Lando Norris could win the championship in Qatar this weekend

McLaren

McLaren’s Lando Norris is currently 24 points ahead of both Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen. The point gap was shortened in Las Vegas after Norris was disqualified due to the thickness of the rearmost skid of his car being 0.12mm less than the required thickness.

“A frustrating end to today,” said Norris after losing his podium.

“Nothing I can do will change that now, instead full focus switches to Qatar, where we’ll aim to go out and deliver the best possible performance in every session.” Said Norris after the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

He is the only driver who can secure the title this weekend. The most important part to remember is that if Norris outscores both Piastri and Verstappen by two points in Sunday’s race he will be crowned champion. If Verstappen or Piastri equal or better Norris’ result in Qatar, the title race will head to Abu Dhabi next weekend.

 While Verstappen secured his 2023 championship in the Qatar Sprint race, Norris will be unable to do the same because of the points still available.

Because of the final Sprint of the season taking place in Qatar this weekend the picture gets a bit trickier. For example, if Verstappen finishes without points in the Sprint while Norris wins, a 1-2 finish in Verstappen’s favour in Sunday’s race, that would put him 25 points behind the McLaren driver with one race remaining.

BBC

In this specific scenario, Verstappen would move level on race victories for the season with Norris, so if they then go to Abu Dhabi and Norris finishes without points and Verstappen wins, that would see the Red Bull driver overtake Norris on countback.

In every other scenario of this kind for Verstappen, however, if Norris outscores Verstappen by one point and Verstappen does not win the Qatar Grand Prix, he will be ruled out of the title race.

For Piastri, as he is currently on level wins with his teammate Lando Norris so if Norris scores one more point than Piastri and Norris does not win the Qatar Grand Prix, the Australian will still have a mathematical chance of winning the title, meaning a final-race decider.

If the gap stays at 24 points or lower, we’re heading to a decider in Abu Dhabi.