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Lando Norris took pole at Interlagos in the wet and again in the dry. We measured both laps. The difference is 13.894 seconds and half the throttle.
Lando Norris took pole at Interlagos in 2024 in the wet, and again in 2025 in the dry. The gap between those two laps is 13.894 seconds.
That is a rare thing in Formula 1: a genuine like-for-like measurement of what rain costs. Same driver, same circuit, one year apart. We pulled both laps from the car telemetry.
| 2025, dry | 2024, wet |
|---|
| Pole lap | 1:09.511 | 1:23.405 |
| Average lap speed | 217.8 km/h | 182.2 km/h |
| Highest speed on the lap | 336 km/h | 308 km/h |
| Full throttle | 58.8% | 34.3% |
| Slowest point | 85 km/h | 71 km/h |
| Tyres in the session | 296 soft, 20 medium | 263 full wet, 159 intermediate |
Rain cost 35.6 km/h of average speed and cut full throttle from 58.8% to 34.3%. In the wet, Norris was on the power for barely a third of the lap. In the dry, nearly six tenths of it.
The tyre row is there to make the comparison honest. The 2024 session was fully wet, with 263 laps on full wets and 159 on intermediates and not a single slick run. It was not a damp track that dried out; it was a wet session from start to finish.
That is why we do not use the 2024 number anywhere else on this site as Interlagos's speed. The circuit's real figure is the 2025 one: 217.8 km/h.
At 217.8 km/h it is quicker than most people assume. Our measurements across the calendar:
It clears COTA and Baku despite being one of the shortest laps in Formula 1 at 4.205 km. The full ranking is in the fastest F1 circuits.
The reason is the layout. Interlagos has only six braking events, fewer than any other circuit we have measured, against ten at Singapore and COTA. It is a short lap that keeps flowing, with a long climb from the final corner all the way through the start line and into Turn 1.
Every other circuit in this series is a one-stop. Interlagos is not.
| Year | Laps | Mean stops per driver | Most common | Safety cars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 71 | 1.90 | 2 | 2 |
| 2024 | 69 | 2.00 | 2 | 3 |
Two stops is the most common strategy in both years, and both races produced multiple safety cars, three of them in the wet 2024 edition. Against a 2026 season average of 2.05 stops per driver, Interlagos runs right at the top rather than at the bottom.
That combination, a short lap that flows, plus safety cars, plus a genuine two-stop, is why Brazil so often produces the best race of the season. Our season-wide numbers are in how many pit stops in an F1 race.
Sao Paulo in November sits at the start of the wet season, and the circuit is on a hill with its own microclimate. Rain arriving mid-session is not unusual here, it is close to expected.
The measurement at the top of this page is what makes that matter. A wet Interlagos is not slightly slower, it is 13.894 seconds a lap slower, and it changes which parts of the car matter. When full throttle drops from 58.8% to 34.3%, engine performance stops deciding the lap and traction and driver confidence take over. That is why wet races at Interlagos produce results that dry ones do not.
The current cars carry roughly 30% less downforce than the ones that set the laps above, measured in are F1 cars getting faster.
At a circuit with only six braking events and a lot of sustained cornering load, that should cost more than it does at a stop-start track. And in the wet, where downforce matters most and grip is scarcest, the gap between a confident driver and a cautious one should widen further.
The Sao Paulo Grand Prix is round 20 of the 2026 season, on 8 November.
The Formula Dream app runs a live Dashboard through every session: every car on the circuit map, and a timing tower with lap times, gaps and intervals, tyre compound and age, plus flag and safety car alerts as race control calls them. At the one circuit on this list that reliably produces two stops and multiple safety cars, tyre compound and age is the column that tells you what is about to happen. You also get live driver radio as it is broadcast, which in Brazil is where the rain calls get made, and every FIA document of the weekend as it is published.
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At Interlagos, 13.894 seconds a lap. Lando Norris took pole in the wet in 2024 with a 1:23.405 and in the dry in 2025 with a 1:09.511, at the same circuit. Average speed fell from 217.8 km/h to 182.2, and full throttle from 58.8% to 34.3%.
4.205 km on the racing line, measured from telemetry on the 2025 pole lap. It is one of the shortest circuits in Formula 1, and the race is 71 laps.
Yes, more than its reputation suggests. The 2025 pole lap averaged 217.8 km/h, quicker than COTA at 211.4 and Baku at 211.3, because it has only six braking events, fewer than any other circuit we have measured.
Two. It is the only circuit in our measured series where two stops is the most common strategy, with a mean of 1.90 per driver in 2025 and 2.00 in 2024.
A short flowing lap, a hillside microclimate at the start of the wet season, and a two-stop strategy. Both of the last two races produced multiple safety cars, three of them in the wet 2024 edition.
Losing DRS was supposed to kill overtaking. Across nine dry circuits raced in both seasons, on-track position changes fell by 3.9%. That is all.
