The 2025 Formula 1 season may be winding down.
But the standings are heating up.
Max Verstappen’s sweep of the United States Grand Prix at the end of October, where he won both the F1 Sprint race as well as the United States Grand Prix, brought the four-time Drivers’ Champion right into the thick of the 2025 title chase. But Lando Norris responded with a dominant performance at the Mexico City Grand Prix, and now leads his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri by a single point — 357 to 356 — with Verstappen just 36 points back, sitting on 321.
And while McLaren already clinched a second consecutive Constructors’ Championship, the fight for second in the standings mirrors the battle for the Drivers’ Championship. At the moment Ferrari has a one-point lead over Mercedes — 356 to 355 — with Red Bull closing the gap thanks to Verstappen’s recent form. Right now Red Bull has 346 points on the year, just ten points behind Ferrari and nine behind the Silver Arrows.
That means … every point counts.
This weekend’s São Paulo Grand Prix is the penultimate F1 Sprint weekend of the 2025 season, and shortly the field will set the starting grid for tomorrow’s F1 Sprint race, where eight points go to the winner. Lando Norris led the way in the one and only hour of practice earlier today, with Piastri just 0.023 seconds off his teammate’s pace.
It was a tough session for Verstappen and Red Bull, as the four-time champion finished P17 and Yuki Tsunoda, who had an incident early in the session, finished in P20.
Still, anything can happen when the lap times count for real.
São Paulo Grand Prix provisional Sprint grid
Here is the provisional starting order for the F1 Sprint at the São Paulo Grand Prix, which will be filled in throughout the session.
Row |
Position |
Driver |
Team |
Position |
Driver |
Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Row 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| Row 2 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Row 3 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| Row 4 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| Row 5 | 9 | 10 | ||||
| Row 6 | 11 | 12 | ||||
| Row 7 | 13 | 14 | ||||
| Row 8 | 15 | 16 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | ||
| Row 9 | 17 | Liam Lawson | VCARB | 18 | Yuki Tsunoda | Red Bull |
| Row 10 | 19 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 20 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Williams |
São Paulo Grand Prix F1 Sprint qualifying
Follow along here as qualifying for the F1 Sprint race at the São Paulo Grand Prix unfolds.
12 minutes went on the clock, and the 20 cars had the mandatory C3 medium tires bolted on as the session began. Yuki Tsunoda was the first driver to roar out of his garage, followed shortly by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Norris set the early marker with a 1:10.311, only to be nipped by Piastri with a 1:10.286 as the McLarens threw down the gauntlet to open the session.
The first effort from Charles Leclerc came in at 1:10.762, nearly a half-second behind Piastri and only good for P7. He was shortly dropped to P8 thanks to teammate Lewis Hamilton, and then hometown hero Gabriel Bortoleto pumped in a strong lap of his own to drop Leclerc to P9.
Then it was over to Max Verstappen for his initial push lap. The Red Bull driver only used the C2 hard tires during the single hour of practice, which saw him down in P17 when the session came to a close. Verstappen went purple through Sector 1 on his initial attempt and came in at 1:10.107, putting him up in P1 for the moment.
Norris answered on his next push lap, as he went purple through both Sector 1 and Sector 2 with a thunderous effort, rocketing to the top of the timing sheet with a 1:09.702, putting him more than four-tenths of a second ahead of Verstappen, and more than three-tenths ahead of George Russell, who was now in P2.
Piastri’s second push lap was better than both Russell and Verstappen, but he could not catch Norris, and the Australian settled into P2 for the moment.
With three minutes remaining in SQ3, the three drivers at risk of elimination were Alexander Albon, Esteban Ocon, Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz Jr., and Yuki Tsunoda.
Perhaps the biggest surprise at this point? Pierre Gasly, who was up in P5. The trip to São Paulo brought back some great memories for Alpine, as Gasly and Ocon delivered a stunning double-podium result at this race a year ago, helping Alpine finish sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Final runs then began, with Tsunoda’s last effort only good enough for P13. That shortly became P14 thanks to a lap from Oliver Bearman, who rocketed up to P4 on his final attempt.
Tsunoda’s situation got worse when Albon came across the line with an effort good enough for P6, and then a lap from Brotoleto dropped Tsunoda into the elimination zone, and he was knocked out.
So too were Colapinto, Liam Lawson, Ocon, and Carlos Sainz Jr.
At the sharp end of the grid, Norris led the way followed by Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, Piastri, Russell, Bearman, Isack Hadjar, Gasly, Bortoleto, and Hamilton rounding out the top ten.
