For the primary time since 2021, the drivers’ championship will drop to no less than the penultimate race of the season, with McLaren’s Lando Norris more likely to win the title on the Qatar Grand Prix.
For the previous three years, the champion has already been determined at this level, ever since this epic season ended with Max Verstappen clinching his first world championship in a closing race showdown with Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen received every time, clinching the 2022 title in Japan with 4 races remaining and wrapping up the 2023 championship earlier than the race wherein Qatar clinched the October slot. Final 12 months’s championship was determined in Verstappen’s favor in Las Vegas, when Norris was the ultimate driver.
This time, Norris arrived in Qatar with a 24-point lead over teammates Oscar Piastri and Verstappen. With Lusail internet hosting one other dash weekend, a complete of 33 factors are at stake, with Norris needing simply two factors forward of his two rivals over the weekend and only one level forward if he wins Sunday’s Grand Prix, incomes him an extra 25 factors in Abu Dhabi.
A high seven end within the dash would assure Norris the championship with a win in the primary race, no matter Piastri and Verstappen’s placement.
Successful the Grand Prix is essential, and a tie on factors would imply neither driver may beat Norris on countback. He’s assured extra wins than Verstappen over the course of the season, and even when Piastri matches his win complete on the finish of the 12 months, Norris will nonetheless be champion resulting from his extra second-place finishes.
For the chasing pair, the equation is easy as effectively. You have to not lose a couple of level to Norris all through the race weekend, and you could not lose any factors if Norris wins on Sunday.
The dash format means Norris can rating 25 factors for the win, but when he would not rating within the dash and Piastri or Verstappen mix for the highest two sprinters (one with eight factors and second with seven) and second place within the Grand Prix on 18 factors, they’re going to both equal Norris’s rating or beat him by one level.
