As it always tends to, Interlagos delivered one of the best races of the season on Sunday, with Lando Norris conquering constantly changing conditions and the chaos those conditions caused on track to reign supreme in Brazil.
Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar joined him on the podium, while Mercedes too had cause for celebration as they sealed the Constructors' Championship a week after Kimi Antonelli claimed the drivers' title.
These are Finley Crebolder's main takeaways from the race:
Norris shows he was worthy champion too
Since becoming a world champion last week, Antonelli has received universal praise, being widely dubbed a generational talent who is undoubtedly a worthy title-winner.
Norris never received such acclaim when he prevailed last year, but in his first race since being replaced as the reigning champion, he showed that he was very much a worthy one, too.
The McLaren man produced one of his best drives ever to claim a second consecutive win at Interlagos. Granted, it was a spin from Antonelli that gave him back the lead after his poor start, but such was his pace, he most likely would have retaken it either way, and after he did, he was another level to the rest of the field.
Listen to Flashscore News!
Selected editorial stories, including this article, are also available as audio. Listen and follow on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
In conditions so tricky that Antonelli, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell all spun out at some point, Norris didn't make a single error and had consistently stronger pace than anyone. Verstappen is a master of changing conditions and a master of Interlagos, but he never once looked like closing the gap to the leader after getting into second.
That battle - or lack thereof - with the Dutchman in particular showed just how far Norris has come in the last few years. At the same track in 2024, the Brit's title hopes ended after he was beaten by the Red Bull driver despite the fact that he started on pole and his rival started from the back of the grid, but this time around, he kept his cool and saw off the threat with ease.
I stand by my claim in this column a few weeks ago that, unlike the very best, Norris is someone who needs the best car on the grid to win a title, but I also have zero doubts he's good enough to become a world champion again in such a car, and that's an achievement in itself.
Mercedes seal double with helping hand from Ferrari
Despite the fact that both of their drivers suffered spins, Mercedes still sealed the Constructors' Championship on Sunday, thanks in no small part to Ferrari.
In one of their cars, Charles Leclerc struggled throughout the race and then threw away two points by getting a penalty for a clumsy overtake on Liam Lawson. In the other, Hamilton looked to be in with a real chance of beating at least one Mercedes driver when he opted to stay out one lap too long as rain returned, and spun as a result.
The disappointing result can't be put solely down to driver error, though, with perhaps the biggest mishap being the team failing to make it clear to Hamilton at that crossover point that the rain was about to get heavier, making him think that it was best to disobey their orders and stay out.
Before that, they'd cost him a lot of time by telling him to return a place to Oliver Bearman that they thought he gained illegally, before the FIA determined that his overtake had been fair.
Those errors came just a week after the team managed to throw away a victory in Mexico, where Leclerc caused both him and Hamilton to be passed by Verstappen with an aggressive opening-lap attack on his teammate before the team then didn't instruct the Monegasque to let the Brit past, costing the latter any chance of winning.
Sure, Mercedes had a better car more often than not and didn't have to deal with the problem of their drivers getting in each other's way thanks to Antonelli's dominance over Russell, but the battle for the team title should've still been a much tighter one.
Even if Ferrari build the best car on the grid for 2027, and even though they have the most talented driver lineup, it's hard to see them finally ending their 19-year wait for a title if they don't improve their race strategy and driver management considerably.
Lawson deserves place on the grid
Leclerc's loss was Lawson's gain as the Ferrari driver's penalty moved him up to seventh, in what was one of many excellent drives that he's delivered recently. He made a stunning start, climbing up to second with an excellent move on Norris, and didn't put a foot wrong after that, only losing places to faster cars.
He's now scored points in each of the last five races, taking his tally to 15 top-10 finishes this season and his points total to 89. Not only is that more points than any other midfield driver, but it's also more than any other midfield team. His performances alone have been enough to get Racing Bulls fifth in the standings.
I have to admit that I thought his days in F1 were numbered after Red Bull dropped him after just two races last season, but the 24-year-old has bounced back from that disappointment incredibly well, becoming one of the most consistent and quick drivers in the midfield.
And yet, it still might not be enough.
Red Bull typically prefer to have two young drivers in their sister team's cars, and have indeed been planning for 19-year-old Nikola Tsolov to replace Lawson as fellow teenager Arvid Lindblad's teammate next season. That would leave Lawson without a place on the grid, which would be nothing short of a travesty.
In a fair world, his recent performances would have convinced Red Bull to change their plans or another team to give him a seat for next season. However, the world of F1 - where one driver has a permanent spot on the grid despite performing poorly for years because his father owns the team - typically isn't such a world.
Let's just hope that this is a rare occasion where that isn't the case.
Finley Crebolder has been a news editor for Flashscore since 2023. His specialist areas are Dutch football, Formula 1 and tennis, and being based in London, he can often be found covering sporting events in and around the English capital. You can follow him on X here and read his latest features here.
