Who impressed our judges at the 2026 Sao Paulo Grand Prix?

The first race of 2026 without a Mercedes driver on the podium was ironically where the team clinched the Constructors’ Championship, with Lando Norris and the Red Bull pair denying them a spot in the top three in Sao Paulo. But who impressed our Power Rankings judges? Check out the latest scores and overall leaderboard below…

With other teams switching their resources to 2027, McLaren were the only ones to bring upgrades to Interlagos, but Norris was cautious of anticipating any major improvement. While it’s difficult to say just how much they helped considering the way the weather jumbled up the pecking order, Norris’ skill in the wet was clear as he converted pole position to his third triumph of the season. One of the main factors that contributed to his 14s winning margin was, in his words, an ability to keep it cool and avoid mistakes.

Was it really a Sao Paulo Grand Prix if Max Verstappen didn’t charge from the back of the field to the podium? After his stellar comeback drives in 2024 and 2025, he pulled off another by climbing from P21 to P5 during his opening stint on the intermediate tyres. The softs weren’t as good to him, but he caught his team mate to improve to second place and simultaneously take a stronger grip of P2 in the drivers’ standings.

Liam Lawson was arguably the biggest winner of the Qualifying chaos at the rain-soaked Interlagos, with his original result of P5 becoming P3 once the final order had shaken out. He made the most of it too, joining Kimi Antonelli in storming past Norris on the opening lap, but was passed by the top teams as the race progressed. Nevertheless, his admirable defence against Charles Leclerc paid off when the latter was handed a five-second time penalty for making contact in their wheel-to-wheel contest, elevating Lawson to P7 post-race.

Although Isack Hadjar hasn’t been satisfied with the handling of his RB22 in recent rounds, he seemed to turn a corner in Sao Paulo as he excelled in the challenging conditions. Starting fifth, he had the opposite experience to Verstappen and performed best on the soft tyres, getting stuck into several thrilling battles with Antonelli en route to finishing on the podium for the first time since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Interlagos is where Fernando Alonso secured both of his Drivers’ Championships, and two decades later, he still goes well there. The Spaniard delivered Aston Martin’s first Q3 appearance of the season before tackling a tantalising fight with Alex Albon, which saw him pounce when the Williams driver drifted wide. He still lacked that little bit extra to break into the points, bringing home a respectable P12.

Wet weather always opens up opportunities for the midfield, and the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was no exception. A strong Qualifying led to Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg lining up on the second row, but he didn’t get the launch he needed and immediately lost positions. While that left him scrapping with Franco Colapinto at the fringes of the points, a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage appeared to rule the German out of top-10 contention. However, the late rain played into his hands and he overtook Arvid Lindblad for P10.

A power unit issue cut Lindblad’s Qualifying session short and prompted Racing Bulls to replace his internal combustion engine and turbocharger, resulting in another grid penalty. It would’ve been easy to forget that he started from P18 as he quickly surged through the field, challenging the likes of Alonso and Hulkenberg throughout, although he was unable to hold off the Audi man for P10 over the final laps.

Undaunted by his grid penalty, Lewis Hamilton gained an astonishing 11 positions at the start – and for a few laps, it looked as though he could produce a Verstappen-style comeback to challenge for the podium. However, his tyres rapidly faded and he tumbled back down the order, so it was no surprise that he wanted to gamble by being the first to pit for slicks. He enjoyed another boost by doing just that, but his race unravelled when the rain returned, with a spin and late stop limiting him to P9.

Although a five-place grid penalty meant that it was impossible for George Russell to start on pole, he was still furious when the team’s call to abandon his second Q3 lap left him to qualify behind Norris and subsequently drop to P7. He made good progress on the inters before losing any advantage he had when he switched to slicks, as shown by his unusual spin at the pit exit. After that, the pace gradually came back to him and he passed Antonelli for P4 – his best finish since winning in Baku.

“Extremely disappointed,” was Antonelli’s verdict of his performance at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, with the Italian much more content to focus on Mercedes’ overall victory as a team. His initial launch saw him snatch the lead from Norris and build a commanding gap, but like Russell, his race unravelled on the soft tyres. A lack of grip caused Antonelli to spin at Turn 1 and let Norris back through, and he lost out further when the rain fell later on, leaving him to settle for P5.

Missing out

Just missing out on this week’s Power Rankings leaderboard are Haas‘ Ollie Bearman (17th, after contact with Alonso, slow pit stops and a penalty for an unsafe release) and Williams’ Albon (15th, after losing pace when the track dried out).