Interlagos: six titles in eight years, its best races and what Mercedes need on Sunday

Mercedes can win the constructors' title on Sunday at Interlagos, the circuit that settled six drivers' championships in eight years. Here is what they need, how many titles have been decided there, and our list of the best races, overtakes and defences.

What has to happen in the constructors' title

After Mexico, Mercedes have 630 points and Ferrari 504: a gap of 126 with four races left and no sprints. A team can score at most 43 points per race (first and second), so after Brazil Ferrari could recover 129 at most.

Mercedes only need to outscore Ferrari by three points on Sunday. With a lead of 129, the worst case would be a tie that Ferrari could only force with three one-twos and Mercedes scoring nothing, and the tie-break goes on wins: Mercedes have 12 and Ferrari 2. If Mercedes win and Ferrari score no more than 22, it is done. Red Bull (382) and McLaren (365) can no longer get there. It would be their first constructors' title since 2021.

Behind them, some things are still open. Red Bull and McLaren are 17 points apart for third. And with Antonelli already champion, second in the drivers' standings is a four-way fight: Verstappen 261, Hamilton 259, Russell 250 and Leclerc 245.

Six titles in eight years, and the champion almost never won

Until 2003 Brazil was held early in the season, so it decided nothing. Once it moved to the end of the calendar it became the place where championships ended: between 2005 and 2012, six of eight were settled there.

Only Räikkönen won the race that gave him the title. The others spent the afternoon doing the sums. In the constructors' championship there have been five: Renault in 2006, Ferrari in 2008, Brawn in 2009, Red Bull in 2010 and Mercedes in 2018, the last title of any kind decided there.

Across every edition, at Interlagos and Jacarepaguá, the winner went on to be champion that year in 20 of 52. Schumacher leads at Interlagos with four wins; overall it is Prost with six, five of them in Rio. McLaren have 13 and Ferrari 11. Brazilian drivers have won at home nine times, the last being Massa in 2008.

Of the 42 races at Interlagos, the pole sitter won 19. And the win from furthest back is very recent: Verstappen in 2024, from 17th.

The best races

This part is opinion, and it is ours. 2008 needs no argument: Massa won and was champion for about 38 seconds, until Hamilton passed Glock at the last corner, in the rain with Glock on dry tyres, and took the title by a point.

2012: Bruno Senna hit Vettel on the first lap, he spun and rejoined 22nd with sidepod damage. He recovered to sixth, enough to beat Alonso by three points, in an on-off wet race that finished behind the safety car.

2003 was settled in an office: a red flag after crashes, Räikkönen declared the winner and, days later, the FIA reviewed the lap count and gave the win to Fisichella, who had started eighth in the Jordan. It was the first of his career.

1991 belongs to Senna, his first win at home, with the gearbox stuck in sixth at the end and so exhausted he could hardly lift the trophy. 2024 is Verstappen from 17th, with two Alpines on the podium. And in 2019, with the order shuffled in the final laps, Gasly and Sainz (who started last) took their first podiums.

The best overtakes

Montoya on Schumacher, 2001. In his third F1 race, at the safety car restart, he braked later on the inside and took the lead with contact between them. He led for 36 laps until a backmarker, Jos Verstappen, hit him from behind.

Verstappen in 2016. Aged 19 and in the rain, he went round the outside of Rosberg. Then a late stop dropped him to 16th with 16 laps left and he still finished third.

Hamilton on Verstappen, 2021. Disqualified from qualifying over his DRS and with a five-place engine penalty, he started last in the sprint, finished fifth, started tenth on Sunday and won by more than ten seconds.

Schumacher on Räikkönen, 2006. In what was then his final race, a puncture left him 19th. He came back to fourth, and on the way passed at the first corner the man who was about to replace him at Ferrari.

The best defences

Alonso against Pérez, 2023. They fought over third for lap after lap. Alonso made the final pass on the last lap and then held on to the line by 53 thousandths.

Gasly against Hamilton, 2019. The Toro Rosso against the Mercedes on the run to the line, and he kept second by 62 thousandths. It was his first podium.

Verstappen against Hamilton, 2021. The most disputed on the list: on lap 48 he took both cars off the track at Turn 4 to keep the place, and the stewards did not investigate. Hamilton passed him 11 laps later.

This Sunday there is also a home debutant, Rafael Câmara. You can put your top ten in order in Predict the GP.