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After a bruising Las Vegas Grand Prix, where Lando Norris lost the lead to Max Verstappen at the start and finished second before being disqualified for excessive skid-block wear, the championship leader is now looking forward to ‘warm weather, playing some golf and padel’ in Qatar.Norris’ hopes of stretching his advantage ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix at the Lusail International Circuit, and the Abu Dhabi finale the week after, took a heavy hit when both he and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri were disqualified following post-race checks in Las Vegas. Despite the setback, Norris still tops the standings with a 24-point cushion over Piastri and Red Bull’s Verstappen. The title remains his to lose, but the Qatar weekend complicates matters with Sprint race points on offer this Saturday. A total of 58 points remain on the table: 25 each for Qatar and Abu Dhabi, plus eight for winning Saturday’s Sprint. Should Norris end the Qatar GP with a lead of 26 points or more over both Piastri and Verstappen, he will seal his maiden world championship. Even if he wins the Sprint and both rivals fail to score, Norris would move 32 clear with 50 still available. Over the weekend as a whole, simply outscoring both by two points would be enough for him to clinch the title.Before diving into the pressure of an action-packed weekend in Lusail, the McLaren driver wants to unwind in Qatar for couple of days. “I look forward to Qatar. I look forward to getting somewhere warm and just go play some golf, go play some padel for a few days, enjoy a few days off, and do everything we can to try and win in Qatar,” Norris said.However, with an in-form Verstappen breathing down his neck and chasing a fifth consecutive world championship, Norris can seldom take a breather. Since Verstappen’s victory in Austin last month, the Dutchman has slashed his deficit to the championship leader — then Piastri — by 64 points across four races. Averaging 12 points over Norris in the final two rounds is still a tall order for Verstappen, but his relentless form and Red Bull’s late-season resurgence mean the reigning champion will be ready to capitalise on any slip by – as he did in Las Vegas.Asked whether he would approach the race differently after surrendering the lead in Vegas, a moment rendered moot by the disqualification, Norris insisted he has no intention of going conservative. “I’ve never been in that position before, so I probably can’t really answer it,” he said.“But nothing feels different now, even though that is the opportunity I’m entering into. I treat it the same. I treat it like I want to go and win. I’ll do everything I can to try and win the race. It’s a lot more fun when you win than when you come second. My goal is to win both races to the end of the season, and the Sprint as well. So I’ll try and win all three. I just focus on having a few days off, shifting the time zone back, and then focusing on Free Practice 1,” he added.The high-speed Lusail Circuit, flowing through the desert on the outskirts of Doha, adds further intrigue to the title battle. Originally designed for motorcycle racing, the 5.419km track is dominated by medium- and high-speed corners and features a one-kilometre start-finish straight that provides the prime overtaking chance into Turn 1. Tyre management will be crucial, with Pirelli limiting each set to 25 laps due to the extreme load generated by the fast corners.For Verstappen, winner of both previous Qatar Grands Prix, Lusail presents an ideal opportunity to ramp up the pressure on Norris. But Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies warned that the grid should expect a complete “reset” after the unique conditions in Las Vegas.“You can’t imagine a more different situation in Qatar compared to Las Vegas. Everything is the opposite. We will reset and try to nail the weekend,” Mekies said.Verstappen’s win in Las Vegas was his sixth of the season and his fourth in the last seven races. Mekies believes the 28-year-old is performing at one of the highest levels ever seen in F1.“In terms of driving and what he does, I think he’s as good or better than everything we have seen,” he said. “There are many examples this year. We know we suffered in the first part of the season. The guys have done an amazing job turning around the car, and now that he’s able to fight again for the win, he produces masterclass after masterclass.”

Oscar Piastri said there had been some “tough moments” as his commanding Formula One lead evaporated, but he was “looking forward to getting back in the car in Vegas” this weekend.The Australian started the season in style with four wins in the first nine races. After his fifth victory in round 15 in the Netherlands, Piastri led McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 34 points.Yet, going into round 22 in Nevada this weekend, Piastri trails Norris by 24 points.“I was particularly strong in the first half of the season. Even though things aren’t going as well now, I don’t think I should have done anything differently recently,” he said.“There’s going to be bumps along the road.”There are a maximum of 83 points available in the last three races and the sprint on the final weekend in Qatar.Asked if he needed to win them all, Piastri replied: “That would help!”“It’s going to be difficult now to try and win but the mentality of trying to go out each week and get the most out of it is still there,” he added.His problems have started in qualifying, leaving him pressing to catch up when the flag drops.In the first 15 races of the season, Piastri secured five pole positions and was second on the grid five times.In the last six, he has not started from the front row.In round 16 in Monza, Piastri was edged on to the second row by reigning champion Max Verstappen and by Norris.In the race, Piastri climbed to second because the McLaren pit crew botched a Norris tyre change.The team asked Piastri to give the place back, which he did. The difference between second and third meant a six-point swing to Norris.The following race in Baku was a disaster as Piastri made, what he called, “silly mistakes”. He crashed in qualifying, started ninth on the grid, virtually stalled at the start, dropped to last and then crashed into a wall.That ended a run of 34 consecutive races in the points.As Piastri has struggled, teammate Norris has blossomed. In the last three races, the Englishman has finished second in the United States and then won in Brazil and Mexico.In Austin and Mexico, Piastri said, “something fundamental wasn’t working.”“The other races have been a combination of different things going wrong,” he said. “What some might say is ‘the difficult world of motor sport’.”“There have been some tough lessons to learn, some tough moments to have to accept, and nothing more than that.”The dip in form coincided with the team order for Piastri to cede second to Norris in Monza.Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who drives for Alipne wondered if there was a link.“It’s inexplicable. You can be unhappy with your team, but you can’t forget how to drive from one weekend to the next,” Gasly told AFP.Pisatri said no driver on the grid was entirely happy with their team and that McLaren had addressed issues.“There have been some tough conversations through the year,” he said.“Some things to sort out and realign on but I’m very comfortable we’ve done a good job on it.”He’s eager to be back on the bumpy road.“I’m looking forward to getting back in the car in Vegas. I’m concentrating on performance, building a strong weekend and maximising every opportunity,” he said.

Lando Norris does not have to win another race this season, although the McLaren driver will not be looking at it that way, to become Formula One champion.The simple sums after a weekend in Sao Paulo were clear: the title is Norris’s to lose and he is favourite to follow seven-times title-winner Lewis Hamilton as the latest in a line of British world champions.Norris is 24 points clear of Australian teammate Oscar Piastri, whose title bid has rapidly imploded, with three grands prix – Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi – and one Saturday sprint remaining.Even if Piastri were to take maximum points, Norris would still be champion when the final chequered flag is waved under the floodlights at Yas Marina on December 7 if he finished runner-up every time.The chances of that happening are unlikely, however. While the constructors’ champions have romped to seven one-two finishes so far this season, the last was in Hungary in August and Piastri has been off the podium in his last five regular races.Until Mexico last month, Norris had also gone five races in a row without a win.Piastri was 34 points clear of Norris after Zandvoort and lost it all over the next five. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was 104 points behind Piastri at the same point and is now 25 adrift of the Australian.The four-times world champion, along with Mercedes pair Kimi Antonelli and George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Hamilton could still play a big part in the title outcome by taking wins and podiums from the McLaren pair. Norris, 25, will worry less about that than Piastri, who needs to make the big gains and is running out of time to turn things around.The Australian’s surprising tailspin has been stark but there is always hope. One no-score for Norris – and the leader has had two already in 21 races – could put the Australian right back into the reckoning.Norris, who has said he does not believe in momentum, recognised there was still a lot that could happen and rejected talk of his double success in Brazil – sprint and main race – being some turning point.“It’s still a long way to go. So no point getting too happy or excited just yet,” he told reporters.The next race is Las Vegas and McLaren have played down expectations about that one.“I think it was our worst race last year. So I’m not really looking forward to it,” said Norris.“We know Mercedes were incredibly strong there last year, as well as Red Bull and Ferrari. I think we were the bottom of those four.“Obviously, we’ve improved a lot of things this year, so I’m not going to be too negative about it. I think there’s plenty to look forward to. We know Abu Dhabi and Qatar are ones we are looking forward to.”

McLaren boss Andrea Stella says Formula One title contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri can both feel confident going into the last four races, with neither likely to have a track advantage.Norris took over at the top by a point from his Australian teammate in Mexico on Sunday but Stella told reporters there was everything to play for in Brazil, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi. There are also two sprints to come in Sao Paulo and Doha. “I think both Lando and Oscar go into the final four races with reasons to be confident,” said the Italian.“The team also go into the final four races with more understanding of how to extract performance from the car consistently, because over the last four races before Mexico at times we have left some performance in the garage.“In the final four races, there’s no reason to think that one (track) may favour one driver or the other.”Piastri has been beaten by Norris in the last five races and the Briton’s dominant victory from pole position in Mexico City on Sunday wiped out the 24-year-old’s 14 point advantage. Norris has said he does not believe in momentum, however, and Piastri sounded more optimistic about his situation after racing from seventh on the grid to fifth at the chequered flag on Sunday.He said he had adapted his driving style to Mexico’s low-grip circuit – conditions Norris thrives on whereas Piastri prefers high grip – and found far more pace than in practice and qualifying.He might have grabbed fourth from Haas’s Oliver Bearman, but for a late virtual safety car.“For Lando and Oscar, there’s no problem in terms of track layout coming in the next four races,” Stella said.“If anything, we need to make sure that from a McLaren point of view we are in condition to extract the full performance that is available in the car.”Stella pointed out that Las Vegas had been difficult for McLaren last season but this year could be different, with the tyres graining less.Norris’s win was his first since Hungary in August and McLaren’s first since the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of that month – ending a run of four races without a win for the champions.Stella said Mexico had been a confidence boost for McLaren, even if Red Bull’s resurgent four-times champion Max Verstappen, third on Sunday, cut his gap to the top from 40 points to 36.“We have proven that we have a car that can win races and in some conditions can dominate races,” he added.“This is the most important factor to put Lando and Oscar in condition to pursue the drivers’ championship. I don’t think it’s about mathematics, it’s about competitiveness. And it was important to confirm this competitiveness.”McLaren have ruled out giving Piastri a new chassis, something drivers often ask for when going through an inexplicable drop in performance.“Every evidence, every piece of data, every indirect measurement or information we have tells us that there is no problem with the car,” he told reporters after Saturday qualifying.“In reality, there’s a rotation of parts. So it’s not like there’s always the same parts on the car. So we have reasons to be reassured that there’s no problem with the car.”

Verstappen leads every lap to win in BakuPiastri crashes on opening lap, lead slashed to 25 pointsNorris starts and finishes seventhRussell second, Sainz thirdMcLaren kept waiting for 10th constructors' titleRed Bull's Max Verstappen cruised to a dominant Azerbaijan Grand Prix victory while Oscar Piastri crashed on the opening lap and had his Formula One lead over McLaren teammate Lando Norris slashed to 25 points.McLaren had hoped to secure their 10th Formula One constructors' title, and second in a row, Sunday with a record seven rounds remaining but must now wait until Singapore on October 5 after their lowest scoring weekend of the season.George Russell finished second for Mercedes, who moved up to second place and 333 points behind McLaren with 346 still to be won, and Carlos Sainz third for Williams's first podium finish since 2021.Norris started and finished seventh in what will rank as a missed opportunity, with six points gained on his rival but his chances of more scuppered by a slow 4.1-second pitstop for the second successive race.The win was Verstappen's second in a row and he led every lap from pole to flag, also setting the fastest lap for a "Grand Slam" that revived his slim title hopes with the reigning champion now 69 points behind Piastri.He took the chequered flag 14.609 seconds clear of Russell, after being more than 32 seconds clear before taking his pitstop."I think this weekend has been incredible for us," said Verstappen after his 67th career win, fourth of the season and second in Baku after a 2022 victory. "For us to win here again is just fantastic."We had clean air all the time and you could then look after your tyres. And yeah, it was pretty straightforward."Russell, recovering from sickness and starting fifth on the grid, was happy to see a rough weekend finish strongly while Sainz - voted driver of the day - was the happiest man on the podium."I cannot describe how happy I am and how good this feels. It tastes even better than my first ever podium," said the Spaniard, a four-times race winner with Ferrari who had started on the front row.The big story came on the opening lap when Piastri, who crashed in qualifying and started ninth, jumped the start and went to the back of the field before ploughing into the wall at turn five.The uncharacteristic errors ended the Australian's record of being the only driver to score in every race this season and also put the brakes on a run of 34 races in the points.He had not failed to finish a race since his 2023 rookie season."Certainly not my finest moment," the 24-year-old told Sky Sports."I just anticipated the start too much and yeah...silly simple error really."Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli was fourth for Mercedes, redeeming himself after a poor home race weekend at Monza, with New Zealander Liam Lawson enjoying a career high fifth for Racing Bulls.Yuki Tsunoda was sixth for Red Bull with Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc following Norris home in eighth and ninth, with the pair swapping places on team orders because Hamilton had fresher tyres.French rookie Isack Hadjar made it a double points finish for Racing Bulls in 10th.Piastri's crash brought out the safety car, a regular feature of races in Baku, and provided the main drama of the 51- lap race around the windy city streets where the threat of a downpour failed to materialise.Norris lost a place to Hadjar and was then passed by Leclerc when the race re-started after the safety car period.The Briton followed Leclerc past Hadjar, whose car had suffered an hydraulics problem before the start, and could have passed both Leclerc and Lawson had his pitstop not cost him critical seconds.He ultimately passed Leclerc with 10 laps remaining but was unable to find a way past Tsunoda."I did the best I could yesterday, the best I could today," said Norris."Every race I didn't win was an opportunity missed, so of course today I wanted more. It was not a good result, but I couldn't do anything more today."