This is how Lando Norris can win his first F1 title in Qatar

Norris could take his maiden crown on Sunday, as he tackles the main Losail race with a significant points advantage

Lando Norris could win the Formula 1 title on Sunday in the main race of the Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the 2025 season.

Having finished third in the sprint, Norris will go into the race as the title favourite with 396 points to his name. Team-mate Oscar Piastri, who won the sprint, has collected 374 points so far, with reigning world champion Max Verstappen on 371 after taking fourth place on Saturday.

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This makes the equation rather simple: if Norris is outscored by either driver on Sunday, the title battle will go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi.

For Norris to win the title as early as tomorrow, he needs to maintain his advantage on Verstappen; if they go into the final round with a 25-point difference, Norris will be out of reach, having secured one more victory and three more second places in the event of a tie-breaker.

The Briton also needs to bring the gap to Piastri from 22 points to 26 points; they are level on race wins, so the Australian would be ahead in that metric if he were to triumph in Abu Dhabi and create a tied result.

In other words, if Piastri finishes in the top nine positions, Norris needs to be at least two positions ahead – or one place ahead if Piastri is second.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

In the unlikely event that none of those drivers scores points on Sunday, only Piastri will remain in contention alongside Norris.

Lando Norris will win 2025 F1 title in Qatar if...

Lando Norris	Oscar Piastri	Max Verstappen
1st	2nd or lower	2nd or lower
2nd	4th or lower	3rd or lower
3rd	5th or lower	4th or lower
4th	6th or lower	5th or lower
5th	7th or lower	6th or lower
6th	8th or lower	7th or lower
7th	9th or lower	8th or lower
8th	11th or lower	9th or lower