Verstappen completes masterclass in Brazil, Norris wins

Round 21 of the 2025 Formula 1 season at Interlagos was chaos from the lights out. Home hero Gabriel Bortoleto’s race ended almost instantly, squeezed by Stroll into Turn 10 and sent into the barriers. The Safety Car was deployed before the field had even settled, and it quickly became clear that Lewis Hamilton’s afternoon was ruined as well.

The seven-time champion limped back to the pits with a broken front wing and floor damage after early contact with Sainz and Colapinto.

When racing resumed on Lap 6, all eyes were on the McLarens. Lando Norris got the perfect restart, but Oscar Piastri’s aggressive lunge into Turn 1 ended in disaster. The Australian locked up, clipped Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, and sent him into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Leclerc was out instantly with broken suspension, and the stewards soon slapped Piastri with a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision.

Once the dust settled, Norris began to build a commanding lead. By Lap 24, he was over five seconds clear of his teammate, comfortably outside of undercut range and controlling the pace from the front.

Behind them, Antonelli’s early stop dropped him into traffic, allowing George Russell to move up to third and Max Verstappen to climb to fourth after starting from the pit lane. The Dutchman’s charge through the field on the mediums was relentless, at one stage he was half a second quicker than the race leader.

Further back, chaos continued to ripple through the midfield. Yuki Tsunoda picked up a 10-second penalty for tagging Stroll at the restart and then risked further sanction after serving it incorrectly during his next stop.

Hamilton, still struggling with floor damage, ran dead last but soldiered on. The hard tyres proved unworkable in the hot Brazilian conditions, forcing many teams into strategic improvisation as the race reached its middle phase.

At the front, though, Norris was untouchable. Calm on the radio, clinical on track, and perfectly in tune with his McLaren, the Briton managed every phase of the race while Piastri fought both the stopwatch and his own penalty.

As things stood by mid-distance, Norris was on course to extend his championship lead to 16 points, a decisive swing heading into the final three rounds of the season.

On lap 29 Hamilton was issued a 5-second time penalty by the Stewards for clipping Colapinto adding more woes to the already ruined race for Hamilton who was driving a wounded Ferrari.

As Norris made his pitstop one lap later, Verstappen moved up to P3, with the British driver falling to P4 right behind the Dutch driver. However, Norris' relentless pace on the new softs made the move impossible to oppose on the Dutch driver's side, reversing the order once again two laps later.

On lap 34 the Stewards announced Yuki Tsunoda would be issued with a second time penalty for not having served the first one correctly, making it a race of deep contrasts for the Red Bull Racing team.

Russell and Verstappen stopped on the 35th lap to take new tyres, with the Mercedes driver replicating Norris' soft tyre approach, and the Red Bull driver donning on another set of fresh mediums. Piastri, after serving his penalty would come out in the vicinity of Verstappen, who had already fired up his tyres.

When the Australian driver emerged from the pitlane, however, the Dutchman roared past Piastri taking P5 behind leader Norris, Antonelli, Russell and Oliver Bearman, with the British rookie still to make his pitstop. Piastri was in P7 with Liam Lawson ahead as the only obstacle separating him from Verstappen.

In the midfield, Nico Hulkenberg came past Esteban Ocon, who would soon have to face Haas teammate Bearman, who'd recently stopped for fresh rubber. The American team then decided to pit the Frenchman to free Bearman and not compromise his tyres in a bid to catch the German ahead, which was successful, picking him off on the entry into Turn 4 in a lfamboyant move around the outside.

On lap 48 Antonelli made his second stop, followed by Russell the very next tour,leaving Verstappen to take over P2 on the medium tyres with Norris boasting a 15 second lead ahead of the Dutchman.

On lap 51 Norris came in the pits, releasing Verstappen into the lead, who did not have to make anymore pitstops, having already used two different sets of tyres and completed his two pit stop strategy. After him, Piastri also visited the McLaren box for fresh tyres, emerging from the pits in P7 behind Bearman, whom he dispatched quickly and easily as he resumed his push to reach the top 5.

With teammate Lawson running P5 at the time, Hadjar made a risky move on Stroll to take the last of the point scoring places, putting his fresh tyres to good use as he chased down Albon and Hulkenberg ahead.

On lap 55 Verstappen stopped for fresh soft tyres coming out ahead of Lawson and Piastri, who still found himself staring into the back of the Racing Bulls' gearbox.

After clearing Lawson, Piastri wouldn't be able to attack Verstappen, as the Dutchman's blistering pace on the new softs formed a 5-second gap between them within a matter of laps, showing the Red Bull driver was on the charge, not for the win, barring a miracle, but for Antonelli's P2, which triggered warning radio messages from the Mercedes pit wall to the Italian driver.

Picking off Russell with a daring move around the outside of Turn 1, Verstappen continued marching onward and closed the gap to Antonelli quickly, making his bid for P2 a blunt reality Antonelli had to face off if he wanted to maintain his very well-deserved position, which would so happen to be his best career finish in F1 so far.

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog's F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.