Three-way struggle for the Formula 1 title

Today, at the Yas Marina Circuit, the Formula 1 World Championship teams launch the first and second official free trials for the Etihad Airways Grand Prix, which begins the day after tomorrow and represents the final round of the season, in a race that witnesses a heated struggle between three drivers: Briton Lando Norris, his McLaren teammate, Australian Oscar Piastri, and Dutchman Max Verstappen riding a Red Bull car, in a competition to determine the title. World Drivers’ Champion, after the World Constructors’ Championship was decided early last October in favor of the McLaren team.

The 16-point difference ignited the atmosphere of excitement in the final round in Abu Dhabi, amid legitimate aspirations for Dutchman Verstappen, who enters the Yas Marina Circuit race with 396 points, to embrace the title of “World Champion” for the fifth time in a row, while championship leader Lando Norris with 408 points is looking forward to joining the golden list of “Formula 1” champions by winning his world title for the first time in his career, which is the same thing that his Australian teammate is looking forward to. Piastri is third in the overall standings with 392 points.

Norris’s chances appear to be the closest to clinching the title, provided that he finishes Sunday’s race in one of the top three positions, regardless of the results of his competitors. If he fails to climb the podium, his hopes will weaken, depending on the results of his competitors.

In turn, Verstappen succeeded in the last round, the “Qatar Grand Prix,” in exploiting the mistakes of the McLaren team’s “pit stop strategies,” and snatched a victory that was enough to revive his hopes, and enter the “Etihad Airways Grand Prix” race with a scenario similar to the 2021 edition, after he succeeded that year in snatching the title in the last lap of the Yas Marina Circuit race after a heated competition with the British sevens world champion, Lewis Hamilton, but Verstappen’s mission on Sunday was not fulfilled. It is limited to winning the race and obtaining the 25 points allocated for first place only, but it also requires that his competitor Norris is unable to achieve a result better than fourth place, which gives its owner only 12 points.

On the other hand, the Australian Piastri’s task appears to be the most difficult to secure the world champion title, depending on his victory in Sunday’s race, and the inability of his colleague Norris to achieve a result better than sixth place, which according to the points system awards only eight points. Today’s tests (which begin at 1:30 p.m., while the second takes place at 5 p.m.) carry great importance for the championship teams, especially for the three drivers competing for the world championship title, in finding the ideal tuning standards for the challenge of tomorrow’s qualifying tests, Saturday, in addition to testing the tuning standards. race, thus enhancing their chances of being able to compete for the title of world champion.

16 possibilities give the three drivers the World Championship title in Abu Dhabi

“Emirates Today” monitors the 16 possibilities for the three drivers competing for the World Championship title, according to the possible positions in which they will finish the race, and benefiting from the points awarded for each position, starting from first (25 points), and gradually increasing in points until 10th place (one point), according to the following:

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