Lando Locked, Flying Dutchman's Final Gasp, Mercedes v Red Bull v Ferrari, and more ahead of the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

What happened at the 2025 Sao Paolo Grand Prix?

The Sao Paolo Grand Prix will forever be known as Max Verstappen's stomping ground.

That's what almost everyone who tuned into this year's race at Interlagos had to say after watching the Flying Dutchman arguably topped one his best performance of all time at last year's Sao Paolo Grand Prix. Verstappen's weekend looked to be over on Saturday after he followed teammate Yuki Tsunoda out in a shock Q1 exit. Then, the FIA announced that Verstappen would instead be starting from the pit lane after an engine change.

Max channeled his 2024 Interlagos self and rose from a pit lane start to race leader on the 51st lap. If not for his pit on lap 54 when he was about ten seconds ahead of 2nd placed Lando Norris, he may have even won the race, marking by far his best race and potentially the best individual performance in F1 history. Verstappen instead pitted on lap 54 to new softs to avoid losing further ground to Norris and Kimi Antonelli, gaining back up to P3 to go from pit lane to podium in dry conditions. Max is known to be especially great in wet conditions compared to the rest of the field, so the fact that he was able to accomplish this level of position gain during a dry race with a car that went out in Q1 is astonishing.

Meanwhile, Lando Norris came home quietly to take his second consecutive win and extend his lead in the drivers' champoinship to 24 points over teammate Oscar Piastri. Norris is now also 49 points ahead of Verstappen and can eliminate the Red Bull driver if he outscores him by ten points in this weekend's race.

Elsewhere, Mercedes rookie Antonelli finished a career-high second and Haas rookie Ollie Bearman followed up his fourth place with a sixth in Brazil. Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly were both able to score for Kick Sauber and Alpine, with Gasly's point being the first in a full race in over four months. Williams, Aston Martin, and Ferrari all went scoreless, with Ferrari double DNFing after Leclerc's unfortunate collision with Piastri and Antonelli and Hamilton sustaining terminal damage after a crash with Franco Colapinto.

In the sprint, Norris took the win with Antonelli second and George Russell third, completing a double podium for Mercedes. Piastri didn't finish, giving Norris eight more points in his buffer over the Australian in the drivers' championship. Home hero Gabriel Bortoleto DNFed in both the sprint and full race, and will hope for a much better performance at home in his sophomore season in 2026.

Podium Predictions

Here are my predictions for the podium finishers at the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix:

Las Vegas Grand Prix

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - The Red Bull looks extremely quick, and it seems like it's Verstappen's race to lose. He was unstoppable in free practice, so he should be primed for a much better qualifying this weekend.

   
   

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) - McLaren's car isn't too far off, and Norris has won the last two races. He's in form, and it seems like only Max can match him. It was a dissapointing FP3, though.

   
   

3. George Russell (Mercedes) - Mercedes went 1-2 last year in Vegas, and while that seems impossible to repeat, the car tends to perform well in colder settings. Russell is due for a redeeming result, and the defending Vegas winner will be back on the podium.

Five Spicy Hot Takes

Now, let’s spice things up with some bold hot takes for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, rated from 1 to 5 spicy pepper emojis:

1. 🌶️ - No driver is eliminated from the drivers' championship. The only way this is possible is if Lando Norris outscores Max Verstappen by ten points or more, which shouldn't occur this weekend.

   
   

2. 🌶️🌶️ - Williams finally score. The fifth-placed team in the constructors' shouldn't be struggling to score a single point. Neither Albon nor Sainz has scored in a full race in over a month, and the free practice sessions indicated that trend likely won't continue.

   
   

3. 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Alpine again. Alpine didn't score a single time between Silverstone and Interlagos. Then, Pierre Gasly scored not only during the sprint, but in the race. It may have only been a total of two points, but the back-markers will take any signs of encouragement they can get.

   
   

4. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Mercedes on the brink. Not exactly a prediction, but it has its implications. Mercedes can't technically do this points-wise anytime soon, but if they further the gap to Red Bull and Ferrari this weekend, the Silver Arrows should be shoo-ins.

