F1 Countdown: Essential Insights Before 2025 Race in Brazil
The final four races of the 2025 F1 season are coming up!
First on the final stretch is the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos, where Max Verstappen will look to repeat his brilliant win from last year.
MONZA, ITALY - SEPTEMBER 06.
More importantly, a win would definitely help him in his quest for a fifth straight title. Of course, Lando Norris is coming off a solid win in Mexico and returned to the top of the season's standings.
On the other side of the McLaren garage, Oscar Piastri is definitely under pressure, as his performance is seemingly dropping in the last few races (he has four straight races without a podium).
Norris leads the drivers' standings with 357 points, one ahead of Piastri (356) and 36 points over Verstappen (321).
Interestingly, we have the fifth Sprint weekend of the year this week in Brazil, which means that there will be 33 points available (25 for Sunday's winner and 8 for the Sprint winner).
2025 Sao Paulo GP Facts & Figures
The 2025 edition will be the fifth of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and the 52nd Formula 1 World Championship race held in Brazil.
Carlos Reutemann won the first Formula 1 race in Brazil in 1972 for Brabham, but the event was not part of the World Championship.
The first Brazilian GP that was part of the Formula 1 World Championship calendar came in 1973 at Interlagos. Emerson Fittipaldi, with Lotus and McLaren, respectively, took two famous wins at home in 1973 and 1974.
In its third edition, the GP was again won by a Brazilian, with José Carlos Pace winning for Brabham at the track that is now named after him. Niki Lauda won in 1976 for Ferrari, while Reutemann won again in Brazil in 1977 and 1978. The 1978 race was celebrated at Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarepaguá Circuit, giving Ferrari three straight wins in the country.
The event returned to the criticized, bumpy Interlagos for 1979 and 1980, with Jacques Laffite and Rene Arnoux winning for Ligier and Renault, respectively.
The Brazilian Grand Prix moved from Sao Paulo to Rio for the events held between 1981 and 1989 due to safety concerns regarding the Interlagos asphalt and the overall facilities. At Rio, Nelson Piquet’s home, the event was very popular, and it produced some controversial situations early.
Reutemann won in 1981 ahead of his teammate and reigning champion Alan Jones after ignoring team orders to let the Australian by. Then, Piquet won at home in 1982, but the Brazilian driver and second-placed finisher Keke Rosberg were disqualified due to the water-cooled brakes of their Brabham and Williams cars, respectively.
The disqualification came during a heated point of the war between the Federation Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA) and the Formula One Constructors Association (FOCA). FISA was a subcommittee of the FIA that was the governing body of F1 and motor racing.
Ayrton Senna racing the McLaren MP4/4 Honda during the Belgian Grand Prix at the Spa circuit in Belgium (1988). Mandatory Credit: Pascal Rondeau/Allsport
The events of the 1982 Brazilian GP led to the boycott of the FOCA teams of the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix, won by Ferrari driver Didier Pironi ahead of Gilles Villeneuve, which started another war that ended with unfortunate situations.
Prost was named the 1982 winner for Renault, and he won again in 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988 at Jacarepaguá with McLaren. Nelson Piquet won with the Brabham BT52 at home in 1983 en route to his second F1 World Championship, and he repeated the success in 1986 for Honda.
The 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix was Ayrton Senna’s first race and first Pole Position for McLaren, but he was disqualified due to a pre-race procedure in which he jumped into the spare car to start from the pits after the green flag was shown.
Nigel Mansell won for Ferrari in his debut race with the team in 1989, the first victory of a car with a semi-automatic gearbox. The 1989 event was the final F1 race at Jacarepaguá before the circus returned to an updated, shortened Interlagos.
Prost won again at Brazil in the return to Sao Paulo in 1990, while Ayrton Senna took arguably his most emotional win in 1991. It was his first at home and Senna won that race after struggling with the gearbox in his car and holding Williams’ Riccardo Patrese off.
Senna repeated in a wet 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix, a year after Nigel Mansell dominated in 1992 at the wheel of the FW14B. Senna had a big fight with Michael Schumacher in 1994, but he spun in the late stages and the German won the race in what has been mentioned as the final battle between the two all-time greats, as Senna passed away two races later after his unfortunate crash in Imola.
Schumacher won again for Benetton in 1995, albeit after being excluded due to a fuel infraction and being reinstated later. Williams won in 1996 and 1997 with eventual champions Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.
