How can Lando Norris seal the F1 2025 title at the Qatar Grand Prix?

Lando Norris remains in a healthy position in the Drivers’ Championship standings, so here is a look at how he can seal the title at the Qtar Grand Prix.

Even though the gap has narrowed between himself and the chasing pack in Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, the Briton is the only driver who can secure the title at Lusail this weekend.

F1 title permutations: How Lando Norris can seal glory in the Qatar GP

The most important and easiest part of the title race to remember is that, if Norris outscores both Piastri and Verstappen by two points come the end of Sunday’s race, he will be crowned champion.

Likewise, if Piastri and Verstappen equal or better Norris’ results at the Lusail International Circuit, the title race will head to a decider in Abu Dhabi.

While Verstappen secured the 2023 World Championship in the Sprint in Qatar, that will not be possible for Norris this time around, due to the points still available.

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Title complications if Verstappen or Piastri go 25 points behind

Because of the final Sprint of the season taking place in Qatar this weekend, this is where the picture becomes slightly trickier mathematically – specifically if Norris outscores Piastri and/or Verstappen by one point by the end of Sunday.

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 would put him 25 points behind the McLaren driver with one race remaining.

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.

If Verstappen does not win and Norris moves one point further clear, even in the subsequent event of Norris finishing outside the points and a Verstappen victory in Abu Dhabi, he would move level on points and race wins, but Norris would remain ahead by virtue of having earned three more second place finishes this year.

For Piastri, because he is currently level on race wins for the season with his teammate, 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.

In this case, Piastri would sit 25 points behind in Abu Dhabi, meaning a subsequent Piastri win and point-less score for Norris would see the Australian win the title on countback.

While this hopefully clears up the specifics of what would happen if at least one driver is 25 points behind with one race to go, the key figure for Norris is that, if he is 26 points clear at the end of the weekend, he becomes champion.

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

Source: PlanetF1 · Published on 25 Nov 2025, 12:00