Brazil was F1's real 2025 finale – Going Up, Going Down

It’s remarkable. Hold a race at a half-decent track, and the sport comes to life.

Overtaking, collisions and tricky conditions were all part of the mix in Brazil, showing you why the old circuits are the best.

It’s a crying shame that F1 now has such a dire traditional championship run-in calendar on poor tracks, in locations with both questionable racing heritage and levels of attendance.

It felt like Brazil was the final hurrah for F1 2025, rather than what’s to come.

Still, as they say, that’s racing!

Classic tracks – Going Up

You were grateful to be watching modern F1 beasts roaring round Interlagos, a natural bowl that almost always offers great competition. It helped that the DRS line on the main straight was in the perfect place. Not too early, neither too late.

To round off the season, we’ve got the Vegas layout (just a bit weird) plus Qatar and Abu Dhabi (utterly terrible).

Oscar Patchy – Going Down

Piastri’s low grip travails continued, similarly struggling at Austin and Mexico, where a lot of sliding is the norm. Ironically he went off on a wet patch on Saturday, when a lot of his issues had been caused by Interlagos cutting grooves into parts of the track to help with drainage (a knock-on effect being those sections offer less grip).

The Aussie’s been good at Qatar before though, getting a pole there previously at the ’23 sprint. Can he fight back?

Otherwise Piastri could go for the kind of banal record Crofty loves to quote on Sky commentary – he’s on for scoring four fifth places in a row in Vegas…

Primal Scream – Going Up

Hadjar screamed his way to eighth. Almost literally. Entertaining.

Feeling the pressure 😮‍💨

Isack Hadjar put in a good performance at Interlagos to secure P8 🔐#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/plKxiQZ7k4

— Formula 1 (@F1) November 10, 2025

Quirky launch – Going Up

Red Bull’s 2026 car and driver unveiling event takes a strange turn.

Coming of age – Going Down

Hamilton did that classic ‘veteran racing driver getting on a bit’ gaffe (see Räikkönen at Portugal 2021 and Schumacher in Spain 2012) in Brazil, by completely misjudging his closing speed and biffing into Franco Colapinto apropos of nothing.

Feels like things get worse every weekend for the Brit currently.

F1 safety – Going Up

Gabriel Bortoleto tested the strength of his Sauber from all angles in Brazil, on both Saturday and Sunday.

The snot-green speed machine came up trumps in from both impacts, and the Brazilian walked away. Incredible.

A minha visão da arquibancada D da batida do bortoleto foi a coisa mais assustadora que eu já vi pic.twitter.com/tVmha0d84t

— BigFelps|-/ (@FelipeIstefanix) November 8, 2025

Esteban all at sea – Going Down

Haas man Ollie Bearman stole the limelight again. Is the Brit now the lead Banbury driver?