The Drivers’ Champion had won in Brazil since 1994, and Mika Hakkinen continued the streak in 1998 and 1999, while Schumacher repeated the feat in 2000.
David Coulthard broke that streak when he won for McLaren in 2001. A big overtake by Juan Pablo Montoya on Schumacher into Turn 1 had given the Colombian the lead, but he crashed out of the race after backmarker Jos Verstappen took him out.
Michael Schumacher won in 2002, while Giancarlo Fisichella won a crazy, rain-affected 2003 event. Montoya then won in his final race for Williams in 2004, as the event was moved towards the end or the actual end of the calendar.
From 2005 to 2009, the World Drivers’ Championship was decided in Brazil, whether the race was the final of the year or not. Fernando Alonso sealed his two titles in 2005 and 2006, with the 2006 event being the last of the year, and Michael Schumacher’s final race with Ferrari.
Kimi Raikkonen won Ferrari’s most recent WDC after winning the 2007 race, beating McLaren-Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso.
Anthony and Lewis Hamilton after winning the 2008 F1 Drivers title
Hamilton won his first title in one of the most epic title-deciding races ever seen in F1 history. Felipe Massa won the race for Ferrari, and with Hamilton out of the needed places to win the title, the Brazilian was set to become a World Champion at his home GP. However, Hamilton, on wet-weather tyres, surpassed Timo Glock’s Toyota (equipped with dry tyres) into the last corner of the final lap of the final Grand Prix of the season.
Ultimately, Hamilton’s fifth place gave him a one-point edge over Massa and won McLaren’s most recent World Drivers’ title.
Jenson Button sealed his 2009 World Championship for Brawn GP in Brazil, with one race to spare.
The eventual champion won again in Brazil in 2010, with Sebastian Vettel winning for Red Bull. Mark Webber won in 2011 after Vettel’s car ran into mechanical trouble (gearbox) and the German allowed Webber through.
The 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix was another showdown for the World Drivers’ Championship. Sebastian Vettel entered the race with the lead over Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari, but the German’s race was dramatic, with an early crash almost ending his race. He then recovered in tough weather conditions to finish in the needed places to beat the Spaniard. Alonso did what he needed as well (finish on the podium) to have a chance, but came short.
Both were fighting to become a three-time World Champion, and it was Vettel who eventually did it for Red Bull, achieving his third consecutive title. Vettel won the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix to end his dominant 2013 campaign with his ninth consecutive win (a record at the time) and his then record-equalling 13th win of the year (equalling Michael Schumacher’s tally from 2004).
Mercedes dominated the event at the start of the hybrid era, with Nico Rosberg leading a couple of 1-2s in 2014 and 2015, and Hamilton doing so in 2016 on an extremely wet race, which saw a great recovery by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull near the end to finish third.
Vettel won for Ferrari in 2017, while Lewis Hamilton won for Mercedes in 2018 after Verstappen’s crash with Esteban Ocon, while the Dutchman was leading the race and the backmarker was trying to unlap himself on fresher tyres.
The Dutchman came back strong to win a crazy 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix from Pole Position for Red Bull-Honda, ahead of Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz, and after a good battle with Lewis Hamilton in the race.
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL - NOVEMBER 03: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 03, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Hamilton won the inaugural Sao Paulo Grand Prix after starting the 2021 race in 10th place. The British legend had qualified on Pole Position on Friday, but he was disqualified due to a malfunction in the DRS of his car. Hamilton finished Saturday's Sprint in fifth place after a big recovery, but he had a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's race due to exceeding engine parts.
Still, Hamilton fought the entire grid and went on to win the race ahead of his title rival Verstappen, who had pushed him off the track in a previous overtaking attempt, before the Englishman completed the move on lap 59. That win has been widely regarded as probably the greatest win of his career.
George Russell took his maiden victory and Mercedes' only win of the 2022 F1 campaign with a solid drive in Sao Paulo, ahead of his teammate Hamilton. Verstappen won the 2023 edition ahead of Lando Norris. Alonso and Sergio Pérez had a tremendous fight for third place, with the Spaniard finishing ahead.
Verstappen took a great win in the rain in 2024 from 17th on the grid, the lowest position from which a race in Brazil has been won (Hamilton's 10th in 2021 is second). This is a victory considered by many as Verstappen's best victory of his F1 career yet, and it was certainly impressive.
