The 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos had everything: strategy gambles, risky pit calls, and a whole lot of pressure in those final laps. Lando Norris started from pole and stayed cool through shifting track conditions. By the end, he bagged a win for McLaren and stretched his lead in the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship.
But if we’re being honest, Max Verstappen was the show. A late setup tweak forced him to start from the pit lane, and then an early puncture made his day even messier. Didn’t matter. Verstappen clawed through the field with full-on aggression; at one point, he even snatched the lead. A late pit call ended up flipping the script and left him third instead of first.
Max Verstappen’s comeback and the pit stop that changed everything
Because of the setup-change penalty, Verstappen rolled out from the pit lane. Then the puncture hit. Red Bull threw the dice and committed to a three-stop strategy. The pace was legit, and he sliced through the pack.
On lap 50, Norris pitted for fresh C3s, handing Verstappen an eight-second lead. Four laps later, the gap shrank to 6.5 seconds. Red Bull blinked; they brought him in. That pit stop pretty much traded away the win, but locked in a safe third.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella explained the situation. Stella sounded half-relieved, half-joking when he talked about Verstappen pitting.
“First of all, I was hoping [Verstappen would pit] because it made our life a little bit easier!” Stella laughed. Then he dialed it back. “Jokes apart, today the level of degradation was very high and at some stage I think the tyres just ran out of rubber.”
After the joke, he switched into “race-engineer explaining chess moves” mode.
“I think they knew at Red Bull that it would have been quite a significant gamble to go to the end with the same set and considering the fact that they had a new soft to put on, I think that was the right thing to do.”
“I think staying on the point of Red Bull, today they definitely took advantage of having new tyres, new medium, new medium, new soft, but at the same time they showed a performance and a pace in the race that is meaningful. Without the situation yesterday in qualifying, I think Verstappen would have been there for the victory.”
After the race, Norris admitted Verstappen was scary quick.
“With how quick he was today, he probably would have won if he started higher up,” Norris said. “He will be a threat, he always is, he is always fighting and will fight to the end.”
Norris locks down the win and extends his championship lead
Norris just had the cleaner race. His two-stop plan matched the brutal tire wear at Interlagos, and with fresher tires, he took back the lead after Verstappen’s final stop, cruising to the finish line.
With the win, Norris now leads teammate Oscar Piastri by 24 points. Verstappen sits 49 points back.
Norris explained how he’s tuning out the noise as the title pressure ramps up: “Just ignore everyone who talks crap about you and focus on yourself. keep my head down, ignore everyone, and keep pushing.”
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