São Paulo Grand Prix 2026: Formula 1 Weekend Guide to Interlagos

The Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix, which many fans still call the Brazilian Grand Prix or the Brazil GP, runs at Interlagos on 6 to 8 November 2026. It is Round 20 of 23, without a sprint this year. Lights go out at 14:00 local time in São Paulo on Sunday 8 November, which is 17:00 UTC, 17:00 in the UK, 18:00 in Central Europe and 12:00 US Eastern. The promoter's advice is to come by train, on an R$35 return express to a station that opens only for the race. Americans, Canadians and Australians need an e-visa, and one consulate quotes about ten working days to process it. Fans arriving from the Mexico City race on 1 November, covered in our Mexico City Grand Prix guide, move their clocks three hours forward.

Formula 1 at Interlagos: session times, gates and the Fanzone

Times are São Paulo time (UTC-3), with UTC in brackets. Formula 1's São Paulo Grand Prix page can show them in your own time zone or in track time.

• Friday 6 November: Practice 1 at 12:30 (15:30), Practice 2 at 16:00 (19:00)
• Saturday 7 November: Practice 3 at 11:30 (14:30), Qualifying at 15:00 (18:00)
• Sunday 8 November: Grand Prix at 14:00 (17:00)

Gates open at 08:00 each day for the circuit and the Fanzone, on the promoter's schedule, which may change without notice. Eventim's FAQ says they close for entry at 15:00, an hour before Friday's Practice 2 and just as Saturday's qualifying starts. On Sunday, the promoter lists the F4 and Porsche support races from 09:00 (Formula 1's timetable says 08:50) and the drivers' parade at 12:00.

The Grand Prix runs 71 laps of the 4.309 km, 15-corner circuit, anticlockwise and at about 800 m above sea level. The city reported a record 2025 crowd of 303,627, based on a study by FGV.

The Fanzone is at the Kartódromo Ayrton Senna, beside the circuit, and the promoter lists it as included with grandstands G, H, R and Porto Bank. A Fanzone-only ticket costs R$620 for three days (R$310 half price) and does not admit you to the circuit. João Gomes and Matuê play on Friday, Paralamas do Sucesso on Saturday and IZA on Sunday.

Tickets: the only official seller and what is left

The promoter's site, f1saopaulo.com.br, calls itself the only official site and says Eventim sells the tickets exclusively. The site tickets.gp, run by TicketsGP s.r.o. of Brno, heads its Brazil page "Official", but its footer says it "is unofficial and is not associated in any way with the Formula 1 companies". It lists Grandstand D at 1,379 EUR, and stands that are not on sale in 2026.

Every ticket covers all three days. These are Eventim's 2026 full prices, with the promoter's descriptions:

Sector	View and notes	Covered	Price (R$)
G	End of the back straight	No	990
A	Curve into the main straight, pit entry	No	1,590
R	Curva do Sol, start of the back straight	Yes	2,150
Porto Bank	Porto Bank card holders only	Yes	2,500
H	Between the Senna S and Curva do Sol	Yes	2,850 or 2,950
M	Main straight and pits, numbered seats	Yes	3,550
D	Senna S, food included	Yes	4,680
B	Grid and podium, numbered seats, food and open bar	Yes	5,290

Sector H is R$2,950 in Eventim's FAQ and R$2,850 in the promoter's October price list. Heineken Village costs R$2,480 (lawn) or R$4,960 (Star), and hospitality clubs cost up to R$20,900. The promoter lists no pit lane walk for general tickets, while its Grand Prix Club includes visits to the F1 garages on all three days. Taxes are included, and Eventim adds service and delivery fees in the cart without publishing the amount.

At the time of writing, every grandstand, Heineken Village and hospitality link on Eventim's São Paulo Grand Prix page opened a page reading "essa página não está disponível" (this page is not available). The Formula 1 store, which sells a few products, still offered a three-day Heineken Village ticket from 678.03 EUR, but listed Premium Grandstand D as sold out and single-day options as "not available". The box office beside Gate 7 sells from 30 October "caso haja disponibilidade", if tickets remain.

Half price (meia-entrada) covers students, people aged 60 and over, disabled visitors and a companion, low-income people aged 15 to 29 and children aged 5 to under 12, except in food-included sectors. Proof is checked online and at the gate each day, with no refund if it fails. Students and low-income young people must show Brazilian documents, while people aged 60 and over may prove their age with a passport. The rules do not address foreign visitors directly. Children under 5 are not admitted, those aged 5 to 11 need a parent or guardian with them, and Heineken Village is 18+.

Tickets come as a PDF or in the Eventim app, where the QR code goes live at midnight on 6 November. Premium and VIP tickets are collected at the Gate 7 box office from 30 October with the pickup code and the card used to pay, and foreign buyers may show a passport as ID. Full-price tickets may be given away and app tickets transferred once, free, until 5 November, but resale is banned and resold tickets are cancelled. Purchases can be cancelled within 7 days, before delivery, and a cancelled race rolls tickets over to 2027 with no cash refund.

At the gate: no liquids, no big bags, one entry a day

Each ticket allows one entry a day, so anyone who leaves cannot return until the next day. Your gate is printed on the ticket and in the purchase confirmation email, as the promoter's FAQ says. The ticket terms and Eventim's FAQ ban:

• liquids of any kind, plastic bottles included
• umbrellas and parasols
• any bag, backpack or suitcase larger than 25 x 25 x 25 cm that will not fit between your feet
• professional cameras, selfie sticks and drones
• flags larger than 2 x 1.5 m, and flagpoles

Free drinking water is provided inside, and up to three sealed food items are allowed. Food and drink are paid only with the prepaid Cashless card, valid for all three days. The promoter's cashless page was unavailable at the time of writing, so check the promoter's site before race day for how to load the card and get unused credit back. All grandstands are accessible, and disabled visitors book through the promoter's contact form.

Entering Brazil: the e-visa and who needs it

Brazil's foreign ministry (MRE) publishes a visa table. Under it, citizens of the EU, the UK, Turkey, Russia, the UAE, Qatar, Mexico, Georgia and Argentina may stay up to 90 days without a visa (90 in any 180 for the EU and Georgia), and Argentines may enter with a national ID card. Citizens of Kazakhstan get 30 days, as do Chinese citizens under a temporary exemption from 11 May to 31 December 2026.

Americans, Canadians and Australians have needed a visa again since 10 April 2025: an e-visa for 80.90 USD from the official portal run by VFS Global, with no fast track. Brazil's consulate in Montreal quotes about ten working days, counted from when it receives the file from VFS. That is at least two weeks on the calendar, so an application sent less than two weeks before the flight may not come back in time.

Citizens of Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and India need a consular visa. The Montreal consulate, for one, first validates files on its e-Consular platform and quotes about 30 working days in all. Brazil issues no visas at airports or any other border point.

Brazil's consular guidance asks for a passport valid until you leave, and UK travel advice for six months from arrival. Goods up to 1,000 USD enter duty-free by air, plus 1,000 USD at the arrival duty-free shop, and cash of 10,000 USD or more is declared online on the e-DBV. Check your own case on the MRE table.

Getting there: GRU, the trains and the express to Interlagos

Most long-haul and international flights, including Aeroméxico from Mexico City and LATAM's international services, use Guarulhos (GRU) Terminal 3, while GOL, LATAM's domestic flights and Aerolíneas Argentinas use Terminal 2. From GRU, according to the airport's transport pages, such as its train page:

• Train: the CPTM Expresso Aeroporto to Palmeiras-Barra Funda for R$5.40, or Line 13 Jade, both from Aeroporto-Guarulhos station, a free shuttle ride from the terminals
• Coach: Airport Bus Service to Congonhas, Barra Funda, Tietê and the Avenida Paulista hotels
• Taxi: Guarucoop, the official taxi cooperative
• Ride-hail: Uber, 99 and Rhino at the Praça Pick-Up outside Terminal 2 arrivals; GRU's page does not say where Terminal 3 passengers are picked up

Congonhas (CGH) is domestic only, and its Line 17 monorail, free during its transitional operation, runs to Morumbi from Monday to Saturday, 06:00 to 22:00, but not on Sundays.

Regular Line 9 Esmeralda trains reach Autódromo station for R$5.40, from 04:00 to midnight, with interchanges at Pinheiros (Line 4) and Santo Amaro (Line 5), so a base near either keeps the circuit one train away.

The Expresso GPSP 2026 from ViaMobilidade, Line 9's operator, costs R$35 for a same-day return, paid by Pix or credit card. It runs from Villa Lobos-Jaguaré hourly and Pinheiros every 30 minutes, via Morumbi-Claro, to Cidade Dutra, an event-only station. The booking page lists morning departures for each date. Return trains need no booking: 15:00, 15:30, 19:30 and 20:00 on Friday, and every 30 minutes from 16:30 to 20:00 on Saturday and Sunday, so the last express back leaves at 20:00 each day. Anyone staying for Friday's Practice 2 waits for the 19:30. The same ticket also covers regular Line 9 trains from Autódromo, which run until midnight, as ViaMobilidade allows. From Cidade Dutra it is about 700 m (10 minutes) to Grandstand G, the Fanzone and Porto Bank, 1 km to H and R, 1.6 km to D and M, 1.8 km to B, 2.2 km to A and 2.7 km (37 minutes) to Heineken Village.

The promoter's directions page says more information is coming soon. In 2025 the city's race-weekend plan added special buses, taxi bays and ride-hail points, and the promoter said the circuit had no parking. The 2026 plan was unpublished at the time of writing, so check the promoter's and the city's sites before race day.

Weather, money and the basics

INMET's long-term November averages for São Paulo are a high of 26.9 °C and a low of 17.3 °C, with 143.9 mm of rain over 11 rainy days. Rain has shaped several races here and pushed 2024 qualifying to Sunday morning, so with umbrellas banned, pack a rain jacket.

