São Paulo Grand Prix: Live F1 race coverage

The final race of the triple-header gets rolling on Sunday, as Formula 1 is in Brazil for the São Paulo Grand Prix.

And there are many storylines to monitor ahead of this race.

Will Mercedes or Ferrari take a big step forward in their fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship? Will Sergio Pérez be able to fend off Lewis Hamilton in their battle for second place in the Drivers’ Championship?

Can McLaren continue their stunning rise up the table or will Aston Martin — thanks to having Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso starting on the second row today — punch back in their battle for fourth?

This Grand Prix is about to get underway, and we will have all of the action covered throughout the afternoon. So check back early and often!

(All updates in Eastern).

Update 2:04: Here is your provisional top ten.

Verstappen
Norris
Alonso
Pérez
Stroll
Sainz
Gasly
Hamilton
Tsunoda
Ocon

Update 2:02: IT’S ALONSO! He captures third just 0.053 seconds ahead of Pérez.

Update 2:01: Alonso gets back by Pérez on the final lap!

(Oh and Verstappen wins, with Norris in P2).

Update 2:00: Pérez gets by Alonso here on Lap 70. This will be a fight to the finish for P3.

Update 1:59: Sainz reports a problem with his left paddle, and downshifting.

Update 1:56: Alonso remains just ahead of Pérez in P3. The Red Bull is within DRS range, but Alonso is still holding him off here on Lap 68.

Update 1:50: Under ten laps left, and things at the front seem settled, with Verstappen ahead of Norris.

The big battle is for P3. Alonso still has the advantage, but Pérez remains within DRS range.

This is the current top ten:

Verstappen
Norris
Alonso
Pérez
Stroll
Sainz
Gasly
Hamilton
Tsunoda
Ocon

Update 1:46: Norris comes in and switches to softs. They waited to see if they could catch a break with a safety car and perhaps steal a win, but that reprieve does not seem to be coming.

Alonso and Pérez are fighting hard here on Lap 60. This may be the fight to watch down the stretch.

Update 1:45: Russell pulls into the pits, and is retiring. The team had seen an indication of a potential failure for his W14.

Update 1:43: Red Bull tells Verstappen that they believe Norris will stay out. Norris is currently 11 seconds ahead of Verstappen, on a set of mediums. Verstappen is on a set of soft tires.

Update 1:42: Pérez is within DRS range of Alonso here on Lap 57.

Verstappen has come into the pits. Now we’ll see if Norris follows suit. Verstappen’s stop is 2.5 seconds.

Update 1:40: The fight is shaping up between Alonso and Pérez for the final podium spot. Norris is over 35 seconds ahead of Alonso, and Pérez is just around one second behind Alonso.

Update 1:38: Ferrari brings Sainz in, and he takes a set of softs back to the track. He rejoins the fight in P7, behind Tsunoda but perhaps most notably, ahead of both Russell and Hamilton.

Even with Leclerc’s failure on the formation lap, Ferrari may make the most of the day in the fight between them and Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Update 1:35: Gasly now gets by Hamilton. This is shaping up to be a tough day for the Silver Arrows, who are now just hoping to salvage some points at the end of the day.

“I’m in his DRS and I’m still not catching him,” says Hamilton about Gasly.

Update 1:33: Gasly on a set of softs has just posted the fastest lap of the São Paulo Grand Prix. He is running in P9, less than a second behind Hamilton for P8.

Update 1:32: Hamilton is back on the track with a set of softs, but he wonders if they should have instead made the switch to hards.

Update 1:30: Mercedes pulls Russell in and they bolt on a set of softs. Meanwhile the team is telling Hamilton to push it and “use the tires,” but he laughs in response. “I have been,” he reports.

Update 1:29: Sargeant pits and comes out with yet another set of soft tires. Not sure how many people had a soft-soft-soft start for any driver on their bingo card, but if you did, cash in now.

Update 1:28: Gasly reports he might have a problem with the brakes. The team is looking into the potential issue.

Update 1:27: Alonso has managed to fend off Pérez, and now has a lead of almost three seconds on the Red Bull driver. He also has a fresh set of soft tires available, if he wants to make such a switch before the end of the race.

