The Formula 1 grid lined up once more on Nov. 9 as the championship battle between the top three Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen kept heating up, as it has since the summer break. After a poor qualifying round, Verstappen elected to switch to a new engine and aerodynamic setup for the race. As a result, he was penalized by starting in the pit lane. He remarked that he could “forget about” his hopes of closing the points gap to current championship leader Norris. However, as the race went on, Verstappen worked his way back up to third place behind Kimi Antonelli and the winner, Norris.
The front row consisted of Norris and Antonelli, with Charles Leclerc and Piastri behind. On Turn 1, Norris managed to defend Antonelli and Piastri managed to defend an ambitious Isack Hadjar behind him, keeping the racing order the same.
On Turn 10 of the first lap, Gabriel Bortoleto crashed his Stake Sauber into the wall after contact with Fernando Alonso. This made it his second crash of the weekend, after his massive 51g crash during the Sprint. It marked an unfortunate end to his home race as a Brazilian.
The next few laps effectively ended Ferrari’s run in Brazil. Lewis Hamilton had sustained a broken front wing from Carlos Sainz’s Lap 1 and was forced to pit, dropping him down to 19th. He later retired. Meanwhile, on Lap 6, Leclerc was forced into a three-man squeeze. Piastri locked up on the inside line, making contact with Antonelli. Antonelli was subsequently knocked into Leclerc’s side, and Leclerc’s tire flew off as he retired from the race. Piastri was awarded a 10-second penalty for this collision.
Under the safety car, Verstappen pitted on Lap 8 and switched to Mediums. He promptly started fighting his way back up the grid, eager to make up for qualifying. By Lap 17, he had worked his way up to 12th and continued to work his way up. While Norris managed to build a lead over the rest of the grid, Verstappen ended up in fifth by Lap 21 and third by Lap 31.
The order maintained itself without incident until the finish line – Norris built a 10-second lead over the rest of the grid, with Antonelli and Verstappen following behind him. Piastri finished in fifth behind George Russell.
The points gap still hasn’t mathematically disqualified Verstappen, who’s 49 points behind Norris and 25 points away from Piastri. With three races left in the year, all three will need to maintain top form to compete for the title.
