Norris will have to start on the dirty side of the Lusail track [Getty Images]Andrew Benson - F1 CorrespondentSat, November 29, 2025 at 10:50 PM UTC·7 min readQualifying did not go how Lando Norris wanted it to on the weekend on which he can clinch the Formula 1 drivers' title for the first time.
The Briton said he went into the final session that set the grid for the Qatar Grand Prix feeling "convinced I would have been on pole".
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFrom there, the McLaren driver's chances of winning the race - the result he needs to be absolutely sure of becoming world champion on Sunday - would have been high.
Instead, Norris was beaten into second place by his team-mate Oscar Piastri. If the Australian wins the race - as he did the sprint before grand prix qualifying on Saturday - the title battle goes to the final race in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
There is also Max Verstappen to take into account, a driver who instils such fear in his rivals that McLaren's chief executive officer Zak Brown described the Dutchman as like the villain in a horror movie.
The Red Bull driver starts third, the three title protagonists all together at the front of the grid. The race is indeed set up well.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNorris heads into the penultimate grand prix of the season on the fast and demanding Lusail circuit outside Doha with a 22-point lead over Piastri, and 25 over Verstappen.
The potential scenarios are many, but the basic maths are simple - if Norris wins, he becomes champion; if Piastri or Verstappen do, the race goes on.
Which is why starting second, on the dirty side of the track, from which he is likely to make a less-good start than Piastri and Verstappen, is not exactly what Norris needed.
Title hopeful Norris beaten to Qatar pole by rival Piastri
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How to follow Qatar Grand Prix on the BBC
How does Norris rate his title chances?
Norris, who qualified and finished third in the sprint, said: "Yesterday, I didn't really feel like I had the pace for pole. Today, I felt a lot more comfortable and convinced I would have been on pole. But I'm not now. I'm pretty disappointed with myself because of that."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNorris was on provisional pole after the first runs in the final session of qualifying, having edged Piastri by just 0.035 seconds.
Through Turn One on their final runs, Norris believed he had already gained 0.1secs on his previous best, and was feeling good. But the lap went awry at the next corner.
The front of the car lost grip, and kept losing grip, and Norris had to abort to prevent going off the track.
That opened the door for Piastri, who ran thorough it with gusto to take pole by 0.108secs.
"Turn Two, I'm not sure," Norris said. "I don't know if the wind changed a touch or something. I just pushed into a small understeer and that cost me, basically.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"I had to abort. I was going to go off the track. The understeer got worse as I went through the corner. And I damaged a floor yesterday. I didn't want to damage another one today.
"I was confident today that I could have been on pole, but I'm not. That of course makes it a worse feeling.
"But Oscar did a good job, so I can't take anything away from the fact that he's driven well all weekend.
"I paid the price for my mistakes. It's still not a bad day. I'm still second. I still felt a lot happier with the car, so I'm definitely feeling better about things. I missed my opportunity to make my life a lot easier (for the race)."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhy was Norris so perturbed? After all, he was just a place behind one of his title rivals, and one ahead of the other.
It's because overtaking is so difficult at Qatar, which means that if Piastri gets into the first corner first, he is likely to win the race.
Norris pretty much said as much.
"Probably just the start (is my opportunity), yes," Norris said. "Just the run down to Turn One, but I'm on the dirty side of the grid. So I don't have the highest expectations, but we'll see what we can do.
"I probably can't take risks from the dirty side of the grid. I'll make the decision when I arrive into Turn One."
Norris has won seven races this year so far, as has Piastri; Verstappen has claimed six wins [Getty Images]What Piastri and Verstappen have to do
There are few strategy options as well, because of a unique aspect of this race.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLusail's plethora of long-duration, medium- and high-speed corners place heavy demands on the tyres, and the sharp kerbs make matters worse.
Tyre supplier Pirelli, fearing punctures, has imposed a mandatory maximum of 25 laps usage on any set of tyres, which makes the race a two pit-stop strategy at least.
There is plenty of jeopardy, though. Both Piastri and Mercedes' George Russell - who was second in the sprint and has qualified fourth for the grand prix - suffered tears in their front tyres before the end of the 19-lap sprint.
For Piastri, this race marked a timely return to form after a difficult run of races through the autumn.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHe looked like a champion elect when his victory in the Dutch Grand Prix, in addition to Norris' retirement with a fuel-line failure, gave Piastri a 34-point lead in the championship. He had until then been the more convincing McLaren driver this season.
But Piastri has been on the podium only once since then, at the very next race, and a run of grands prix in which he has made mistakes and lacked pace have seen Norris wrest control of the title race from him.
For Piastri - as for Verstappen - really only a win will do tomorrow. Or at the very least they need to beat Norris.
Piastri said: "I've been kind of in that same situation the whole weekend and it's gone well so far.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"So I think I've gained you know a lot of confidence back that when things are in the right place and when I'm in the rhythm that things can happen without needing to do anything special.
"So I'm confident we can try and do the same tomorrow. And (I'm) ready for the fight."
As all three pointed out, though, a lot can happen in the 200 miles of a grand prix.
Other cars can cause problems. There can be safety cars, incidents, retirements.
The tyre restrictions mean the race will likely be flat out from start to finish, or as close as it gets. So mistakes are more likely.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFor all that the occasional grand prix can be soporific, and for all many drivers expect this one to be, a race can go awry in many more ways than it can go well.
Verstappen, who is competing for his fifth world title while the McLaren drivers seek their first, knows this all too well.
"You never know what happens in a race," he said. "We have a two-stop and also some things are not in your control, right?
"There might be some crazy things that also happen behind you, so you just need to keep everything open.
"We'll try everything we can, try to have a good start, then try to look after our tyres a little bit better because the understeer that we have in the car is normally also not good on race pace for that, but we'll try to minimise the damage."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAs for how to wind down before the day on which he achieves his lifetime ambition, Norris said he was going to try to relax in his hotel room on Saturday night.
"Play some basketball in my room. Actual basketball. I'm going to go home, get a spaghetti bolognese in, play some Counter-Strike, probably lose some Elo (ratings) and then go to bed."
Other than that, he said, he would try to stay away from the media, "go and see my engineers, do some work, prepare the best I can. See what opportunities may arise."
The biggest prize in motorsport is waiting there for someone. Who will grasp it?
