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Quick Answer
The Sao Paulo Grand Prix runs at Interlagos from Friday 6 November to Sunday 8 November, with Kimi Antonelli racing for the first time as Formula 1 world champion and Mercedes able to clinch the constructors championship.
What is different about Brazil this year?
Formula 1 goes racing at Interlagos this weekend with nothing left to decide at the top, and that changes everything about the race. Kimi Antonelli sealed the world title in Mexico City last Sunday, by finishing third behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Now he heads to Brazil for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, from Friday 6 November to Sunday 8 November, as the youngest world champion in the history of the sport, at 20 years and 68 days, beating Sebastian Vettel's record of 23 years and 134 days, and the first Italian champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953. He does not need to protect a lead any more. He does not need to count points. He can race freely for the first time as champion, and that makes him dangerous, because a driver with nothing to lose at Interlagos is usually the driver who wins there.
It is a classic weekend in every sense. Interlagos has hosted the Brazilian round since 1973, and this year there is no Sprint. The official F1 timetable lists three practice sessions, qualifying and the race, and nothing else for Formula 1. That matters for fans and for teams, because extra practice time helps teams find their footing after Mexico City, and it gives Antonelli time to settle into his new status without the pressure of a Sprint race on Saturday morning. Interlagos is short and old school, a lap of 4.309 kilometres, running anticlockwise, with banked corners, elevation changes, and weather that can change in ten minutes. It is a track where the champion's advantage disappears, and where a driver starting fifth can win, because overtaking is possible and rain is always a threat.
Antonelli's title is done, but the fight behind him is wide open. That is the real championship story in Brazil. The drivers title is settled, the constructors title is not, and second place in the drivers championship is a four way fight that will be decided in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Brazil is the first race of the post championship era, and the pressure changes completely. Antonelli can celebrate. Everyone else has to fight.
Who is fighting for second place, and what are the points?
After Mexico City, the standings are clear, and they are tight behind Antonelli. Antonelli leads on 380 points, with nine wins from 19 races. Behind him, Max Verstappen is second on 261 points, Lewis Hamilton is third on 259 points, George Russell is fourth on 250 points, and Charles Leclerc is fifth on 245 points. Lando Norris is sixth on 221 points. That means just 16 points separate second from fifth, and just two points separate Verstappen from Hamilton at the front of that group.
| Driver | Position | Team | Points | | Verstappen | 2nd | Red Bull | 261 | | Hamilton | 3rd | Ferrari | 259 | | Russell | 4th | Mercedes | 250 | | Leclerc | 5th | Ferrari | 245 | | Norris | 6th | McLaren | 221 |
Verstappen arrives in Brazil as the man to beat, even though the title is gone. He won in Mexico City, his sixth win in Mexico, his third win of the season, and the 74th win of his career, beating Hamilton by 0.799 seconds. He has won three of the last six races at Interlagos, in 2019, 2023 and 2024, according to Slip Stream GP's preview. Hamilton arrives second in this fight, after his first Ferrari pole in Mexico and a second place finish there, and he will want to beat Verstappen again to take second place outright. Russell arrives wounded, after a Mexico race that fell apart on the first straight and again later, with a 10 second penalty for a collision with Isack Hadjar, a stewards summons, and a team fine of 5,000 euros. Team boss Toto Wolff said Russell was distraught after the race, and that Mercedes had let him down on the first straight. Leclerc arrives as the quiet threat, fourth in Mexico, fifth in the standings, and the driver who could steal second place if the three ahead of him take points off each other.
With four races left and 25 points for a win, all five drivers from second to sixth can still finish the year as runner up, according to RNT Motorsports' preview. That is why Brazil matters even without a title on the line. A win in Brazil is worth 25 points, a second place is worth 18, and a retirement is worth nothing. One bad weekend in Brazil, and a driver drops from second to fifth. One great weekend, and a driver jumps from fifth to second. Interlagos rarely gives anyone a quiet race, so expect this fight to change again on Sunday.
Can Mercedes clinch the constructors title in Brazil?
Yes, and the maths are simple once you lay them out. Mercedes lead the constructors championship on 630 points, ahead of Ferrari on 504 points, a gap of 126 points. Red Bull are third on 382 points, and McLaren are fourth on 365 points. After Brazil, three races remain: Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. In each race, a team can score a maximum of 43 points, if its two drivers finish first and second, with 25 points for the win and 18 for second. Three races times 43 points is 129 points, which is the maximum Ferrari could gain on Mercedes after Brazil if Mercedes scored nothing in those three races, which they will not.
That means Mercedes clinch the constructors title in Brazil if they leave Interlagos with a lead of more than 129 points. Their lead now is 126 points, so they need to outscore Ferrari by four points or more in Brazil to push the lead past 129 and make it mathematically impossible for Ferrari to catch them. If Mercedes outscore Ferrari by exactly three points, the lead becomes 129, and Ferrari could still tie on points, so the title would not be clinched on points alone. RNT Motorsports puts the threshold at four points or more, and the arithmetic above supports that figure. Sky Sports' preview says Mercedes have a chance if they outscore Ferrari by three points or more, which may reflect a countback or a different points model, so this post uses the stricter four point maths and explains it, rather than claiming the title is clinched on three points.
In practice, Mercedes do not need to win in Brazil to keep that lead. They need to avoid a disaster, and they need both cars to score. Ferrari outscored Mercedes in Mexico, with Hamilton second and Leclerc fourth, while Antonelli was third and Russell was sixth. If Ferrari do that again in Brazil, the constructors fight stays alive for Las Vegas. If Mercedes finish ahead of Ferrari with both cars, the title is theirs, and the team can celebrate a double championship in the same season that Antonelli became champion. That is the team story in Brazil, and it is why Mercedes will race conservatively with Russell, who needs a clean weekend after Mexico, while Antonelli can race freely because his title is already safe.
When is the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, and how can I watch it?
The Sao Paulo Grand Prix runs from Friday 6 November to Sunday 8 November at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos. It is round 20 of 23. The race is 71 laps of the 4.309 kilometre circuit, a total of 305.879 kilometres. Brazil does not use daylight saving time in November, so Sao Paulo is three hours behind London in November, and the United States has been back on standard time since 1 November, so Sao Paulo is two hours ahead of New York and five hours ahead of Los Angeles.
| Session | Sao Paulo local | London GMT | Berlin and Paris CET | New York EST | Los Angeles PST | Karachi PKT | | Practice 1, Friday 6 November | 12:30 | 15:30 | 16:30 | 10:30 | 07:30 | 20:30 | | Practice 2, Friday 6 November | 16:00 | 19:00 | 20:00 | 14:00 | 11:00 | 00:00 Saturday | | Practice 3, Saturday 7 November | 11:30 | 14:30 | 15:30 | 09:30 | 06:30 | 19:30 | | Qualifying, Saturday 7 November | 15:00 | 18:00 | 19:00 | 13:00 | 10:00 | 23:00 | | Race, Sunday 8 November | 14:00 | 17:00 | 18:00 | 12:00 | 09:00 | 22:00 |
In the UK, every session is live on Sky Sports F1, with qualifying at 18:00 London time on Saturday and the race at 17:00 London time on Sunday. In the United States, the weekend is on Apple TV, with the race at 12:00 Eastern time on Sunday and 09:00 Pacific time. Formula 1 lists the broadcaster per country on its official Sao Paulo Grand Prix page, and F1 TV Pro streams the whole weekend where it is available, so check local listings for your country rather than assuming one global channel. The drivers parade is at 12:00 local time on Sunday, and the national anthem is at 13:44 local time, before the 14:00 local start.
Weather is part of the Interlagos story every year, and this year is no different. Sky Sports' preview notes that Sao Paulo is renowned for unpredictable weather, with thunderstorms currently forecast for qualifying on Saturday and a chance of rain on Sunday too. That forecast is a forecast, not a guarantee, and it can change by the hour in Sao Paulo. But if rain hits qualifying, the grid will be shuffled, and if rain hits the race, the second place fight will become a lottery. That is why teams will watch the radar as closely as the timing screens this weekend, and why fans should not assume the fastest car in practice will win on Sunday.
What should fans watch for beyond the points?
