For those who tuned into the race on Sunday, the main takeaway would be that for Lando Norris, the title fight is now over. While Verstappen has not officially become champion, the now 62-point gap seems unlikely to sway in Norris’ favour. For Verstappen this was arguably his most impressive race yet, starting P17 and gaining 7 positions by lap 3. While Norris and Russell pitted during the virtual safety car, Red Bull took a gamble and left Verstappen out. Something that hugely benefited them when a subsequent red flag gave the team a free change.  

In the same vein, Alpine, an unlikely podium contender, made the same gamble. The team needed just 4 points to jump Williams in the Constructors’ Championship, but with Ocon and Gasly’s joint podium, they’ve gained 33 points to put them in 6th. This podium came at a pretty horrible start to the season: with a bad testing session, their technical director Matt Harman moving to Williams, as well as Bruno Famin’s departure. The team felt deserving of their result on Sunday. 

For McLaren, things were less hopeful. While they received a promising result during the sprint race, the wet weather conditions on Sunday saw a reduction in the car’s top speed. Their bigger rear wing, which should’ve provided them more downforce, resulted in a rather lacklustre pace. For Oscar Piastri, his 10-second penalty caused him to drop behind Tsunoda in P8. For Norris, he lost pole position at the start to Russell. There was then a struggle to close the gap, before inevitably pitting during the VSC, a crucial mistake.  

The chaotic nature of the race made it a busy one for the stewards, with multiple drivers picking up both fines and penalties. Norris and Russell were fined €5,000 respectively for their infringement on the start procedure, as well as a reprimand. Mercedes was fined €5,000 for car 44 and €5,000 for car 63 due to tyre infringement. Ollie Bearman had a rather eventful weekend, as he was propelled into Kevin Magnussen’s seat after the Dane fell ill. He subsequently made too many mistakes, fighting Zhou and Colapinto and then skidding off track. Bearman picked up a 10-second penalty for his collision with the Williams, it was a p12 finish for him.  

As for Sauber, it was another weekend without points. Zhou had bad luck at the start, ran last, and it ultimately took far too many laps for his tyres to warm up. All he could do was p15. Williams had both a DNS and a DNF, with Albon not starting and Colapinto going off. Colapinto was up 4 places to p12 but then struggled with his front brakes locking up. He pitted for the second time but then eventually found the barriers. Stroll had a suspected braking problem which is why he went off on the formation lap, and Alonso dropped down due to a rear wheel locking up, he finished the race p14. Finally, in RB it was double points. Tsunoda P7 and Lawson p9, but they are still down one in the Constructors’ Championship because of Alpine’s success story. Once again, Sao Paulo provided a memorable race with its rather unpredictable weather conditions and hilly terrain.