The youngest champion arrives as a champion
Formula 1 moves to São Paulo this weekend for the first race since Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 drivers' championship. The Mercedes driver finished third in Mexico City to seal the title with four rounds to spare, aged 20 years and 68 days. That breaks Sebastian Vettel's record from 2010 by three years.
Antonelli is the first Italian world champion since Alberto Ascari in 1953 and the fourth driver to win a title with Mercedes. He replaced Lewis Hamilton at the team in 2025, and Hamilton was among the first to congratulate him after the race.
The championship is decided, but the season is not. Mercedes will want to finish the job in the constructors' standings, where every point still counts for prize money and for next year's development.
Verstappen has the momentum
Max Verstappen won in Mexico City, holding off Hamilton, and Red Bull has improved through the second half of the year. Interlagos rewards top speed on the long main straight and grip through the infield, so teams have to pick a setup early in practice and live with it.
Ferrari brings its own problem. Hamilton and Leclerc have clashed on track more than once this season, and the team has lost points to those incidents. Both drivers say they are focused on the constructors' fight, but the radios suggest otherwise.
The weekend format
Interlagos hosts a conventional weekend in 2026. First practice runs on Friday at 12:30 p.m. local time, with second practice at 4 p.m. Qualifying is on Saturday at 3 p.m., and the race starts on Sunday at 2 p.m. local time, which is 5 p.m. GMT. The sprint format returns here in 2027.
The circuit has hosted the Brazilian round since 1990 and has produced title deciders before, including Hamilton's last-lap win in the wet in 2008. With the drivers' crown already gone, the crowd will be watching for a fight at the front, a home result from the Brazilian drivers and another sign of whether Red Bull's late-season form is real.