As it stands, the WDC (World Driver’s Championship) is going all the way to Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Three of these drivers are Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri. Lando Norris is leading the championship with 408 points, then Max Verstappen in second place with 396 points, and Oscar Piastri in third with 392 points. Lando Norris and Piastri are representing McLaren, and Max Verstappen is representing Red Bull Racing. All 3 drivers are within 16 points of each other, and the title fight is finally down to 3 drivers for the first time since 2010.
What are my thoughts about this? Well, one of the McLaren drivers should win the title and, as Max Verstappen said, “The trophy looks the same, I have 4 at home.” Norris came in 2nd in the WDC last year, losing to Verstappen, and this is Piastri’s first time really fighting for the title in only his 3rd year as an F1 driver. Norris has been in F1 for 7 years, nearly double that of Oscar Piastri.
In the Qatar Grand Prix, Norris had a chance to win it all and put this title fight to sleep. However but due to a horrible decision by the team strategist, Norris came in 4th; Piastri could have put himself way closer to Norris if he won that race, however, since the team made a bad call, Verstappen ended up winning the race and forcing this to Abu Dhabi. In lap 7 of the Qatar Grand Prix, there was a collision between Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly, causing a safety car. Since the new rule for Qatar is a mandatory 2-stop race, Verstappen and every other car pitted to save the spots and get a pitstop out of the way, but the McLaren driver didn’t pit, meaning they would have to pit 2 twice while the race starts again after the safety car ends. Once the safety car ended, Piastri and Norris had to build a big gap to Verstappen to try and save their spots, but they weren’t able to. Once they pitted, Verstappen took first place and kept it for most of the race until Verstappen pitted again. When Verstappen pitted, Piastri took the lead, but since Qatar is a 2-stop race, he was forced to pit and give up first place. Once Piastri pitted again, he came out in 3rd, but he was able to get second place back due to his MCL 39 (his car) being quicker than Carlos Sainz’ FW47(A Williams car).
Now, since Verstappen won this race, he went from 366 points to 396. Piastri went from 366 to 392. Since Lando was able to reach 4th place, his points went from 396 to 408. Lando and Piastri are fighting for their 1st WDC, and Verstappen is fighting for his 5th. Last year in Abu Dhabi, Norris was able to get the win for the team and secure the Constructors Championship for McLaren. Piastri didn’t have an amazing race last year. He got hit by Max Verstappen in the opening lap of turn 1 and sent him to the back of the field, but he was able to recover to 10th place and scrape in 1 point.
All the action starts with Free Practice 1 on Friday, December 5th at 1:30 am. Free Practice 2 also begins on Friday, but at 5:00 am, and the final practice will be on Saturday, December 6th, at 2:30 am, followed by Qualifying at 6:00 am and finally, where everything goes down, and the champion gets decided on Sunday, December 7th, at 5:00 am.
So set your alarms or stay up all night for that race. Don’t miss out on this race; this is something that hasn’t happened in 15 years. So tune in and root for your driver or just watch to watch.
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/team/lando-norris/
https://www.mclaren.com/racing/team/oscar-piastri/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Verstappen
