Our three championship contenders are in the first three places on the grid for today’s race and if things go their way on Sunday, Lando Norris could become world champion – but first he has to get past team-mate Oscar Piastri, and out-maneuver Max Verstappen.
And just to add a little more intrigue, we have an unusual set of restrictions on tire use, designed to prevent a repeat of last year’s puncture. It may make the strategy more complex, it may make it more simple – but it will definitely make it different…
What happened last year?
Lusail is one of those circuits that takes drivers into an ultra-high-speed game of chicken, with no one willing to blink first. Last year’s race was a medium>difficult one-stop, with the optimal time for a pit-stop around lap 20.
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