Lando Norris can win the first F1 drivers’ championship of his career on Sunday at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Norris and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri were dealt a significant setback last weekend at the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, when they were both disqualified hours after the race ended.
It added a dramatic twist to what has been a tense and captivating championship, and allowed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to edge closer to them as he pursues a fifth consecutive title.
With two races left to run, the championship is tantalizingly poised.
While Piastri won the Qatar sprint race on Saturday, Norris could still seal the deal in Qatar with a race win on Sunday.
What are the current standings?
Norris remains the favourite, although what had looked like a comfortable 30-point lead over Piastri and a 42-point lead over Verstappen pre-double DQ was whittled down to a 24-point lead over both drivers coming into Qatar.
That was reduced even further when Piastri won the sprint race on Saturday to reduce the deficit by 2 points to 22. Verstappen stands 3 behind Piastri and 25 behind Norris.
After all three drivers scored points in the Qatar sprint race, this is how they stack up heading into Sunday’s grand prix:
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Norris – 396 points
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Piastri – 374 points
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Verstappen – 371 points
How can Lando Norris win F1 title at Qatar Grand Prix?
Only Norris can win the championship in Qatar given his title lead and he’s the only one guaranteed to still be in contention in Abu Dhabi regardless of what happens this weekend.
F1 has 50 points available from the remaining two events.
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Norris can win the title at Qatar with a race victory on Sunday. He must outscore Piastri by four points, and Verstappen by 25.
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OR by finishing second ahead of Verstappen, with Piastri not on the podium.
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Barring a major setback, if Norris did not win in Qatar, he would still take a championship lead to Abu Dhabi.
For Verstappen to keep his chances alive in Abu Dhabi, he must be 24 points or less behind Norris.
25 would go to a tie-break scenario — tiebreakers are done on a countback system. If drivers who tie on points have the same amount of wins, second-place finishes are used, and so on and so forth until one driver has more than the other.
Piastri could afford to go into Abu Dhabi with 25 points difference since he and Norris share the same number of wins (eight) and victory in Abu Dhabi would make nine.
F1’s sprint race hands points out as 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 to the top eight finishers, while a grand prix hands points out as 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4–2-1 to the top 10.
Who’s in the best form?
Norris has been F1’s most in-form driver down the stretch, with podiums in Singapore and Austin followed by lauded back-to-back wins in Mexico and Brazil. Despite the DQ in Las Vegas, Norris was still on good form throughout the weekend with a pole position.
Verstappen’s form since the summer break has also been remarkable, with four wins from the eight races after F1’s resumption post-August. In that run of races, he finished on the podium at the four he did not win.
Verstappen’s run has been down to a number of reasons, with Red Bull’s upgrade at the Italian Grand Prix credited with making the car competitive again, although the season has underlined just how good the four-time world champion is.
A fifth championship this year would likely go down as one of the greatest in F1’s history given how far back he was — after the Dutch Grand Prix he was 104 points adrift of Piastri, who at the time led the title fight.
Piastri, meanwhile has struggled in recent races. His previous GP win at Zandvoort on Aug. 31 appeared to be a major moment, opening up a 34-point lead after teammate Norris retired with car trouble.
Piastri had since relinquished that championship lead and has not finished a race ahead of Norris since the Dutch GP. However, since arriving in Qatar, he has led all four sessions so far, and took his third career sprint win, all of them at Qatar.
Piastri starts on pole for Sunday’s grand prix, with Norris second and Verstappen third.
Additional reporting by Nate Saunders.
