Lando Norris Wins Brazilian F1 GP, How Can Max Verstappen Win 2025 Driver's Title?

Lando Norris took another step toward claiming the Formula One drivers' championship with a win Sunday in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos in São Paulo.

This was his seventh checkered flag of 2025.

Norris got a further boost thanks to where his biggest title challengers wound up. Max Verstappen claimed a spot on the podium in third, while Oscar Piastri had to settle for fifth.

It wasn't a wire-to-wire triumph for Norris, who claimed the pole in qualifying. He spent the bulk of the race in first, though, and had a straightforward closing run to the finish line.

Verstappen fell back to fourth with a pit stop on Lap 55, with the Red Bull team gambling that fresher tires would serve him better down the final stretch.

Inside the final 10 laps, Verstappen passed George Russell for third place and mounted a charge on Antonelli. His biggest problem, however, was that Norris maintained a healthy gap atop the leaderboard, one he didn't surrender.

Entering Sunday, 39 points separated Norris from Verstappen in third place. Mad Max's quest for a fifth straight world championship encountered another hurdle in qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix as he exited in the Q1 portion.

That locked Verstappen into the 16th position of the starting grid, though F1 officials made him start from pit lane after the Red Bull team made numerous changes to his car.

The 28-year-old had a blunt assessment of his championship hopes, telling reporters to "forget about" him overtaking Norris.

Considering Verstappen went from P17 to the top of the podium in São Paulo last year, fans probably weren't as quick to write him off. True to form, he steadily worked his way into first place with fewer than 20 laps remaining.

All things considered, third place is an incredible showing. Still, time is not on Verstappen's side.

Only three more races remain in the 2025 season: the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Qatar Grand Prix and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Nothing is final until Norris has the championship mathematically sewn up. One stroke of bad luck in Las Vegas could throw the three-way battle between he, Piastri and Verstappen into disarray.

Absent a complete disaster over the next month, it's Norris championship to lose.