Rick’s Take: Perfect weekend for Norris, miserable one for Piastri

Year after year, you look at the entry speeds into Turn 1 and the way it swoops through the Senna S, and you just think: this is a proper racetrack with loads of overtaking opportunities. The Grand Prix on Sunday was no exception, on a weekend that you have to say belonged to Lando Norris.

But I think we can all agree we were very lucky to witness a masterclass from Max Verstappen. Unusually, Red Bull normally arrive at a circuit on a Friday and have their teething problems during free practice.

Obviously, this was a Sprint weekend, which probably didn’t help with their setup, because on Saturday they were still really struggling. Normally, Red Bull have it sorted by the second day of the race weekend, but this time they didn’t.

A disastrous qualifying for Verstappen meant they decided they might as well start from the pit lane after fitting a new power unit. From the get-go, Max looked like he was going to be a threat.

I didn’t think he would be in dry conditions. If you remember, last year he started 17th and won the race, but that was because of mixed weather, safety cars, and the fact that he’s one of the best wet-weather drivers out there.

This time it was completely dry, so he really had his work cut out. The methodical manner in which he picked off the cars in front was amazing to watch.

Talking about the McLarens, obviously Norris had the perfect weekend: pole position for both the Sprint and the main race, and winning both. Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, had a fairly miserable weekend. I always thought, at the start of the season, he was the coolest cucumber, but now he’s collapsing like a flan in an oven.

He finished fifth in the main race, which was damage limitation in terms of the points he’s losing to Lando. It does beg the question whether his confidence has been dented in recent weeks and months, because he hasn’t been on the podium for five races now. It’s going to be a very interesting conclusion to the season.

Verstappen had written off his chances of being Drivers’ World Champion, but after a drive like that in São Paulo, how can you ever write him off? Anything can happen. Norris, meanwhile, is now knuckling down with real belief and rhythm in his driving and is absolutely a contender to look out for.

Ferrari had an absolutely miserable weekend. Lewis Hamilton suffered floor damage which forced an early retirement, while Charles Leclerc went out after being caught up in an incident that was basically Piastri’s fault.

Oscar isn’t usually prone to mistakes, but this time he locked up into Turn 1 and hit the cars beside him. It was a very unusual weekend for McLaren in terms of Oscar, and a very disappointing one for Ferrari. They made some really odd strategy calls again.

Elsewhere, I thought the rest of the field coped pretty well. Ollie Bearman is the real deal. He’s making Esteban Ocon look a bit of a fool at the moment. Bearman is a massively talented driver who’s going to be around for the future, and there are even rumours that he may one day replace Hamilton at Ferrari. He is, after all, a Ferrari works driver.

Overall, the race itself was brilliant. We didn’t get the weather drama we sometimes do in Brazil, but having a completely dry race with just one safety car still made for great entertainment. Towards the closing stages it was real edge-of-the-seat stuff. We were waiting to see if Verstappen could grab second place, and if Antonelli could hang on — which, of course, he did.

It was a brilliant drive all weekend from Kimi Antonelli, outpacing his teammate. I think George Russell had some setup issues and was complaining about low grip, but Antonelli again delivered a really strong performance.

Despite being so young, he’s already mixing it with the big names. He made some stunning overtakes, and for me, that was one of the highlights of the race.

That’s my take on the Brazilian Grand Prix 2025. Next up: ¡Viva Las Vegas! Bring it on.