During the Las Vegas GP, Lando Norris was comfortably cruising towards his maiden World Drivers’ Championship (WDC) as he held a significant gap over both his rivals, and based on the preliminary results, he had secured second position, putting him 42 points ahead of Max Verstappen.
After the race, a bizarre twist came when both McLaren drivers were disqualified due to the plank’s thickness, which is required to be 9 millimeters (mm). However, both McLaren cars were found to be below that standard.
This was a huge setback for Lando Norris, with all his points wiped out. Now, despite all this, can Norris still secure the title during the Qatar GP weekend?
Below are all the possible scenarios that are favourable to Norris.
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1: Norris needs to score just two more points than his rivals throughout the Weekend
Lando Norris is 24 points ahead of both championship rivals, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, with 32 points still available, including the Sprint and Feature races. The simplest scenario for Norris is to extend his overall lead to 26 points, which means he needs to score just two more points than both rivals.
If he manages to do that, even if Verstappen or Piastri win in Abu Dhabi and Norris does not score, he will still win the championship.
2: Norris wins in Qatar with a point lead against both
If Norris isn’t able to secure a two-point advantage, he will need a race win in the Gulf country and an advantage of at least one point. With this, if either Piastri or Verstappen wins in Abu Dhabi and points are equalized between all three, the Briton will win based on having the most races won.
3: What if Norris doesn’t win in Qatar but still has a point lead?
If Norris manages to gain a point lead but cannot secure it in Qatar, he will have to wait for the penultimate race in the Emirati capital.
Norris must win in Abu Dhabi because if either Piastri or Verstappen wins, they will take the championship based on having more wins than Norris.
4: Complex Countback Scenarios (Final-Race Decider)
If the points gap is tiny after Qatar and Norris did not win the Qatar GP, then:
A Piastri Abu Dhabi win
Piastri becomes champion (more wins)
A Verstappen Abu Dhabi win
Verstappen becomes champion (more wins)
A Norris Abu Dhabi win
Norris becomes champion (points + wins)
All tied on points without Norris winning in Abu Dhabi
Norris loses on countback (fewer wins)
Final race becomes a straight shootout based on both points and the countback rule.