Update 1:24: Gasly indeed gets by Russell on Lap 43, right at Turn 1.

Update 1:23: Gasly is now reeling in Russell, and is within DRS range. The two Mercedes drivers seem to be struggling a bit on the mediums.

Toto Wolff looks rather stoic in the garage.

Update 1:22: Heartbreak for Alfa Romeo. After Zhou retired earlier in the race, now it is Bottas being told to retire his car. Both are out of the Grand Prix by Lap 41.

The team is currently three points behind AlphaTauri in the Constructors’ standings, thanks to results in the F1 Sprint yesterday. With Tsunoda currently chasing points, this is not what Alfa Romeo wanted to see.

Update 1:19: Red Bull must have told Verstappen about the lap from Norris, because the race leader responded with a big lap to claim the fastest lap of the day right back.

Update 1:18: We are now over halfway through the São Paulo Grand Prix.

Here is the current top ten:

Verstappen
Norris
Alonso
Pérez
Stroll
Sainz
Hamilton
Russell
Gasly
Tsunoda

Update 1:17: Norris has just posted the fastest lap of the day.

Sainz gets by Hamilton, and gets into P6.

Update 1:16: Alonso is now just over one second ahead of Pérez in P3. The Red Bull driver is inching closer and closer to DRS range, and if he gets close enough you can expect him to rocket the RB19 into P3.

Update 1:15: Sainz blows by Russell and into P7. He’ll now look to chase down Hamilton for P6.

Mercedes seems to be struggling today.

Update 1:14: Hamilton reports that he is starting to struggle with the tires.

Update 1:11: 16 drivers are on the track right now, with only three — Sargeant, Hülkenberg, and Piastri — on the soft tires. The other 13 are on mediums.

Update 1:07: Interestingly enough Logan Sargeant is now running in P11, just 1.4 seconds behind Valtteri Bottas for the final spot in the points. Sargeant has opted for a soft-soft start to the Grand Prix, so he’ll likely have one more stop on the day.

Update 1:05: Both Verstappen and Norris pit. Verstappen’s pit stop is 2.2 seconds, while Norris’s is 2.6. They’ll rejoin still at the front of the field.

Both drivers are now on a set of mediums.

Update 1:04: So far this feels a lot like yesterday’s F1 Sprint race: Verstappen and Norris are pulling away from the field, and everyone else is fighting like hell behind them.

Update 1:03: Aston Martin now calls Alonso in, and they make the switch to mediums.

Update 1:02: Russell is told by the team that they are switching to “Plan B.”

So...any guesses?

Update 1:01: But Hamilton cannot hold Pérez off forever, and the Red Bull driver gets by him and into P7.

Zhou has been instructed to retire his Alfa Romeo. That will leave just 16 cars on the track.

Update 12:59: Aston Martin calls Stroll in.

Pérez tries to get by Hamilton at Turn 1, but the Mercedes driver holds him off for now.

Update 12:58: Pérez pits as well to switch to mediums, and comes out just behind Hamilton.

Update 12:57: Hamilton reports a problem with his left front, stating that it is “starting to steer right.”

Something to monitor.

Update 12:56: Mercedes now brings Russell in, and he too switches to the medium compound.

Update 12:54: Mercedes brings Hamilton in and they make the switch to mediums.

Update 12:53: The crowd at Interlagos roars as Pérez gets by Hamilton and into P4.

Update 12:51: Alpine pulls Esteban Ocon into the pits, and he comes back on the mediums. Alfa Romeo does the same with Zhou Guanyu. The two are running in P14 and P15, respectively.

Update 12:47: Pérez gets by Russell.

“We’re still discussing” is the response from the team to Russell after he asked that question below about working together.

Update 12:46: Russell seems to be a bit frustrated right now. He has been trying to stay within DRS range of Hamilton in order to fend off Pèrez behind him, but is wondering what the team’s approach will be:

Update 12:45: Verstappen, Norris, and Alonso have pulled away from the rest of the field a bit. A DRS train has set up between Hamilton in fourth, Russell in fifth, Pérez in sixth, Stroll in seventh, Sainz in eighth, and Gasly in ninth.

