The Brazilian Grand Prix just never disappoints, does it?
This year's edition may not have been quite as chaotic as previous ones, with there being less rain and fewer crashes, but thanks to some truly great drives, it was a thriller nonetheless.
As so often seems to be the case with races at Interlagos, it may also be one that's looked back on as season-defining, with perfection from Lando Norris and another disappointing weekend from Oscar Piastri giving the former a championship lead of 24 points with three races to go.
Here are my main takeaways from it.
Norris banishes Brazilian demons
The parallels were impossible to ignore. Just like last year, Lando Norris was starting on pole for the Brazilian Grand Prix with title rival Max Verstappen at the back of the grid, giving the Brit the chance to take a huge step towards becoming a world champion.
This time though, Norris took that chance.
A year ago, he was completely dwarfed by heroics from Verstappen, making multiple errors and dropping down the field while the Dutchman stormed to victory.
This time, Verstappen was magical again, but Norris was too good to let it bother him, making no mistakes and showing no signs of stress whatsoever. The contrast couldn't have been starker.
That had been the case in every meaningful session before the main event too, with the McLaren also winning the sprint and securing pole position for both races. He drove like a world champion all weekend and is now on the brink of becoming one as a result.
When he was trailing Piastri earlier this season, it felt like the 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix could go on to epitomise Norris' career in years to come, that of a talented driver who just didn't quite have what it took to beat the best when it mattered most.
Now, this year's edition is more likely to live long in the memory, for serving as confirmation that he does.
Verstappen does it again
The fact that Norris even had to keep his foot down and keep his cool from the first lap to the last on Sunday is a testament to what was yet another sensational drive from Verstappen in Sao Paulo.
In fact, while he may have finished two places lower, this year's performance may have even been better than last year's, if that's possible.
He started in the pit-lane rather than P17; he wasn't helped by rain, red flags and mistakes from others as he was in 2024; and he had to deal with a puncture. And yet, he still finished comfortably inside the top three. That is just mind-blowing.
For most drivers, it would go down as the best performance of their career by quite some distance, but Verstappen has produced two other such performances over the years at Interlagos alone, with it following his masterclasses of 2016 and last year.
Things can get a little boring when there's a driver on the grid so much better than his competitors if they don't have a faster car to balance things out, but it's worth it for days like those.
'The real Kimi' returns in style
After Mercedes confirmed Kimi Antonelli would remain with the team for 2026, team boss Toto Wolff said, "We’re going to see the real Kimi next year.” As it turns out, he was being a little too conservative with that prediction.
While there have been flashes of brilliance, Antonelli hasn't quite done enough in his first 20 races in F1 to justify talk that he's the next Verstappen, but he did in Brazil, finishing ahead of everyone except Norris in both qualifying sessions and both races.
That's a seriously impressive achievement for someone whose teammate is George Russell. As I've said in this column before, I'd put Russell behind only Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in a ranking of the drivers on the grid, so to beat him in four important sessions in a row in the same car is quite something.
So too is staying cool and holding off Verstappen when the Dutchman is producing one of the best drives the sport has ever seen. Precious few 19-year-olds can handle pressure as well as Antonelli did when keeping the Red Bull behind him in the closing stages.
It's obvious that the Italian isn't the finished product, and yet he's still already good enough to produce a weekend like that. That just makes you wonder just how good he can go on to be, and with a rookie season under his belt and a better car underneath him in 2026, it may not be long before we find out.