   
   

5. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - No rookies in the top five. This is extremely unlikely. It may not seem that way, but we technically have six rookies and it has been multiple months since all of them missed the top five. Bearman, Antonelli, Hadjar, Lawson, Colapinto, and Bortoleto all must perform poorly.

Rain Reigns, Championship Changeover, and more as the Championship comes to a head at Interlagos for the Sao Paolo Grand Prix

What happened at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix?

After what has happened for the past couple of months, the race at Mexico was definitely a surprise. McLaren FINALLY broke through to claim their first win since Oscar Piastri took the checkered flag in August during the Dutch Grand Prix. It was also Lando Norris's first victory since Hungary in the first week of August. However, Lando's result was far from being the most impactful of the weekend.

Before we get to the rest of the results from Mexico City, I want to go over my predictions. On my hot takes, I went 0 for 5, so it obviously wasn't my best weekend. However, I was very close on a couple of them. I predicted Alex Albon to beat his teammate and return to the points, and he was able to defeat Carlos Sainz but couldn't make it to tenth. I also forecasted a bad weekend for Oscar Piastri, and he finished fifth. Unfortunately, I said he would finish outside of the top five. My other three predictions weren't close. Verstappen didn't win by over ten seconds (in fact, he didn't win at all), Racing Bulls couldn't even get a car within a lap of Lando Norris, and we surprisingly still have no announcements regarding Red Bull, Racing Bulls, or Alpine seats.

For me, the second-most exciting news comes in the drivers' championship. Lando Norris retook the lead from his teammate for the first time since April, surpassing Piastri by only a single point. With four rounds to go, Norris sits on 357, and Piastri sits on 356. Even with an underwhelming weekend, Max Verstappen managed to again gain on the Papayas for the fifth straight weekend. The gap between Verstappen and Norris is only 36 points, and 33 points are up for grabs this weekend, meaning if Verstappen wins both events and the McLarens fail to score, first-place Norris will only be ahead of third-place Verstappen by three points with three races left. Talk about exciting!

In other news, OLLIE BEARMAN P4. Yes, you heard that right. Rookie Ollie Bearman, in a Haas, a car ninth in the championship without a podium in ten seasons of existence, almost stood on the podium. The Brit capitalized on a chaotic race start to move up to P6 before overtaking Russell and Antonelli at the same time. Sitting in P5, he went wheel to wheel with his idol Max Verstappen and came out on top to take P4. Above Bearman, Hamilton received a 10-second penalty for cutting a corner on the opening lap, leaving Bearman in P3. However, a successful gamble by Red Bull took Haas's maiden podium away as Ollie finished P4 behind Norris, Leclerc, and Verstappen.

Without further ado, let's get into our predictions.

Podium Predictions

Here are my predictions for the podium finishers at the 2025 Sao Paolo Grand Prix:

Sao Paolo Grand Prix Sprint

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

   
   

2. Lando Norris (McLaren)

   
   

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

Sao Paolo Grand Prix

1. Lando Norris (McLaren)

   
   

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

   
   

3. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

Five Spicy Hot Takes

Now, let’s spice things up with some bold hot takes for the Sao Paolo Grand Prix, rated from 1 to 5 spicy pepper emojis:

1. 🌶️ - Verstappen will win the Sprint. What? Verstappen winning a sprint? Couldn't be...

   
   

2. 🌶️🌶️ - Verstappen closes in on a McLaren. Well, it has happened five straight weekends, but it seems like Lando is figuring it out. However, Oscar remains a mess, and Verstappen will hope to continue to catch up and finally get within a race win of one of the title challengers.

   
   

3. 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Red Flag on Sunday. It's actually kind of hard to think of a full race at Interlagos without a red flag, but the rain is supposed to come during the sprint. I think there will be a big crash and red flag that forces a standing restart.

   
   

4. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Someone loses their seat. Something has to happen. It has to happen.

   
   

5. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - An excelent weekend for Haas. Bearman's on a roll and should be able to score, and Ocon finished on the podium last year with Alpine. Yeah, he took that piece of garbage to the podium.

Verstappen Closing In, Driver Decisions, and more ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix

What happened at the 2025 United States Grand Prix?