Update 12:43: Norris has slipped two seconds behind Verstappen. Either Verstappen is pushing hard, Norris is starting to manage his set of soft tires, or some combination thereof.

Update 12:41: So much for that. Verstappen pulls away from Norris on the lap and Norris falls out of DRS range, so he cannot make a big move at the end of Lap 8 after all.

Update 12:40: Verstappen has Norris all over his rear wing here on Lap 8. Norris will have a great chance to take the lead on the big straight at the end of this lap.

Update 12:39: Norris has just done the fastest lap of the race, and is within DRS range of Verstappen here at the end of Lap 7.

Update 12:36: Verstappen holds onto the lead off the standing restart, with Norris behind him. Alonso gets to the inside of Hamilton at Turn 4, and takes P3 from the Mercedes driver.

Update 12:34: Holds breath

Update 12:32: The second formation lap is underway. Buckle up, because we could see yet more chaos in a few seconds.

Norris has switched to a fresh set of soft tires, so he could put some pressure on Verstappen here in a moment.

Update 12:29: Piastri is in the cockpit of his MCL60 as the team continues to work on the car around him. But this is a positive sign that McLaren has made the necessary repairs for him to take the restart from pit lane.

Update 12:27: An update from AlphaTauri. They have made the necessary repairs to Ricciardo’s AT04 and he will restart the Grand Prix, but because the team had to make those repairs he will have to restart from pit lane:

Update 12:22: In addition, we will get a standing restart so ... perhaps even more chaos.

Update 12:21: Race officials indicate the Grand Prix will resume at 2:31 local time, 12:31 Eastern.

Update 12:19: If you are just joining us, the São Paulo Grand Prix is under a red flag after a chaotic start. Leclerc lost the hydraulics to his SF-23 on the formation lap and crashed into the barrier, knocking him out of the Grand Prix before it began.

Then an opening-lap crash between Albon and Magnussen spread debris all over the track, bringing out the red flag. Other drivers were caught up in the collision including Piastri, and the team is trying to repair Piastri’s MCL60 under the red flag, unsure if he can continue.

Update 12:15: Additional replays show that the impact between Albon and Magnussen spun Magnussen’s Haas into the rear of Piastri, which likely caused the problems with the MCL60 of Piastri.

Update 12:13: Leclerc is out of his car and trying to find his way back to the pits. F1 drivers in the wild or something...

Update 12:09: McLaren will try and repair Piastri’s car under the red flag, so there is a chance he will continue.

Update 12:08: And now Oscar Piastri will retire, as his team tells him that the car is “unsafe” to continue.

Update 12:06: Replays of the starat show how Norris showed absolutely no fear. Alonso in front of him slid to the outside just enough, and the McLaren driver jumped through on the inside to get up into P2.

The red flag is out due to the debris created by the collision between Magnussen and Albon.

Update 12:04: Norris takes advantage of a gap in front of him and jumps into P2. The safety car comes out as well, as there is a collision between Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon.

Update 12:03: Leclerc radios into the team that his SF-23 has suffered a failure. He calls it a hydraulics failure. His day is over before it begins.

Update 12:01: Whoa. Leclerc has gone off the track on the formation lap and into the barrier!

Update 12:00: The formation lap is underway at Interlagos.

Update 11:58: 19 of the 20 drivers are starting out on softs. Only Logan Sargeant is going with a different strategy, as the Williams rookie opts for the mediums:

Update 11:56: This from our friends at UndergroundF1 is absolute perfection:

Update 11:51: Under ten minutes to go. Lots of discussion on F1TV about the start, and whether Charles Leclerc can somehow wrestle the lead away from Max Verstappen at the start and into the first corner, through the chicane.

Update 11:44: Whew. Adds to bucket list

Update 11:32: For those of you wondering about tire strategies, noted F1 journalist Albert Fabrega has you covered here:

Given the degradation issues we have seen this week — and during the F1 Sprint race yesterday — the one-stopper seems like a bridge too far. Expect to see many teams opt for at least a two-stop race, with perhaps some opting for a three-stop approach.