singapore Grand Prix – 20/30
R19 – United States Grand Prix – 21/30
R20 – Mexican Grand Prix – 23/30
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