F1 title race: Key questions as Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen combat continues at Sao Paulo GP

System 1’s three-way title race resumes this weekend in Brazil with a distinct McLaren driver on the high of the standings for the primary time in over six months.

And with Pink Bull’s Max Verstappen nonetheless within the hunt towards the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri because the 2025 season enters its decisive closing 5 weeks, we take a look at a number of the newest key questions within the championship race as the strain ramps up…

What is the state of play heading to Brazil?

Twenty race weekends down, 4 nonetheless to go, and the hole on the very high of the Drivers’ Championship is as tight and shut because it has been all season.

Norris’ runaway win in Mexico noticed him exchange Piastri on the head of the standings for the primary time since April however the distinction between the McLaren team-mates on the summit stays completely slender at simply ONE POINT.

The spectre of a Verstappen title comeback continues to loom over the McLaren duo too.

From 104 factors behind following the Dutch Grand Prix on the finish of August, Pink Bull’s reigning four-time champion has acquired his deficit right down to 36 factors due to positive aspects in every of the final 5 race weekends. That’s the narrowest hole Verstappen has needed to the lead since after the Monaco GP in Might.

So who’s now the favorite?

The bookmakers’ pre-season championship favorite has been restored because the favorite heading to Brazil.

Norris’ reclaimed standing within the factors standings is mirrored within the newest odds, with the Briton topping the betting forward of Piastri and Verstappen, though there stays little to decide on between the three of them.

What number of factors are left?

A most of 116 factors can be found to a driver over the season’s closing 4 occasions – grand prix weekends in Sao Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

That could be a complete of 100 throughout the 4 major Sunday grands prix (25 for every race win) and 16 throughout the season’s closing two sprints (eight for a dash win), which occur in Brazil this Saturday after which Qatar on November 29.

Does Piastri have a solution to Norris’ surge?

Arguably the largest query across the championship battle heading to Sao Paulo is whether or not Piastri can instantly reply to seeing his 189-day run on the high of the Drivers’ Championship ended by a dominant Norris in Mexico Metropolis.

Piastri has gone 5 races with no victory – and, arguably extra concerningly for the Australian, 4 races with out even a podium – and has not completed in entrance of both Norris or Verstappen since successful the Dutch Grand Prix on August 31, when he opened up what seemed to be a commanding 34-point title lead.

It was his unusually-large tempo deficit seen to Norris on the final two occasions – which in qualifying stood at 0.283s in Austin and 0.588s in Mexico – which the Australian might be trying to urgently handle.

The low-grip, slidy nature of each the Circuit of The Americas and Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was cited by McLaren crew principal Andrea Stella as requiring a driving type which is “not necessarily the way in which Oscar feels naturally that he is producing lap time” with the crew working with him, within the phrases of Piastri, so as to add “some tools to the toolbox” to get extra out of the MCL39 in such circumstances.

The problem of Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit is totally different, which ought to assist Piastri’s bid to get again to his finest kind, though the observe’s bumpiness and the excessive probability of a minimum of some rain means drivers require loads of confidence of their automotive’s dealing with too.

Piastri can actually take coronary heart from his kind within the dry initially of final 12 months’s Brazil weekend, when he beat Norris to dash pole earlier than letting his then-title-chasing team-mate previous to say the Saturday win.

Brazil to point out whether or not Verstappen is really within the combat?

The query of whether or not the 15 factors Verstappen gained for his preventing third place in Mexico amid a difficult few days for Pink Bull transform a ‘good’ 15 factors for his outdoors championship bid or not will maybe be answered as quickly as this weekend.

With the RB21 actually not as aggressive in excessive altitude because it had been in Austin the week earlier than, when Verstappen comfortably received, crew and driver might be hoping to be again competing for victory at Interlagos a 12 months on from his gorgeous wet-weather win from seventeenth on the grid there.

Pre-race championship chief Piastri’s struggles final day trip meant Verstappen once more moved nearer to the standings’ summit however this time his acquire was a mere 4 factors – which the Dutchman acknowledged was not sufficient.

“As I said before the weekend, everything needs to go perfect to win,” stated the four-time world champion. “And this weekend didn’t go perfect. So that’s your answer. I think it’s going to be tough, but let’s see what we can do in other tracks.”

Verstappen now should outscore each McLaren drivers by a median of 9 factors at every of the remaining 4 race weekends to turn out to be champion for the fifth time. That’s one level fewer than the distinction between first and third place in a grand prix, which means he realistically must return to successful methods and hope Ferrari and Mercedes can get drivers between him and the McLarens.

A troublesome ask, certainly.

So with additional factors on provide for the dash in Sao Paulo, Verstappen is aware of he actually wants “perfection” on weekends like this if he’s to actually have any practical title shot over the season’s closing month.

Does any driver/automotive have apparent edge for closing tracks?

Attempting to foretell which automotive or which driver the remaining tracks on the calendar are more likely to favour with any specific confidence is fraught with issue, even for the protagonists themselves.

As Piastri stated in Mexico: “For me, it’s difficult to predict who’s going to be strong where. I think if anything, it’s more about who maximises their car each weekend rather than whose car suits different things.”

However is there a lot to glean from previous latest priority and normal automotive traits?

Effectively, Sao Paulo’s undulating Interlagos circuit is actually one the place McLaren anticipate to go effectively. They have been dominant within the dry final 12 months earlier than Verstappen spectacularly turned issues on their head in a moist race that all-but sealed his fourth successive drivers’ crown.

Rain is anticipated to be an element once more this 12 months, whereas the character of the dash weekend with its single observe session locations an significance on early momentum in a weekend.

Las Vegas has proved a bogey observe for McLaren in its two years on the calendar with the crew but to qualify or end increased than sixth on The Strip Circuit. Though it was little higher for Verstappen final 12 months (fifth) a 12 months on from successful the inaugural occasion, with Mercedes dominant amid cool night circumstances.

On McLaren’s probabilities, Stella stated: “Las Vegas, if anything, has proven to be a challenge for McLaren overall. Last year we were not competitive. We needed to learn something, if anything, during the race, just to try and make some changes to see if we could stop the graining.

“This 12 months the tyres, they do grain a lot lower than final 12 months, so it may very well be a barely totally different Vegas from this perspective. Will probably be fascinating to see. I feel for Lando and Oscar, there is not any downside by way of observe format coming within the subsequent 4 races.”

If Vegas nonetheless proves one in all McLaren’s more difficult circuits, then Qatar and Abu Dhabi ought to play extra to the MCL39’s strengths, though Pink Bull will really feel cause for optimism too.

Qatar was the one dry race Verstappen received within the closing 5 months of 2024, whereas Norris was the victor in Abu Dhabi final 12 months to finish a run of 4 consecutive Verstappen victories on the observe.

Are we heading for a final-race Abu Dhabi showdown?

With just one level in it on the high of the standings, what we all know for certain is that the combat is certainly occurring to a minimum of the primary leg of the triple-header that closes out the season – and nearly actually past.

The Las Vegas GP on November 23 is the earliest issues may very well be theoretically determined at this level however that’s unlikely within the excessive given Norris would want to take most factors from Brazil and Vegas (58 factors) with Piastri and Verstappen scoring completely none to offer him an unassailable lead of 59 factors.

The title race is probably going subsequently all-but assured to nonetheless be on going into the season’s penultimate spherical in Qatar – the ultimate dash occasion – on November 28-30.

A driver would then be champion in the event that they completed the Lusail weekend a minimum of 26 factors (or 25 factors on countback if assured to complete the season with most race wins) clear on the high.

Something lower than that and the battle for the crown goes to the wire in Abu Dhabi on December 7, which it has not executed since Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton’s duel was infamously settled there in 2021.

System 1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a Dash weekend on the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from this Friday, dwell on Sky Sports activities F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime