Norris Tops São Paulo FP1 as McLaren Debuts the Weekend's Only Upgrades

Lando Norris, last year's winner at Interlagos, set the pace in Friday's first practice for the São Paulo Grand Prix. He waited until the final 20 minutes of the hour to go quickest, and his 1:11.717 put him 0.082 seconds ahead of Kimi Antonelli, racing for the first time as world champion. Max Verstappen was third, Lewis Hamilton fourth for Ferrari and George Russell fifth, 0.386 seconds off Norris.

The McLaren Norris drove was not the one that finished in Mexico. The team's FIA submission for this weekend lists four new or revised parts: a front wing, a rear wing, a beam wing and changes to the floor. No other team declared any new components for São Paulo. Not Mercedes, not Ferrari, not Red Bull, and none of the other seven teams either, which makes McLaren's package the only technical story of the weekend.

What McLaren brought

Each of the four parts has a stated job:

• Front wing: a new concept aimed at conditioning the airflow it sends towards the floor and bodywork, which is where most of a modern car's downforce is generated.
• Rear wing and beam wing: designed to work together, improving how the two interact and adding aerodynamic load.
• Floor: detail changes to go with the new airflow coming off the front of the car.

Team principal Andrea Stella had said before the weekend that McLaren would bring updates to both São Paulo and Las Vegas, with the aim of fighting regularly for podiums and, where possible, wins again. Neither McLaren nor outside analysts have put a lap-time figure on the package.

A 2027 part racing in 2026

The front wing is the piece to watch. McLaren's aerodynamics chief Peter Prodromou has said the revised concept is expected to form part of the team's initial 2027 car, and it will race this weekend if it performs as expected.

That is an unusual choice this late in a season, and it is why McLaren's package stands alone in Brazil: the other ten teams brought nothing new. McLaren are doing two jobs at once: using the last four races as a test bench for a 2027 idea, while still racing for results with it. Every lap the new wing runs on track in São Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi is data the team won't have to wait for in pre-season testing.

source: McLaren

Will it make the car easier to drive?

Norris himself wasn't promising anything before the weekend. Speaking in Mexico, he said he was unsure the new parts would make the car any easier to handle, and that it was possible they would make it harder; his job, he said, was to describe what he was feeling and where the car was difficult. One fast practice lap, set on a Friday with fuel loads and programmes nobody else can see, is not a verdict either way.

What is clear is that McLaren needed something. After winning the 2025 drivers' title with Norris, the team arrived in Brazil fourth in the constructors' championship, 17 points behind Red Bull in third. With four rounds left, that gap is very much catchable, and a car that is genuinely quicker over the last month would settle it.

The rest of the weekend

Interlagos has been good to Norris: he won here last year on his way to the title. This year the championship is already decided, so his and Oscar Piastri's weekend is about the fight with Red Bull, and about finding out whether McLaren's 2027 direction works. Mercedes, meanwhile, can seal the constructors' title on Sunday, and Russell starts five places down after an engine change.

Grand Circle is not affiliated with Formula 1, the FIA or any team.

Sources and further reading

• Formula 1: FP1 report, Norris leads Antonelli and Verstappen in São Paulo
• Racer: Technical updates, 2026 São Paulo Grand Prix
• RacingNews365: McLaren unleash latest F1 upgrades in rare São Paulo GP situation
• Grande Prêmio: Norris doubts McLaren's São Paulo GP upgrades will make the car easier to drive
• Crash.net: Lando Norris sets Brazil GP first practice pace in upgraded McLaren
• Grande Prêmio: McLaren confirms upgrades for São Paulo GP