Among drivers, Alain Prost dominated in Brazil during his time, winning six races with Renault, McLaren, and Ferrari. Among teams, McLaren leads Ferrari 12 to 11.
Autódromo José Carlos Pace
The Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix 41 times, and one non-championship race. Jacarepaguá, in Rio de Janeiro, hosted the race 10 times.
Aerial view of Interlagos circuit
Initially, the track was named Autódromo de Interlagos, due to it being located between two lakes, the Represa de Guarapiranga and Represa Billings. In 1985, the circuit was named Autódromo José Carlos Pace, in honor of the former Brazilian Grand Prix winner, who died in an airplane accident in 1977.
The original Interlagos was 7.960 km long and hosted the Brazilian Grand Prix from 1972 to 1978. The track then had some minor changes, with the circuit having a whopping 26 corners and the length varying from 7.960 km to 7.873 km.
As Formula 1 went to Rio from 1981 to 1989 and returned to Sao Paulo in 1990, the Autódromo José Carlos Pace was updated and shortened to 4.325 km and 15 corners. Since 1990, it has had some minor changes, and the current layout remains 15-corner long and is 4.309 km long.
The 2025 race will be run over a distance of 305.939 km and will have 71 laps. For the fourth year in a row, the weekend will include a Sprint race.
The lap record at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace was established by Valtteri Bottas, driving for Mercedes in 2018, with a 1:10.540 min lap in the 2018 race. Lewis Hamilton established the outright Fastest Lap in Qualifying for the 2018 race, with a 1:07.281 min lap in the Mercedes W09.
2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix - Tyres
The dry tyres for the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix will be the C2 as P Zero White hard, C3 as P Zero Yellow Medium, and C4 as P Zero Red soft.
Pirelli's press release further explained the outlook of the weekend: "This year’s compound selection for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix harks back to 2023, with the C2, C3 and C4 as Hard, Medium and Soft, therefore one step harder than the trio used last year.
"Last year, the dry weather tyres were not required for the race, but when used on Friday and Saturday morning, they showed high levels of wear, as well as graining, especially on the rear axle. The circuit had been completely resurfaced, thus leaving a very smooth surface, less abrasive than in previous years, although still with plenty of bumps around the track.
"If conditions are similar, with the inevitable variations due to the ageing of the asphalt, the decision to bring harder compounds could thus extend the performance life of the tyres, which are already more resistant to degradation than the 2024 range. That might allow the Soft to come into play, which last year was only used for Sprint qualifying.
In 2024
"Last year, qualifying and the race both took place on Sunday. With a bad weather forecast, the Race Director decided to run qualifying at 07.30, as well as bringing the Grand Prix start time forward to 12.30. Dry weather tyres were never used at any time during the day.
"All drivers were on Intermediates for the start and at half-distance, the race was red-flagged as the rain intensified. At that point, just five drivers had fitted Full Wets.
"After the restart, all drivers completed the race on Intermediates, only four of them running a new set. If it had been a dry race, data from the previous day suggested that a two-stop was the most realistic option in terms of race time and tyre management, given the wear rate seen during Friday and Saturday’s sessions."
The minimum starting pressures for the tyres will be 25.0 PSI (front) and 23.0 PSI (rear).
2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix - Weather Forecast
Friday, Nov 7th - FP & Sprint Qualifying
Conditions: Partly sunny
Max. temperature: 30°C
Chance of rain: 25%
Saturday, Nov 8th - Sprint Race & Main Qualifying
Conditions: Mostly cloudy, occasional rain and a thunderstorm; humid
Max. temperature: 26°C
Chance of rain: 60%
Sunday, Nov 9th - Race
Conditions: Mostly cloudy
Max. temperature: 21°C
Chance of rain: 2%
Who will be on the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix podium?
The prediction for the Top 3 of the 2025 Sao Paulo Grand Prix is 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Lando Norris, 3. Charles Leclerc.
2 F1 Fan comments on “F1 Countdown: Essential Insights Before 2025 Race in Brazil”
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If the event is entirely dry, I reckon NOR-PIA-VER, assuming PIA would finally find his lost form to most extent at least.
It's really hard to believe Alpine had a double podium last year at Interlagos!
I think Interlagos is not a McLaren track but a Ferrari track. So I think the podium will be 1. Verstappen, 2. Leclerc & 3. Hamilton.