Brazilian Grand Prix 2026

São Paulo

When was the track built?

Interlagos was built in the 1940s on hilly land in southern São Paulo, opening in 1940 on a long, sprawling layout that took full advantage of the terrain. Deteriorating surfaces and safety concerns saw it shortened substantially in the early 1990s to roughly the configuration used today, which kept the elevation change and the character while losing much of the length. It remains a compact lap by modern standards, and one of the few anticlockwise circuits in the championship.

When was its first Grand Prix?

The Brazilian Grand Prix first ran at Interlagos as a non-championship event in 1972, joining the world championship in 1973. The race alternated with Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarepagua through the 1980s before returning permanently to São Paulo in 1990. Renamed the São Paulo Grand Prix in recent years, it has produced an outsized share of the sport’s memorable finishes and championship deciders, helped by its late-season slot and famously fickle weather.

What’s the circuit like?

Short, steep and relentlessly good. The lap runs anticlockwise, dropping through the Senna S into a long, loaded left-hander, then out onto a back section before an uphill charge to the line that effectively makes the last corner and the main straight one long overtaking zone. Downforce levels are medium, brakes have an easier time than at most venues, and the sustained left-hand loading works one side of the tyres considerably harder than the other. Overtaking is plentiful by modern standards. The surface is bumpy, the elevation change is severe, and a car that rides the compressions well is worth a lot.

Why go?

Interlagos has the most partisan and most joyful crowd on the calendar, and a compact venue where you can see a genuine chunk of the lap from most seats. November in São Paulo is warm and humid with a high chance of a dramatic afternoon storm, which is part of the appeal given how many races here have been decided by rain. The city is enormous and full of life, the food is excellent, and the racing has a habit of mattering because the round falls near the end of the season.

Where is the best place to watch?

Sector A, the main grandstand area above the start-finish straight, gives you the pit lane, the start and the run down into the Senna S, which is where most passes finish. Sector B on the outside of the Senna S puts you at the heaviest braking point. The Sector M grandstands near the final corner cover the uphill charge and the slipstream battles. Because the venue sits in a natural bowl, even general admission areas offer views across multiple parts of the circuit, which is rare.