Finish third. Easier said than done. But nothing Lando Norris can't do.
Max Verstappen is charging forward like an express train, and having him as a title challenger is scary enough. It seems as if he lives rent-free not only in the heads of the McLaren drivers, but in the minds of everyone wearing papaya colours. The fear of losing to him is not just about defeat; after such a dominant 2025 season, in which McLaren scored almost twice as many points as its nearest rival, losing the drivers' title would be embarrassing.
This version of Verstappen is even more dangerous: he has nothing to lose and is happy to poke fun at McLaren, mocking its mistakes, laughing at its inability to shake him off despite the advantage it once had. His stance is clear: he doesn’t mind receiving a fifth title as a gift from McLaren, but he won’t be upset if he loses it either. No pressure, he’s simply enjoying himself and the fact the world is amazed again by his brilliance.
McLaren, meanwhile, is under enormous pressure — pressure, it must be noted, it has largely inflicted on itself. With the way this championship had been going, there should never have been a three-way title fight heading into Abu Dhabi. The final stretch of the season was supposed to be about the two papaya drivers battling each other, with the team acting as an impartial judge.
Instead, McLaren tripped over its own rules, created a fight out of nowhere and allowed Verstappen to become the looming threat he is now. No room for error, no margin for a bad strategy call or a slow pitstop. Verstappen is happy to receive gifts — but he’s not the one who will hand them out.
But McLaren’s inability to handle the pressure shouldn’t distract from Norris’ own performances in recent months — because in all of this, he has been the most reliable part of McLaren’s shaky structure. And that, above all, is something he should not forget this weekend.
While the rest of the world savours Verstappen’s unbelievable recovery — from 104 points behind to just 12 over eight race weekends — Norris’ charge has been almost as impressive. Yes, it would be an exaggeration to say he’s been flawless, but the number of points he actually lost through his own unforced errors since his Zandvoort retirement barely exceeds a dozen.
Strip away the narrative of momentum and simply look at the standings: if someone had told Norris after Zandvoort that he’d enter the season finale with a 12-point advantage over his closest rival, he would have signed for it instantly. That represents a swing of almost 50 points since late August, when his chances looked bleak. And despite Verstappen’s surge, it is still the Briton who arrives in Abu Dhabi with the favourite’s tag.
And that is exactly where his focus should be. Not dwelling on the Las Vegas disqualification — even if without it, Verstappen wouldn’t even be mathematically in contention. Not worrying about Oscar Piastri’s revival in Qatar — because at this level you cannot expect to outperform your team-mate eight weekends in a row. And certainly not dwelling on Zandvoort — because in a strange way, it may have made Norris stronger.
After winning in Mexico City and Sao Paulo, Norris did everything right. Finishing behind Verstappen in Vegas was exactly what was required from a championship standpoint — it would have effectively killed off the Dutchman's comeback.
What happened afterwards had nothing to do with Norris. He was a victim of someone else’s miscalculation. The same goes for Qatar: had the team not made the error of staying out on lap 7, he would have finished at least third — with Piastri winning the race. And that would have been a perfectly acceptable outcome too for the championship leader.
It would be a stretch to blame the team, though, too. Without McLaren producing a car that was dominant for most of the year, Norris wouldn’t be in this position — that is a fact. And the mistakes he made in the first half of the season probably equal a couple of those committed by the team’s engineers or strategists. This is not the time for Norris to reflect on any of that. Nobody had a perfect season. And even if Verstappen insists he won’t blame his Barcelona “red mist” moment should he lose the title, the reality is simple: if he finishes the year fewer than 10 points behind, that’s precisely where the title slipped away.
On Sunday in Doha, Norris was visibly distressed by what happened. As always, he doesn’t hide frustration, and it was clear it hit him hard. Yet, just like after Zandvoort, he said all the right things.
“Nothing I can do about it,” Norris responded when someone pointed out the 12-point gap. “It’s obviously not our greatest day, not our greatest weekend. But I’ve had... I don’t know if anyone saw the run of results I had before that. It was great.
“I’ve put myself in this position. I’m still happy. It wasn’t our finest day, it wasn’t my finest weekend in terms of driving and putting things together. But that’s life. Everyone has bad weekends. I take it on the chin, we all take it on the chin and we’ll see what we can do next weekend.”
And if that’s the attitude he brings into Abu Dhabi, there’s no reason to expect him not to deliver what is required this weekend. He has behaved like a true title contender for the last three months.
The best thing Norris can do now is to change nothing in his approach — because he has given himself no reason to doubt it. And there should be no doubt that he deserves this title.
All he needs is a boring Sunday — finish in the top three on a track he won comfortably at last year, and ensure McLaren secures its first drivers’ crown in an eternity. It won’t be easy to treat this as a standalone event — but that is exactly the mindset he may need.
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