Sao Paulo Grand Prix: Hamilton-Leclerc problem, Red Bull, McLaren and Qatar-Abu Dhabi deadline looming
The Formula 1 season continues with the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, serving as a precursor to the 2027 championship battle. While the drivers' title is decided, teams are competing for the constructors' championship amidst internal tensions at Ferrari.
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Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Charles Leclerc trails Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton by 14 points in the drivers' championship
F1 Correspondent Published 6 November 2026 The drivers' title is sewn up, and the constructors' may well be on Sunday, but Formula 1 marches restlessly, relentlessly on.
This weekend's Sao Paulo Grand Prix is in many ways the first page of the first chapter of the next championship battle.
New world champion Kimi Antonelli says he sees the final races of the season as preparation to defend his title in 2027, and his vanquished Mercedes team-mate George Russell is working on understanding where things went wrong, with the aim of putting them right.
The team's main target this weekend is securing the three points more than Ferrari they need to lock away the constructors' championship, to underline their return to the form they showed for so long in the 2010s.
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