Interlagos Unscripted: The São Paulo Grand Prix

I have been anticipating this race since the summer break. It is one of the best tracks and one of the best races on the calendar. The Autódromo José Carlos Pace, commonly known as Interlagos, has hosted the São Paulo Grand Prix since 2021 and previously hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix in various periods (1972-1977, 1979-1980, 1990-2019). It is an old-school track that is reputed for hosting on-track drama, which completely throws the season's script out of the window. This year was no different, and it served its fair share of plot twists. 

Let’s start with Charles Leclerc, who qualified P3. He looked bound to finish somewhere on the podium, in either second or third place, until McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, in an attempt to chase after teammate Lando Norris, pulled a dive bomb that triggered a domino effect - the Aussie driver gave Kimi Antonelli little space and subsequently made contact. And the Mercedes driver, in turn, ended up hitting Leclerc, who went off the track, sustained damage, lost a tire, and retired from the race. 

Piastri’s recklessly ballsy move was not worth it, by the way. The race stewards deemed him responsible for the three-car incident, which makes perfect sense as he was both the originator and the tipping point that led to Leclerc’s retirement. The stewards went on to slap Piastri with a ten-second penalty that he didn’t quite recover from. Not only did he finish in fifth place, but the McLaren driver is now 24 points behind Lando Norris. 

The Man from Melbourne has been stumbling, to put it gently. His last podium was a third-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix, which would have been a second-place finish had McLaren allowed him to retain his position after Lando Norris' pit stop hiccup. Fans and commentators everywhere have been trying to figure out what might be affecting his pace. The explanation is quite simple - the pressure of the Championship title battle against Lando Norris and Max Verstappen is causing him to choke, which has led to silly mistakes that have been costing him dearly. 

And if you don’t believe me, go back and review the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, which was Piastri’s home race. That pressure to win on home soil, piled on by the recurring chatter of battling against Norris and Verstappen, which has been the talk of the paddock from Round 1, made him fumble big time, and he hit the grass, effectively ending his podium bout. He finished in ninth place. 

Piastri needs to revert to his famously nonchalant mentality and continue to adopt his more matter-of-fact, old-school approach, which has not only guaranteed a top-three finish but also consistently yielded results that outdo those of his teammate. Lando Norris, who won the race, didn’t exactly have to fight or fret over the course of the 71 laps like the nineteen drivers behind him had to. Cruising along in a McLaren after securing Pole Position tends to guarantee a win. The only thing he had to worry about was not losing the lead in the first lap, an old habit that he seems to have shaken off. 

And then there was Max Verstappen. After his spectacular masterclass of race at last year’s Grand Prix, a P17 start to a first-place finish, I was expecting the Red Bull driver to thrive on the Interlagos track. What we got instead was not the performance we wanted but the performance we needed. He threw everyone off guard by exiting Q1 at P16 during Qualifying following poor car performance issues. Red Bull, ever so determined to keep their driver in peak competitive form, made changes and installed a new engine, which bumped the driver straight to the pit lane. A start from there usually guarantees a rubbish race, but deep down, we all knew that Verstappen was going to defy the odds, and Interlagos tends to be the track that hosts those kinds of outcomes. 

The Dutchman zipped his way to the top three and made no mistake in the process. It was a perfect drive. 2024’s race saw him go from P17 to 1st place in the wettest race of the season. But a pit lane start to a podium finish? Jaw-dropping. This race was, hands down, my favorite Verstappen drive of the season. The only person who got in the Red Bull driver’s way was Kimi Antonelli. 

Most drivers, when Verstappen approaches from behind like the shark from Jaws, tend to emit an aura of intimidation through the television screen. Some try to fight him off and eventually can’t keep up. Others put up a fight and find themselves in nasty, noteworthy scuffles. Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and Lando Norris are just some of the drivers previously entangled in a battle that ended with dramatic results - crashes, penalties, vexed Team Principals, FIA stewards having their hands tied, you name it. 

Not Kimi Antonelli, though. The Mercedes rookie demonstrated true grit and resoluteness as he defended against Verstappen until they crossed the finish line in second and third place. Despite the Red Bull driver having fresher tires in the closing lap of the race, Antonelli kept his movements vigilant but cool-headed, never hastily reacting to the idea of Verstappen overtaking but constantly outwitting him at every literal turn. It was that kind of nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat race that people tune in to see. 

Antonelli, who achieved a career-best finish (so far) in second place, singlehandedly demonstrated that somebody can beat Verstappen at his own game and can outdrive him. It wasn’t a drive that put others to shame, but one that reveals a potential contender for the 2026 season - one that is daring and unfazed when push comes to shove, two traits both Norris and Piastri need to cling to as they face off against Verstappen in the remaining three rounds of the season.