- F1
Follow live F1 updates from round 23 at the Lusail International Circuit as the title contenders go for sprint pole
Kieran JacksonFormula 1 CorrespondentFriday 28 November 2025 17:52 GMTComments
Close'I'm pretty used to it': Lando Norris ahead of Qatar GP with 2025 F1 title at stake
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F1 next heads to Qatar for the penultimate race of the 2025 F1 season - and the final sprint weekend of the year - with the drivers’ championship title race fully reignited following the dramatic end to the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Lando Norris, currently leading the drivers’ standings, thought he’d extended the gap on teammate Oscar Piastri thanks to a second-place finish in Vegas, only for both McLaren cars to be disqualified for excessive skid plank wear on both cars, with the minimum thickness falling below the 9mm threshold allowed.
That means Max Verstappen, who triumphed in Vegas, has closed the deficit on Norris to just 24 points and will be targeting a fifth world title over the final two races of the year. Piastri and Verstappen are level on points behind Norris, and with 33 points up for grabs in Lusail this weekend, the season could yet face another dramatic twist.
Norris is still the favourite to win the title and could seal the title, sprint race dependent, with a victory in the grand prix on Sunday. Two second-place finishes in Qatar and Abu Dhabi would also be enough for the Briton, but anything less opens the door for Verstappen and teammate Piastri.
Follow live coverage of the Qatar Grand Prix with The Independent
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F1 QATAR GRAND PRIX - LATEST UPDATES
- The penultimate round of the 2025 season takes place this weekend in Qatar
- OUT! Lewis Hamilton only P18 in sprint qualifying
- Lando Norris leads the world championship by 24 points to Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri
- Oscar Piastri quickest in FP1; Norris 2nd; Verstappen 6th
- PREVIEW: How Max Verstappen clawed back 104-point deficit in F1 title race over just seven races
SQ2 underway!
We get going with the second phase of qualifying while replays show Max Verstappen and Lando Norris getting involved in some games on their push laps, the fine margins between impeding and not impeding.
Fun stuff!
Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:51Lewis Hamilton on team radio:
“Ah man, the car won’t go any faster.”
Gut-wrenching for the veteran, whose poor season goes from bad to worse...
Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:45Lewis Hamilton out in SQ1
Gosh, Lewis.
Kimi Antonelli knocks Hamilton out of sprint qualifying - only 18th fastest for the Ferrari driver!
Bottom-five and out in SQ1 (16-20): Stroll, Lawson, Hamilton, Gasly, Colapinto
Charles Leclerc was only 13th-fastest too... Top-3: Verstappen, Alonso, Piastri
(Getty Images)Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:44Lewis Hamilton in drop zone
Work to do for Hamilton, who is 16th,
Both Mercedes cars, bizarrely, are 19th and 20th - think they haven’t set a proper hot lap yet!
Current bottom-five (16-20): Hamilton, Gasly, Colapinto, Antonelli, Russell
3:00 to go in SQ1..
Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:39McLaren one-two
Norris P1, two-tenths ahead of Piastri in P2.
Lewis Hamilton, it should be said at this stage, third-bottom.
6:00 to go in SQ1...
Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:36Isack Hadjar first early on
Laps just building now, with Hadjar ahead of Alex Albon and Max Verstappen in third.
Plenty still to set their laps now...
Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:35SQ1 underway!
Big old queue in the pit-lane as we get underway with sprint qualifying.
A reminder: 12 minutes this first session where the whole field will be fitted with mandatory medium tyres.
It’s quick, it’s rapid, and it’s go-time!
Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:31Sprint qualifying in 5 mins:
It’s the first of four competitive sessions this weekend then - and who will make the first statement of the Qatar Grand Prix?
Lando Norris leads the championship by 24 points and he can take his first step towards winning it this Sunday with a pole position for tomorrow’s 19-lap sprint.
But can Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen claim a pole of their own? And what about Mercedes and Ferrari - can they get in the mix?
The quickfire sprint qualifying is coming right up!
(PA Wire)Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:25When can Lando Norris win the 2025 F1 world championship?
By the end of the final sprint race of the year at the penultimate round in Qatar, Piastri and Verstappen would need to be within 50 points of Norris to stand a mathematical chance of catching him. With a maximum of eight points in the sprint, Norris now can’t win the title in the Qatar sprint race. The worst situation for both chasing drivers is a deficit of 32 points.
Therefore, the earliest Norris can win the title is the Grand Prix in Qatar on Sunday 30 November.
A points advantage of more than 25 points by the end of the Qatar Grand Prix would see him win the title with one race to spare. Put simply: If Norris outscores Piastri and Verstappen by two or more points in Qatar, over both the Sprint and Grand Prix, he will become world champion.
Lando Norris (Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:20F1 driver standings with two races left:
1. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 390 points
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 366 points
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 366 points
4. George Russell (Mercedes) – 294 points
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 226 points
6. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) – 152 points
7. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) – 137 points
8. Alex Albon (Williams) – 73 points
9. Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) – 51 points
10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) - 49 points
11. Carlos Sainz (Williams) – 48 points
12. Ollie Bearman (Haas) – 41 points
13. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) – 40 points
14. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) – 36 points
15. Esteban Ocon (Haas) – 32 points
16. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – 32 points
17. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) – 28 points
18. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) – 22 points
19. Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) – 19 points
20. Franco Colapinto (Alpine) – 0 points
21. Jack Doohan (Alpine) – 0 points
Kieran Jackson28 November 2025 17:15Newer1 / 5OlderMore about
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