Interlagos was the venue for the last stage of the 2026 World Endurance Championship season. From July 10 to 12, the world’s premier long-distance racing category was in Brazil for the 6 Hours of São Paulo, and the big winner of the race was Kevin Magnussen alongside his teammates Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor in the BMW #15.
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The José Carlos Pace Circuit is already well known to the Danish competitor, who for many years competed in the São Paulo GP of Formula 1 in the country. In fact, in the 2022 season, he achieved the memorable pole position for the Sprint race for Haas, a moment much celebrated by the driver and team – and also by the fans, who chanted Magnussen’s name in the stands.
Over the years, countless names who competed in F1 had the chance to return to Interlagos to race in different grids, both national like Stock Car and NASCAR Brazil, and international like, for example, the WEC. And not only that, despite not triumphing in the main category of world motorsport, they found the ultimate glory in these other championships.
Below, we list some drivers who did not win at Interlagos in Formula 1, but triumphed in other categories:
Alexander Würz – WEC in 2012
In the first edition of the World Endurance Championship in São Paulo, a driver with a Formula 1 background stood on the top step of the podium. The Austrian had three Brazilian GPs on his record with a fourth place as his best result, but it was in the WEC that he found glory at the circuit in the southern zone of São Paulo. Racing with Nicolas Lapierre aboard a Toyota, he won in the debut of the long-distance category in the country.
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Nelson Piquet Jr – Stock Car in 2020
Nelsinho spent a season and a half in the world’s premier motorsport category and had only one opportunity to race at Interlagos, back in 2008, when he ended up retiring from the race. Years later, more precisely in 2020, after starting from second place in Stock Car, already in his third year as a full member of the Brazilian championship grid, he fought an exciting battle against Cesar Ramos to be the first to cross the finish line and thus triumph for the first time after 45 races contested in the field.
Antônio Pizzonia – Porsche Endurance in 2021
The Brazilian had the opportunity to compete in 20 GPs in F1 between 2003 and 2005, never in a full season. In his occasional races, he had two appearances in Brazil, but both ended in retirement. Then, throughout his career, he had new races at Interlagos, but it was in 2021 that his star shone, as in the long-distance stage of the Porsche Cup in the GT3 3.8 class, he joined Alan Hellmeister and Nelson Monteiro to bring victory to car #87.
Brendon Hartley and Sébastien Buemi – WEC in 2024
The victory at the 6 Hours of São Paulo of the 2024 World Endurance Championship had a double dose of ex-F1 drivers – and the most interesting thing is that they are two drivers who were part of the Red Bull ecosystem. Buemi raced for three seasons at Toro Rosso, while Hartley completed a full championship for the same team years later, but the duo’s paths crossed only in the WEC. Then, in 2024, together with Ryo Hirakawa – who today acts as reserve and test driver for Haas, but was also with McLaren – the three won in São Paulo driving the Toyota #8.
Rubens Barrichello – NASCAR Brazil in 2025
Rubinho, as he is affectionately known, is the second driver with the most starts in F1 history, with 11 wins, 68 podiums, 14 poles, but never had the best luck racing at home – he contested 19 GPs, achieved a third place in 2004 with Ferrari as his best result, but suffered no less than 11 retirements throughout his career. But destiny smiled on him in his first year in NASCAR Brazil, when he achieved no less than two wins in a single weekend at the São Paulo circuit in May 2025 – to be fair, the competitor had already triumphed in a distant past at the José Carlos Pace Circuit, in 1990 in a South American Formula 3 event.
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