There was huge excitement and anticipation after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with the disqualification of both McLaren cars moving Max Verstappen closer to the championship lead and adding to the changes of a final racing showdown.
I must admit I was one of those energized by the idea of a three-way battle in Abu Dhabi and the added danger injected into the Qatar race weekend as Formula 1 tackles a brutal triple header to end the season. I also have to admit that I probably got a little carried away at first, because in reality Lando Norris had – and still has – a huge chance to become world champion here on Sunday evening.
Norris completed the first part of his task and secured third place in the sprint. A place in the top seven would have been enough, because those points guarantee that the title remains entirely in their own hands this weekend. Win the Qatar Grand Prix and Norris is champion.
I was lucky enough to interview Norris as he walked to his car before the sprint, and asked him about those permutations and the fact that he didn’t have to go to the front in the shorter race to have a chance at the title. The pause he took before responding felt like an eternity, as if he were calculating the scenario before putting it out of his mind again, declaring that he was solely focused on making a good start – an attitude that Norris maintains as he sits in second place on Sunday and needs one spot to guarantee himself the championship.
“The long road to Turn 1 is a good opportunity for everyone to gain or lose positions,” said Norris. “Apart from that, I think it’s going to be a pretty boring and simple race.
“[My approach is] the same as every day. I’m second, so at the moment I don’t have a full chance of winning, but I’m just focusing on trying to get a good start. That’s all.”
We’ve seen plenty of exciting Turn 1 scenarios, but it doesn’t happen often between teammates with the trailing side starting from pole and an invader on row two. Steven Tee/Getty Images
Oscar Piastri has also done the first part of the work he needs to do and is the driver Norris needs to overtake if he wants to win.
Piastri went into the weekend 24 points behind and is seemingly the biggest outsider in the title picture, having not achieved a top-three finish in any race or sprint since the end of the European season. He hasn’t beaten Norris in any session since Zandvoort and the momentum didn’t seem to be on his side.
Yet he seemed comfortable with the McLaren from the start of FP1, turning sprint pole into a third consecutive sprint victory at the Lusail circuit before following it up with his first pole since late August.
“Everything felt great all weekend,” Piastri said. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. It was really good. The team did a great job. Had a little question mark about which tires to use because I did a fast lap in Q2 on the used set, and that threw a spanner in the works because we didn’t expect it to be that good. But Q3 was really good on the new set, so very happy.”
“I’ll do my best, starting from the best place. Try to do some more of what I did today in the Sprint and see what we can do.”
Like Norris, Piastri knows that the most crucial part of the race will probably be the first ten seconds: the launch with which he steps off the line to try to maintain his lead into Turn 1.
“I think the start is probably the most important thing I need to get right tomorrow. I think we saw it today with clean air, it’s a huge advantage here. With the stint lengths I think it’s going to be a pretty fast race, so that’s probably the most important thing we need to get right. Still, a lot can happen.”
Perhaps the 360-degree perspective that Norris needs to take plays into Piastri’s hands – not just figuratively as the championship leader who arguably has the most to lose, but literally with the cars directly in front and behind him.
Norris’s teammate is the carrot he sees dangling in front of him, just one car to go to become world champion. However, Max Verstappen looms large in his mirrors, who must beat Norris to take his own title hopes to the final round.
“We will try everything we can,” said Verstappen. “Start, turn 1, all laps…”
Row two. Never forget the tenacity behind McLaren’s front row exclusion. He’s always there. Clive Mason/Getty Images
Perhaps a typical Verstappen answer, in which he tries to respond bluntly and directly to the importance of the opening corner, but you know that the defending champion will not give up without a fight at any stage of the race. Although Verstappen appears to have a more competitive car after improvements since Friday, he is also fully aware that the opening round offers his best chance to beat Norris and keep his title ambitions alive.
“It will be tough,” said the Dutchman. “I mean, in the Sprint I tried it too, but then we just fall into that window where we’re just struggling a lot with the tires and it seems like we can’t really keep up. Also in the last laps of Oscar in the Sprint I have to take a corner for that, so it might be a little bit better, but it will be tough, I think. Let’s see. It’s a long race. Anything can happen.”
“You never know what’s going to happen in the race. Today the Sprint was quite boring, I would say, because you just can’t follow – the tires overheat. Plus, with all those fast corners and a lot of grip too, it’s just super difficult to get close.”
“Tomorrow there will be a lot more fuel in the car. The start is important, but you never know. It can also be influenced by other cars in the race that can ruin your own race. It is impossible to say now that tomorrow will be boring.”
No one says it will be boring. The tension of the situation, the tires requiring a maximum stint length and the track limits that can lead to penalties all mean that the drivers are unlikely to be able to relax at any point.
But there is a good chance that the first lap will determine the race, and therefore also the championship.
#twist #break #title #decider #RACER