A chaotic afternoon at Interlagos
Mercedes are Formula 1 constructors’ champions again. The Mercedes 2026 F1 constructors championship was sealed at the São Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday 8 November, as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli finished fourth and fifth in a rain-hit race won by McLaren’s Lando Norris. It is the team’s ninth constructors’ title, and its first since 2021 — ending a five-year wait that began when Red Bull took over at the top of the sport.
The race itself was everything Interlagos is famous for: a wet start, a drying track, slick tyres, spins, and a late downpour that turned the final laps into a survival test. Norris held his nerve through it all, but the day belonged to Mercedes, who arrived in Brazil needing only to outscore Ferrari by three points and left with the championship wrapped up with three rounds still to run.
Both Mercedes drivers spun during the race and still brought home the points their team needed — a fitting summary of a season in which the Silver Arrows have been fast, and resilient, when it mattered most.
Norris wins Sao Paulo GP as Verstappen charges from 21st
Norris started from pole but lost the lead before the first corner, as the newly crowned world champion Antonelli swept past him and Liam Lawson also moved ahead, dropping the McLaren driver to third. Norris recovered, retook the lead when Antonelli spun at Turn 1 on lap 20, and controlled the race from there, winning in 1 hour 35 minutes 23.504 seconds. It was his third win of the season, his second in a row, and the 14th of his career.
Behind him, Max Verstappen produced the drive of the day. The Red Bull driver started 21st on the grid and carved through the field to finish second, just 14.602 seconds behind Norris — a climb of 19 places. His team-mate Isack Hadjar completed a Red Bull double podium in third, 24.485 seconds back, in one of the finest results of his young career.
Russell finished fourth, 33.991 seconds behind the winner, with Antonelli fifth, 36.017 seconds back. Oscar Piastri took sixth for McLaren, 56.475 seconds behind his team-mate, after a quiet recovery drive from a disappointing qualifying.
How Mercedes sealed the title
The maths before the race was simple: Mercedes needed to outscore Ferrari by three points, and Ferrari’s drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, started at the back of the grid after engine penalties. That left the door wide open, but Mercedes still had to finish the job — and for much of the afternoon, it looked anything but straightforward.
Russell spun at the pit exit after switching to soft tyres on a drying track, losing a large chunk of time as he gathered the car up in the narrow pit lane exit. Antonelli, who had looked on course for victory after his flying start, spun at Turn 1 on lap 20 and dropped out of the lead, then picked up a five-second penalty for an unsafe release in the pit lane. The penalty did not cost him his position — he was nearly 20 seconds clear of Piastri behind him — and fifth place, added to the Russell fourth Sao Paulo GP finish, was more than enough.
The result leaves Mercedes on 652 points to Ferrari’s 510, a lead of 142 points with only 129 left to score across the final three rounds. The Mercedes 2026 F1 constructors championship is therefore beyond doubt, sealed at the first opportunity after a season in which the team has won 12 grands prix and stood on the podium 24 times.
A ninth title — and a championship double
This Mercedes ninth constructors title draws the team level with Williams on the sport’s all-time list, behind only McLaren on 10 and Ferrari on 16. It is the team’s first constructors’ title since the eighth of their dominant 2014–2021 run, and it completes a championship double: Antonelli clinched the drivers’ title at the Mexican Grand Prix a week earlier, becoming the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history.
Team principal Toto Wolff, who has now tied Frank Williams’ managerial record, was already looking beyond the celebrations, telling reporters his focus had shifted to preparations for 2027. That is the mark of how Mercedes see this title — not as the end of a journey, but as the start of a new era under Formula 1’s sweeping technical regulations.
For Antonelli, the double is a remarkable first chapter. The 20-year-old Italian won the drivers’ crown in only his second season, and the Mercedes 2026 F1 constructors championship makes him part of the first team to win both titles in the same year since Red Bull in 2023. Like Kimi Antonelli youngest F1 champion triumph in Mexico, this title underlines how completely the balance of power in Formula 1 has shifted in 2026.
What happens next
The season is not over. Three rounds remain, starting with the Las Vegas Grand Prix on 21 November, followed by the final two races of the year. The drivers’ championship is decided, but the fight for second place is still live: Verstappen is now 17 points clear of Russell in that battle, with Russell third on 262 points, and Norris’s back-to-back wins have kept him firmly in the mix for the runner-up spot.
Mercedes, meanwhile, can enjoy the rest of the season without pressure. The team that dominated Formula 1 for eight straight years, then spent five seasons rebuilding, is back on top — and with the youngest champion in the sport’s history leading its line-up, the rest of the grid will be wondering how long this second era of Silver Arrows dominance might last.
The Mercedes 2026 F1 constructors championship was won the hard way, in the rain, with both cars spinning and still scoring. That, more than the points table, is what the rest of the paddock will remember from São Paulo.
Sources: Formula 1; Crash.net.
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