Ferrari’s Sao Paulo weekend yields lowest points haul since Italian Grand Prix
NXTbets Pro | Published On: November 9, 2026
Ferrari’s lowest haul
Ferrari left Interlagos with its lowest-scoring weekend since the Italian Grand Prix after a difficult Sao Paulo Grand Prix that exposed the team to grid penalties, tire wear and changing track conditions. Tire temperature problems hurt Ferrari more than any other issue. Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took 10-place grid penalties for power unit changes, and Hamilton’s weekend got worse when an FP3 engine issue forced another power unit change before qualifying. Leclerc still put the car fourth on the grid, but the penalty dropped him to 14th at the start. Hamilton began from 20th and had the longest climb ahead of him. The penalties left both drivers with too much ground to make up.
Leclerc and Hamilton
Hamilton made the first move. He gained 11 places on the opening lap and briefly ran as high as ninth, which gave Ferrari a short-lived lift after his last-place start. The progress did not last. Hamilton struggled on both intermediate and slick tires, and he finished ninth, one lap behind winner Lando Norris. Leclerc had a different path through the field. He recovered to seventh on the road in the rain, then a five-second post-race penalty for minor contact with Liam Lawson dropped him to eighth. That left Ferrari with both cars in the points, but neither result matched the grid position Leclerc had earned or the recovery Hamilton had begun on the opening lap. Leclerc and Hamilton both said Ferrari still had a lot to learn from the race, and both described its performance as horrendous and a complete disaster.
Vasseur’s verdict
Team principal Fred Vasseur gave a blunt assessment of why Ferrari fell short. He said the team was “nowhere” when the tires were not in the right window, a problem that fit the story of the weekend. Vasseur also pointed to top-speed limitations and the difficulty of starting from the back, two issues that shaped how Ferrari had to approach the race after the penalties. That combination left the team fighting from compromised grid spots while trying to manage tire temperatures. Leclerc’s recovery to eighth and Hamilton’s ninth-place finish kept the team from leaving empty-handed, yet the points total still marked a low point for Ferrari compared with the rest of its season. The drivers’ harsh description of the performance matched Vasseur’s view that the car had nowhere to hide when the tires and track conditions worked against it.
