São PauloGrand Prix

Stats and Facts of Interlagos

The Autódromo José Carlos Pace is the fourth-shortest track on the 2025 F1 calendar at just 4.309km long, only behind Monaco, Zandvoort and Mexico.

The São Paulo Grand Prix venue is situated 800m above sea level, the second-highest altitude on the F1 calendar behind Mexico City (which sits at 2,300m above sea level).

There is 1.2 kilometres of driving at full throttle between the exit of Turn 12 and the braking zone for Turn One, with an elevation change of 33 metres.

The biggest difference in elevation is from the start/finish straight to Turn 4 where there is a 40-metre drop in elevation.

History at Every Turn

Sao Paulo’s most famous son, three-time world champion Ayrton Senna, won his home Grand Prix twice – in 1991 and 1993.

In total, five Brazilians have won in their homeland. Like Senna, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, and Felipe Massa have two wins each, while Carlos Pace – after whom the track is named – triumphed in 1975.

Four drivers have recorded their maiden F1 win in Brazil. Those drivers are Pace (1975), Rene Arnoux (1980), Giancarlo Fisichella (2003), and George (2022).

Fisichella’s win for Jordan in 2003 came after atrocious conditions and a crash for Fernando Alonso caused an early end to the race.

Victory was initially awarded to Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren, but Fisichella was declared the winner on countback two weeks later.

The world champion has been crowned in São Paulo on six occasions. Fernando Alonso sealed his first title in 2005, while the Spaniard sealed back-to-back championships a year later in 2006 – in what was at the time the final race in the career of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

Kimi Raikkonen ended Ferrari’s title drought in 2007, pipping the McLaren duo of Hamilton and Alonso at the final hurdle.

A year later, Hamilton would snatch the title away from local hero Felipe Massa by overtaking Toyota’s Timo Glock at the final corner as a heavy rain shower threw the final laps of the season into chaos.

Brawn GP’s fairytale 2009 season was capped at Interlagos when Jenson Button secured his one and only world title, and three years later a gutsy recovery drive from Sebastian Vettel earned the young German his third consecutive crown, edging out Ferrari and Alonso.

For much of the mid 2000s, no track on the planet witnessed as much drama, joy and heartbreak over a Grand Prix weekend as Interlagos.

Silver Arrows in São Paulo

The team has achieved six wins in São Paulo and scored three in a row between 2014 and 2016, the first two with Nico and the latter with Lewis.

Lewis triumphed again in 2018 – result which sealed our fifth consecutive Constructors’ championship title – and then again in 2021, storming through the field from the back row in Saturday’s Sprint to P5, and then from P10 to P1 on race day after another five-place grid drop for the Grand Prix.

George collected his maiden F1 win at Interlagos in 2022 in W13, a day after also crossing the line P1 in the Sprint.

Mercedes-Benz Power has the joint-most wins in Brazil along with Ferrari (11).

In addition to the wins for the Silver Arrows above there were also triumphs for Mika Hakkinen in 1998 and 1999, David Coulthard in 2001, Juan Pablo Montoya in 2005, and Jenson Button in 2012 – all with McLaren.

The 2012 race was also the last in F1 for Michael Schumacher, whose illustrious career in the sport ended behind the wheel of a W03 at Interlagos.

Did You Know?

Up to and including 2025, Interlagos is the only circuit to have hosted an F1 Sprint race weekend every season since the shortened format was introduced in 2021.

The team have taken victory on Saturday in São Paulo twice, in 2022 with George and 2021 with Valtteri.