Credit : Formula 1's X
SAO PAULO, November 10, 2026 – The Formula 1 drivers’ championship may already be decided, but the fight for second place remains open, the official Formula 1 account said on Tuesday. “The title may be secured but the fight for P2 is very much on,” it wrote, alongside an official graphic of the standings after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Kimi Antonelli, who sealed the 2026 drivers’ crown at the previous round in Mexico City, leads the championship on 390 points, according to Formula 1’s official drivers’ standings. Behind him, the contest for second is much tighter.
The standings after Interlagos
Max Verstappen is second on 279 points after finishing runner-up in Sunday’s race, the official standings show. George Russell is third on 262, one place and one point ahead of Lewis Hamilton on 261. Charles Leclerc is fifth on 249, with Lando Norris sixth on 246 after winning in Sao Paulo.
The official Formula 1 graphic also showed the movement in those positions after Brazil: Russell gained one place, Hamilton dropped one, and Verstappen, Leclerc and Norris held station. Verstappen’s advantage over Russell is 17 points. Hamilton is only a single point behind the Mercedes driver, Leclerc is 13 points behind Russell, and Norris, despite taking 25 points for the win, remains 16 points short of third and 33 behind Verstappen.
Those figures match Formula 1’s official results from the 71-lap race at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace. Norris won in 1:35:23.504. Verstappen, who started well down the order, finished second, 14.602 seconds behind, and scored 18 points. Hadjar was third, with Russell fourth and Antonelli fifth.
Verstappen’s recovery, from 21st on the grid to the podium, was one of the defining images of a wet afternoon at Interlagos and the reason he was able to open a clearer gap in the fight for second. Formula 1’s official race report said he climbed through the field on a frenetic afternoon, and that Hadjar made it a double podium for Red Bull. Russell’s fourth place, worth 12 points, was enough to move him ahead of Hamilton, who finished outside the top three. Norris’s third win of the season brought him to within three points of Leclerc, but not yet into the top five.
Further down the official standings, Oscar Piastri is seventh on 152 points and Hadjar eighth on 122, after the Frenchman’s third-place finish in Brazil, which was worth 15 points. Those totals are well clear of the rest of the midfield, but they sit some way behind the group fighting for second, third and fourth.
Antonelli’s title was already secure before the weekend, after he locked up the drivers’ championship at the Mexico City Grand Prix. His fifth-place finish in Brazil added 10 more points to a tally that now stands at 390, 111 clear of Verstappen, according to the official standings. Mercedes also used Sunday’s result to seal the constructors’ championship, a development already reported separately by LNA.
Attention in the remaining rounds will therefore centre on who finishes second. Formula 1’s official calendar lists the Las Vegas Grand Prix, from November 19 to 21, and the Qatar Grand Prix, from November 27 to 29, as the next events.
Source: https://x.com/F1/status/2120114495595106580
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