F1 Drivers’ Championship standings: Can Lando Norris clinch a title in Las Vegas?

And then there were three.

Only three race weekends remain on the 2025 Formula 1 calendar, and as luck would have it, only three drivers remain in contention for the 2025 Drivers’ Championship. George Russell was mathematically eliminated from title contention following the São Paulo Grand Prix, leaving just Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, and Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship race.

Here are the current standings, as well as a look at whether championship leader Norris could take the title at next week’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Following Norris’ sweep of the São Paulo Grand Prix, where he won both the F1 Sprint race as well as the São Paulo Grand Prix, he currently holds a 24-point lead over Piastri. Verstappen now sits 49 points back of Norris.

Beyond the top three, a few other notes. Nico Hülkenberg and Isack Hadjar each have 43 points this season, but Hülkenberg wins the tiebreaker. Both drivers secured a P3 this season (Hülkenberg at the British Grand Prix and Hadjar at the Dutch Grand Prix), but from there, Hadjar’s best finish was a P6 in Monaco, while Hülkenberg finished fifth at the Spanish Grand Prix.

A similar scenario plays out just behind them, as both Oliver Bearman and Fernando Alonso have 40 points this season. While Alonso’s best finish was a P5 at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Bearman’s P4 at the Mexico City Grand Prix gives him the tiebreaker edge.

Can current championship leader Lando Norris, on the back of two consecutive grand prix wins as well as an F1 Sprint race victory at the São Paulo Grand Prix, clinch the Drivers’ Championship at the next race in Las Vegas?

Apologies to the Norris fans out there, but you will have to wait a little while longer.

Currently, 83 points are available over the final three race weekends: Las Vegas, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi. 25 points go to the winner of a grand prix, and eight more points are on offer for the winner of the F1 Sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix, the final F1 Sprint of the season.

Following Las Vegas, 58 points will remain available to a driver over the final two races: Eight points for a win in the F1 Sprint in Qatar, and then 25 points for the Qatar Grand Prix and the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Even if Norris were to win in Las Vegas and take all 25 points — and both Piastri and Verstappen finished outside the points — Norris’ lead would increase to 49 points over Piastri. That would leave Piastri still viable for the title.

In that scenario, Verstappen would trail Norris by 74 points, and be eliminated from contention. But given how Las Vegas has suited Red Bull the past two years — Verstappen won the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023 and secured his fourth Drivers’ Championship on the Vegas Strip last year with a fifth-place finish — a finish outside the points seems unlikely.

The earliest that Norris can clinch the 2025 Drivers’ Championship? That would come at the F1 Sprint in Qatar, provided he indeed wins in Las Vegas and Piastri finishes outside the points. Given that combination, Norris would need to outscore Piastri by just two points in the F1 Sprint race to clinch the title over his rival. Remember, if Norris wins in Las Vegas and Piastri does not score, Norris would begin the F1 Sprint race with a 49-point lead. Following the F1 Sprint race in Qatar, just 50 points would remain available.

Norris would need to finish the F1 Sprint race 51 points ahead of Piastri in this scenario, given tiebreaker rules. A win in Las Vegas would give Norris eight grand prix wins on the season, one ahead of Piastri’s seven. But if Norris finishes just one point head of Piastri and has a 50-point lead with both the Qatar Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix remaining, Piastri can still win the title if he wins both races and Norris finishes outside the points in each.

They would finish tied with 423 points each in this scenario, but Piastri would have nine grand prix wins, giving him the title.

Turning back to Verstappen, let’s assume in this scenario that instead of finishing outside the points in Las Vegas, he finishes second to Norris. In that scenario, Norris would have 415 points, Piastri (again assuming he finishes outside the points) would have 366, and Verstappen would climb to 359 points with a P2 in Las Vegas.

That would leave him 56 points behind Norris as the grid arrived in Qatar.

Norris still needs to score two more points than Piastri to clinch the title in the F1 Sprint in Qatar, as outlined above. But with Verstappen coming off a P2, Norris can still clinch the title in the F1 Sprint if Piastri finishes outside the points in Las Vegas. Even if Verstappen wins the F1 Sprint, taking all eight points, if Norris finishes seventh (and Piastri does not score a point), Verstappen would then have 367 points, Norris would have 417, and Piastri would have 366.

That is a 50-point difference between Norris and Verstappen, and a 51-point difference between Norris and Piastri. Piastri would be eliminated as outlined above, and Verstappen would be eliminated as well. While Verstappen could theoretically win both the Qatar Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (with Norris finishing outside the points in each) to pull level with Norris, that would give Verstappen seven grand prix wins on the year.

One behind Norris, in a world where he wins in Las Vegas.

It’s … a lot. And these are rather unlikely scenarios.

But if Las Vegas plays out as outlined above, there is a world where Norris lifts the title on a Saturday in Qatar.