São Paulo Grand Prix 2026 predictions

Bortoleto returns to Interlagos with Audi

Gabriel Bortoleto’s first home Grand Prix ended on the opening lap in 2025, when contact with Lance Stroll sent his Sauber into the barriers. The 2025 race report (opens in a new tab). Audi took over the team and kept him for its first season as a works entry. Formula 1’s driver profile (opens in a new tab).

Interlagos

Interlagos is 4.309 km long with 15 corners, and the Grand Prix runs anticlockwise for 71 laps. Pirelli says the mix of straights and twisty sections gives plenty of overtaking chances and a higher risk of Safety Cars. Pirelli’s circuit notes (opens in a new tab). The lap starts on a sort of half oval, runs through the Senna S and down to Turn 4, winds through an infield with camber changes and climbs back up the hill through the banked final corner. Formula 1’s circuit guide (opens in a new tab).

The track is built on unstable ground and stays bumpy. It was fully resurfaced for 2024, which left a smooth, less abrasive surface that still had plenty of bumps. Pirelli’s 2025 preview (opens in a new tab). Drivers were not convinced, so for 2025 the organisers resurfaced again from Turn 12 to Turn 1 and from Turn 3 to Turn 4, and cut grooves into the asphalt to drain water. F1Technical on the changes (opens in a new tab).

Rain moved qualifying to Sunday morning in 2024

Weather at Interlagos is very changeable at this time of year. In 2024, with bad weather forecast, the Race Director moved qualifying to 07:30 on Sunday and brought the Grand Prix forward to 12:30. No dry tyres were used all day. Everyone started on Intermediates, and the race was red-flagged at half distance as the rain got heavier. Pirelli on the 2024 race (opens in a new tab).

Verstappen reached the podium from the pit lane in 2025

Lando Norris took pole by 0.174 seconds from Kimi Antonelli, with Charles Leclerc third. Max Verstappen went out in Q1 in 16th. The 2025 qualifying report (opens in a new tab).

Red Bull then changed his car under parc fermé, so he started from the pit lane. Norris won by 10.388 seconds, and Antonelli held off Verstappen for second by 0.362 seconds. Verstappen had stopped early for a puncture under a Virtual Safety Car. That VSC came after Oscar Piastri locked up at the restart and hit Antonelli, pushing the Mercedes into Leclerc’s Ferrari, which retired. Piastri took a 10-second penalty and finished fifth, behind George Russell. The 2025 race report (opens in a new tab).

Pirelli brought C2, C3 and C4, one step harder than in 2024, after the dry tyres had shown heavy wear and graining on Friday and Saturday morning that year. Pirelli’s 2025 selection (opens in a new tab).