The 2025 United States Grand Prix brought two races: a sprint and a full race. Pole for both? Verstappen. Winner for both? Verstappen. Fastest lap for both? Verstappen...and Antonelli. You really thought. Still, though, what a weekend for the Red Bull star in a car that now looks good enough to win every race through Abu Dhabi. Verstappen now sits only 40 points behind Piastri, a very obtainable margin with five races still remaining and the clearly quicker car.

The sprint was absolute chaos. Nico Hulkenberg caused a ginormous crash into the first turn, knocking out a decent amount of the field, including, most importantly, both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. From there, Verstappen, who was able to escape from the turn unscathed, went on to dominate the sprint, winning the race by over three tenths and never giving up the lead. Russel finished second with another strong weekend and Sainz claimed his second podium of the season with a quiet ascent up to P3.

The race was much calmer, with only one driver DNFing (Sainz) and Verstappen winning by over seven seconds. Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, and Bearman all scored points to round out the top ten, but the more interesting battles were for P2 and P4. Leclerc passed Norris in the opening turn and, with weaker tires and a much slower car, managed to hold off Norris for an extremely long period before finally being passed and finishing with a very deserving podium and P3. Hamilton passed both Piastri and Russell and held P4 above the two to complete a 3-4 weekend for Ferrari at their most successful circuit in the past couple of years.

What happened in FP1 and FP2 in Mexico City?

Free Practice 1 was extremely interesting as it allowed us to get a glimpse of the potential future of F1. Junior and reserve drivers Pato O'Ward (McLaren), Arvid Lindblad (Red Bull), Frederik Vesti (Mercedes), Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari), Jak Crawford (Aston Martin), Luke Browning (Williams), Ayumu Iwasa (Racing Bulls), Ryo Hirakawa (Haas), and Paul Aron (Alpine) all made showings in FP1, with Lindblad even finishing P6. In fact, the only team that didn't replace a driver with a reserve or junior driver was Kick Sauber, who had Bortoleto and Hulkenberg in their FP1 cars.

FP2 gave us much more insight into how this year's grid will fare in Mexico City, as all twenty current drivers were in their respective cars during the session. Verstappen again impressed, topping the timetables with Leclerc and Antonelli following. Tsunoda, Sainz, and both Aston Martins were other noteworthy top-10 finishers in FP2. Outside of the points, however, was a very concerningly slow Oscar Piastri, who was almost an entire second behind Verstappen and in P12.

Podium Predictions

Here are my predictions for the podium finishers at the 2025 Mexico City Grand Prix:

Mexico City Grand Prix

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

   
   

2. Lando Norris (McLaren)

   
   

3. George Russell (Mercedes)

Five Spicy Hot Takes

Now, let’s spice things up with some bold hot takes for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, rated from 1 to 5 spicy pepper emojis:

1. 🌶️ - Verstappen will win the race...by over ten seconds. Wait, what? I know, it's such a hot take. Yes, I think that Verstappen is good enough and quick enough to take a huge lead in this Grand Prix. He was almost a second faster than Piastri, who currently leads the Championship, so is it really that unrealistic? I'm starting to think about 2023 at the moment.

   
   

2. 🌶️🌶️ - Piastri misses the top five. Something seems to be going terribly wrong for Oscar Piastri. Yes, the McLaren car is clearly slower than the Red Bull at the moment, but Norris seems to still be turning the woes into decent results. Piastri's last three races? 20th, 4th, and 5th. And this weekend, he looks even slower.

   
   

3. 🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Albon finally scores. As a Williams fan, last weekend was especially difficult to watch. Albon's crash on lap one. Sainz's crash on lap six. Sure, the sprint was decent, but Albon has done nothing in the last few races. Albon's last three results are P13, P14, and P14 again. I think it's time for some points.

   
   

4. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Both Racing Bulls in the top ten. Lawson and Hadjar have only finished in the top ten together twice, but this feels like the weekend that they get their third double points finish. I don't know why. It just will happen.

   
   

5. 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ - Lindblad or Aron. I think that either Arvid Lindblad or Paul Aron will be granted a seat in F1 between now and the Sao Paolo Grand Prix in a couple of weekends. Lindblad's more likely, but Colapinto still hasn't scored, and both drivers are knocking on the door. It's only a matter of time.