How Max Verstappen Can Beat Lando Norris And Win The F1 Championship Heading Into Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

For the first time in a decade and a half, Formula One will have three contenders - Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri - for the World Drivers' Championship heading into the final race of the season.

This came after Verstappen's brilliant race at the Qatar Grand Prix, where the Dutchman started from P3 to win the race, ahead of his title rivals Piastri, who finished P2 and Norris, who finished P4.

Thanks to the win, coupled with Norris' fourth-placed finish, Verstappen is now only 12 points away from the McLaren driver heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

How Can Verstappen Win The WDC?

While Verstappen's chances of winning the title race still remains slim, it is not impossible.

A 12-point deficit heading into the final race means Verstappen's best chance of securing the title will be to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and hope for Norris to finish much lower.

In fact, Norris must finish P4 or below if Verstappen is to win the championship, provided the Dutchman wins the race.

Piastri is also involved in the race. If Norris finishes P6 or below, Piastri has a chance of winning the title by securing the grand prix victory.

If Norris finishes outside the points or gets DNF, Verstappen must secure at least secure a podium and finish ahead of Piastri to win the championship. The same goes for Piastri, except he will have to finish at least in second place.

Norris, therefore, requires a podium in order to guarantee his victory without relying on the results of other drivers.

That is where things get interesting, if Norris does find himself in a position where he is struggling to secure a podium finish, with Max winning the race, McLaren could enforce team orders on Piastri, asking him to give the position to his teammate, thereby gifting the Brit driver a free position.

Permutations and combinations heading into Abu Dhabi. (Photo generated by NotebookLM)

Meanwhile, the two Mercedes drivers - George Russell and Kimi Antonelli - will be keener on fighting Verstappen than the two McLarens, as the Silver Arrows are directly involved in a battle for the second-placed finish in the contructors' championship with Red Bull.

Only Ferrari, therefore, can form some sort of impedement for Norris, but the Prancing Horse's car has not been competitive in recent races, with Charles Leclerc notably finish P12 in Qatar while Lewis Hamilton finished P14.

Safe to say, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be a treat to watch for a neutral F1 fan.