Race Report: Norris in Brazil, Mercedes win title

Lando Norris converted pole position into a wet and wild win at the Brazilian Grand Prix as Mercedes won the title. The race started in wet conditions, then became dry, only to face heavy rain in the waning laps. Lando led Max Verstappen, who came from P21 to P2, and his Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar in P3.

Win

A big win for Mercedes, who claimed the Constructors’ Championship. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli came in P4 and P5, respectively, but that was plenty enough points to secure the title. It’s nine Constructors’ titles, which ties Mercedes with the historic Williams F1 team.

A big win for Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Max started in P21 and came all the way back to P2 for a podium finish, with Isack Hadjar also featuring in P3 for his third podium of the season. Max moves to P2 in the Drivers’ Championship.

A win for Liam Lawson for a P8 result for Racing Bulls. The points haul keeps the team well away from Alpine for best of the rest in fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.

It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give a win to Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin with a P12 finish. Not anywhere remotely close to where they’d want to be, but given their struggles this year, a Honda-powered Aston Martin finishing the race and near the points is a positive.

A win for Audi, who scored a point with Nico Hülkenberg in P10.

Fail

It’s a fail for Ferrari, who looked quick on Friday, but they struggled on the intermediate tires quite a bit in the early stages and really couldn’t find their way higher than P7 for Charles Leclerc and P9 for Lewis Hamilton. It was a race that turned ragged for the team, and Charles was MIA for most of the race, with Lewis spinning late in the race.

A fail for Mercedes, from a race perspective, as they really struggled with the tires as well. Both drivers radioed about the car handling very strangely.

A fail for Cadillac, who couldn’t start Valtteri Bottas due to a stuck wheel nut, as well as another DNF for Aston Martin with Lance Stroll.

Alpine was a fail, as I was thinking they could get into the points, but sadly they lacked pace on both inters and slicks. There was a moment in the season when they looked to be threatening for fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, but that looks out of reach now.

WTH

Not sure what the issue was for Mercedes, but clearly there was a drivability issue with both cars. It appeared first, at least for those of us at home, with Kimi’s car after the first stop and then with George later in the race.

Sure, Esteban may have gotten more for Haas F1 this weekend, but given the situation, I think Rafael Câmara’s baptism by fire is kind of what you would have expected.

Could have been a weekend for Williams to sniff out a point, but like Aston Martin, the pace just wasn’t there.

I was excited to see Lewis Hamilton gain so many places on the opening laps, and it looked like it was “Game on!” But then Max said, “Hold my beer.” Wow!

Sao Paulo GP Results: