George Russell has noticed a big change in Lando Norris as he fights Oscar Piastri for the F1 title

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Lando Norris will now get his first chance to win the 2025 F1 drivers’ title in the Qatar Grand Prix, as he tries to deny Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen with a race to spare.

The 26-year-old will go into this Sunday’s race holding a 22-point lead over Piastri and a 25-point lead over Verstappen. Norris only needs to increase his lead to 26 points to win the F1 drivers’ championship in the Qatar GP, with 25 points then left at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Norris will not win the 2025 drivers’ title in Qatar if he only leaves 25 points ahead of Piastri and/or Verstappen. He must leave Lusail 26 or more points in front, as he and the Australian each have seven Grand Prix wins and the Dutchman has six wins after the first 22/24 rounds.

The Briton will also start the Qatar GP in between his title rivals, after Piastri scored pole for the Qatar GP with a 1:19.387. Norris made a mistake on his last Q3 lap in Qatar, so he could not improve his provisional 1:19.495 effort and will start from P2 ahead of Verstappen in P3.

George Russell thinks Lando Norris is ‘more chilled’ than he has ever seen

Mercedes’ George Russell will start the Qatar GP from P4, as he targets a second medal this weekend after finishing the F1 Sprint in P2 earlier on Saturday. Russell split the McLaren duo as Piastri won the Qatar Sprint, having also split the papaya pair in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying.

READ MORE: Every error that cost Lando Norris points in his failed 2024 F1 title challenge

Russell does not expect Piastri, Norris and Verstappen to be too focused on him at the start of the Qatar GP, given their priority is the title fight. The 27-year-old also believes his British compatriot Norris is “more chilled” than he has seen before after an “amazing” run of form.

“I think they’re three great drivers, and I think the three of them will also go into the race thinking it’s any other race,” Russell told Sky Sports F1 (29/11, 19:53).

“I think Lando’s probably more chilled than ever, and he’s been really amazing these last five or six races. Oscar’s pretty chilled at the worst of times.

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“And Max is, obviously, Max. I mean that in a positive way, he’s not going to be stressed as he’s got four championships already.

“So, I don’t think those guys will be thinking [about me] too much. I might be wrong. I hope I’m wrong, and I hope it all goes wrong for them at the beginning.”

Oscar Piastri won the Qatar Sprint to outscore Lando Norris for the first time since August

Piastri scored pole for the Qatar GP on Saturday to deny Norris his fourth successive P1 start after taking pole in Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Las Vegas. The Briton is the only driver to seal pole position at three consecutive Grands Prix in 2025, and he has secured seven all season.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Verstappen also has seven poles so far this term, to join Norris with the most this year, while Piastri now boasts six. The Sprint at the Qatar GP also saw Piastri outscore Norris for the first time since he won the Dutch Grand Prix and the Briton retired at Zandvoort back in August.

Norris outscored Piastri over the Italian GP (P2>P3), Azerbaijan GP (P7>DNF), Singapore GP (P3>P4), United States GP (P2>P5), Mexico City GP (P1>P5) and Sao Paulo GP (P1>P5). His results saw Norris secure a 58-point swing, after he left Zandvoort 34 points behind Piastri.

Also, Piastri crashed into Norris in the F1 Sprint at COTA, as he tried an ambitious move after starting behind. Norris also finished in front in P2 and P4 before McLaren recorded a double disqualification from the Las Vegas GP that stopped Piastri losing six points in the title fight.