First, watch Antonelli's first race as champion. He finished second at Interlagos last year, behind Lando Norris, and only 0.362 seconds ahead of Verstappen, according to TechTorque Media's preview. Twelve months later he has the crown but not a Sao Paulo Grand Prix victory, and he will want his first race as champion to be a celebration, not a procession. He races with number 12, which Formula 1 notes was the number his idol Ayrton Senna used when the Brazilian won the first of his three titles with McLaren in 1988. Antonelli told reporters after Mexico that he plans to keep number 12 for 2027, so you will see it on the champion's car in Sao Paulo, in front of Senna's home crowd, which is a story in itself.
Second, watch Ferrari after Mexico. Hamilton called for changes after Mexico, according to Sky Sports' preview, and Ferrari put both cars in the top four in Mexico while outscoring Mercedes again. If Ferrari can do that in Brazil, they keep the constructors fight alive and they keep Hamilton in second place. If they squabble again, as they did in Mexico when Hamilton and Leclerc clashed, Verstappen will take advantage, just as he did in Mexico. Third, watch McLaren, because Norris won last year's Sao Paulo Grand Prix and McLaren will bring upgrades to the car this weekend, according to Sky Sports. Norris is sixth in the standings, 40 points behind Verstappen, so he needs a win and trouble ahead of him to join the second place fight, but Interlagos is the kind of track where that can happen.
After Interlagos, the season moves to the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday night 21 November local time, followed by Qatar on 29 November and the finale in Abu Dhabi on 6 December. There is also a question hanging over the final races that has nothing to do with points. CNN's report of the Mexico race notes that it remains uncertain whether the final two scheduled Grands Prix, in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, will take place, given instability in the region. That is not confirmed as a change, and this post does not claim any race has been cancelled. It is a note to watch, because any change there would reshape the end of the season. For now, though, Brazil is the story. The champion is crowned, the constructors title can be clinched, second place is wide open, and Interlagos rarely disappoints. Set your alarms for Sunday, and expect rain, drama, and a fight for second that goes to the last lap.
Related live posts: Antonelli Is F1 Youngest Champion at 20: How Mexico Was Won and What Brazil Decides Next, and Hamilton Takes First Ferrari Pole in Mexico, Antonelli Starts Fourth and Needs Ninth for the Title Tonight.
Sources: Formula 1 official timetable and standings, via RNT Motorsports, Brazil GP 2026 start time, 3 November 2026; Sky Sports F1, Sao Paulo GP 2026 dates, schedule, weather and how to watch, 2 November 2026; The Global Guest List, Sao Paulo Grand Prix 2026 Preview and Schedule, 2 November 2026; TechTorque Media, 2026 Sao Paulo Grand Prix Preview: Antonelli Crowned as Mercedes Faces Ferrari Fight, 2 November 2026; Reuters, Distraught Russell excused media duties after Antonelli takes F1 title, 2 November 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Sao Paulo Grand Prix?
Friday 6 November to Sunday 8 November at Interlagos, with the race on Sunday 8 November at 14:00 Sao Paulo local time, 17:00 London, 18:00 Berlin and Paris, 12:00 New York, and 22:00 Karachi.
Who is Formula 1 world champion in 2026?
Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, who clinched the title in Mexico City on 1 November at 20 years and 68 days, the youngest champion in history and the first Italian since Alberto Ascari in 1953.
Can Mercedes win the constructors title in Brazil?
Yes. Mercedes lead Ferrari by 126 points, 630 to 504. If they outscore Ferrari by four points or more in Brazil, their lead passes 129 points, which is the maximum Ferrari could gain in the final three races.
Who is fighting for second place in the drivers championship?
Max Verstappen on 261 points, Lewis Hamilton on 259, George Russell on 250, and Charles Leclerc on 245, with Lando Norris sixth on 221, so 16 points separate second from fifth.
Is there a Sprint race in Sao Paulo this year?
No. Unlike last year, Sao Paulo is a standard weekend with three practice sessions, qualifying and the race, and no Sprint.
What is the weather forecast for Interlagos?
Thunderstorms are forecast for qualifying on Saturday, with a chance of rain on Sunday too, according to Sky Sports, but Sao Paulo weather can change quickly, so treat this as a forecast, not a guarantee.