Pay in Brazilian reais (BRL). Pix, the local instant payment system, generally cannot be used by a visitor without a Brazilian account. Inside the circuit, food and drink are paid only with the Cashless card, and merchandise in cash or by card. São Paulo is on UTC-3, and Brazil has not used summer time since 2019. UK travel advice says thieves target mobile phones, particularly between 16:00 and 21:00.

Staying connected over the Formula 1 weekend: why a Donesim eSIM fits

Tickets, train times and the route home all sit on your phone, and neither the promoter nor the circuit has published anything about Wi-Fi or mobile coverage at Interlagos for 2026.

Anatel describes the standard online activation of a prepaid line as CPF-based (the CPF is Brazil's tax number), and operators sell separate products for visitors. Vivo's Tourist Plan is an eSIM with 25 GB, 300 minutes and 100 SMS for R$55 over 30 days, delivered by email, installable before arrival, paid by credit card (not every brand) and activated within 15 days of purchase. According to trade press, Claro sells foreign visitors a Flex Pass eSIM in its app, paid with an international card, from R$44.90 for 20 GB, with calls and SMS. TIM sells physical SIMs in its stores to visitors with a passport. GRU's official shop directory lists no operator store. Its one SIM-related entry is an electronics shop on the Terminal 3 departures level, open 06:00 to 23:00, and the listing does not say what it sells. GRU and Congonhas both have free Wi-Fi.

Home plans charge these rates for roaming in Brazil:

• US: 12 USD a day on AT&T and on Verizon; on T-Mobile, check your plan
• UK: 8 GBP per 24 hours for 500 MB on EE, 8 GBP a day on Vodafone pay monthly
• Germany: 9.99 EUR per 24 hours for 500 MB on Vodafone
• Spain: 12.10 EUR per MB on Movistar without a bundle, up to a 60.50 EUR monthly limit
• Portugal: 20 EUR for 20 GB over 15 days of use on MEO
• Argentina: ARS 15,000 for 5 GB over up to 15 days on Personal
• Australia: 10 AUD a day on Telstra
• Turkey: 600 TL a day on Turkcell
• Azerbaijan: 25 AZN for 2 GB over 10 days on Azercell
• Mexico: check your plan with Telcel or AT&T México

You buy and install a Donesim plan at home, in one checkout that asks for an email address and payment, not a passport number. Your home SIM stays in the phone with your number on it, and data works once you switch on roaming for the eSIM line after landing. If your home plan receives texts abroad, bank and ticket codes still reach that number, though your carrier may charge for calls and texts on it. WhatsApp, Uber, 99 and Google Maps are not blocked in Brazil, and WhatsApp keeps your own number while its messages and calls use the eSIM's data.

At the time of writing, Donesim's 3 GB over 15 days costs 7.32 USD, a race weekend of data for less than one day of roaming on AT&T, Verizon, EE or Vodafone UK. 5 GB over 30 days costs 12.20 USD. You can also compare every Brazil plan on a page that lists Claro, TIM and Vivo among its networks. It is a data-only plan with no Brazilian number, calls or SMS, and Donesim cannot currently renew or extend it in place, so choose a size that covers the whole trip.

Set up your eSIM before you fly

1. Look your phone up on our compatibility list, and make sure it is not carrier-locked.
2. Buy and install over home Wi-Fi one or two days before departure. Donesim's page says a plan "may begin when it is provisioned, installed, activated, or first connected", which makes weeks ahead too early. Our install walkthrough has the steps.
3. Sign in to the Eventim app before you fly, and check on the morning of 6 November that your ticket's QR code shows before you leave for the train.
4. Buy the Expresso GPSP ticket ahead on ViaMobilidade's site. Its terms list a CPF among the sign-up details and do not say whether a passport works, so keep the regular Line 9 train to Autódromo as your fallback. Reach the station 30 minutes before your train, as ViaMobilidade asks.
5. On arrival, switch data roaming on for the eSIM line alone, leaving the home line for SMS codes.
6. Pack a power bank, and drink at the free water points, since nothing liquid gets in.

The next round is in Las Vegas on 19 to 21 November, and fans travelling on can find our United States eSIM plans.

Frequently asked questions

What time is the São Paulo Grand Prix in my time zone?

Lights out is at 17:00 UTC, which is 09:00 US Pacific and 11:00 in Mexico City, and Formula 1's race page can show every session in your own time zone. The timetable gives the race two hours, for 71 laps or 120 minutes.

Is the Brazilian Grand Prix a sprint weekend in 2026?

No. Interlagos held a sprint every year from 2021 to 2025, and the promoter says it returns in 2027.

How do I get to the Interlagos circuit?

By train on Line 9 Esmeralda. Regular trains stop at Autódromo station, and on race days the R$35 Expresso GPSP runs from Villa Lobos-Jaguaré and Pinheiros to Cidade Dutra, a station opened for the event and a walk of 10 to 37 minutes from the gates, depending on your sector.

Do Americans need a visa for Brazil?

Yes, an e-visa, which the Boston consulate says is valid for ten years for US citizens. The Miami consulate also asks for two free visa pages in the passport.