2026 São Paulo Grand Prix Review, Lando Won and Sir Max Made My P2 Prediction Look Far Too Sensible

In my São Paulo preview, I picked George Russell to win, Sir Max to finish second and Kimi Antonelli third. Then I saw Max starting 21st and thought, well, there goes the one prediction I felt good about. Turns out he was the only one who finished exactly where I put him. Lando Norris won, Mercedes became constructors’ champions and I loved pretty much every wet, dry and wet-again minute of it.

To be fair to Lando, he’d earned that win from Saturday. Qualifying stopped for nearly 90 minutes because of the rain, and when they finally got going, Lando put in a 1:27.470 just before it got heavier again. George was 0.204 seconds off him and wanted one more go. Mercedes told him to back off as he caught Alex Albon, and by the time George could try again, the track was too wet. “Mate, you told me to back off! What the hell?” came the radio. He already had a five-place engine penalty, so even pole wouldn’t have put him first on Sunday. He still wanted the fastest lap. That’s one of the reasons I like George.

Come Sunday, Kimi took the lead and Liam Lawson got himself ahead of Lando too. Yes, Lawson. For five laps, there was a Racing Bulls car in second while the McLaren that started on pole was trying to get back past it. By the time Lando did, Kimi was disappearing up the road. Meanwhile, I went looking for Max near the back of the timing screen. Silly me. By lap 11 he was fifth.

Then Lewis Hamilton helped answer the question everyone was asking: was it dry enough for slicks? Ferrari put him on softs, he went quick in the final sector, and suddenly everybody fancied a set. George spun coming out of the pits. Kimi stayed out a lap longer than Lando and came back out ahead, but told Mercedes something felt wrong with the suspension. The team pointed to tyre temperature. Shortly afterwards, Kimi spun at Turn 1 and Lando went through. Lovely strategy getting your driver back out in the lead. Slight problem keeping him pointed in that direction.

What I liked about Lando was how little drama there was once he got in front, considering how much everybody else was having. Red Bull told Max that Lando might try to reach the finish without another stop. Max made it quite clear he didn’t fancy doing that himself. Red Bull brought him in first, McLaren covered him, and when the rain got heavy again, Lando had enough of a gap to come back for intermediates and still keep the lead. He won by 14.602 seconds. I spent half the race willing Max to catch him, but honestly, what more could Lando have done?

And what a Sunday for Red Bull Racing. Sir Max gained 19 places for second, but Isack Hadjar deserves his own mention here. He passed George, held off Kimi when the Mercedes got close late on and finished third. Further back, it was lovely seeing Fernando Alonso giving Charles Leclerc a proper fight. Fernando finished 12th, which tells you absolutely nothing about how much fun he was to watch. Charles recovered from 14th to seventh, while Lewis had a late spin and still went from 20th to ninth in his 400th Grand Prix.

I did feel for Rafael Câmara. Imagine making your F1 debut for Haas at home in Brazil, and this is the weekend you get. He spun in qualifying, made it through to Q2 anyway, then hit the barrier. On Sunday he lost six places on the opening lap and spun twice at the Senna S. He still brought the car home in 20th. I’d love to see what he can do with a dry weekend and a slightly less eventful introduction to the job.

As for the Mercedes party I wanted, George did help start it after all. He switched back to intermediates earlier than Kimi, caught him, and Mercedes asked Kimi to let him through. Fourth for George, fifth and fastest lap for Kimi. Mercedes only needed to outscore Ferrari by three. They beat them 22 points to eight and took their ninth constructors’ title, a week after Kimi won the drivers’ crown in Mexico. That’s two Sundays in a row I’ve been happy for Mercedes. Next time, George, I’d quite like to see you on the podium for the photos.

My A2W race rating: 9/10.

I loved it. And Sir Max, next time I predict you down for second, you’re allowed to start a little closer.
aKi Malik