Lando Norris saw his Grand Prix-sized points gap evaporate, and Max Verstappen made the most of it. The Dutchman's win in the Sin City means he is now just 24 points away from a fifth consecutive World Championship and one of the greatest comebacks ever seen in Formula 1.

Conversely, the double disqualification for Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri rocked the McLaren team, and they are on the back foot coming into the Qatar Grand Prix.

Who will perform when the pressure is at its highest? Who has the best car coming into the penultimate race weekend of the 2025 season? Find out in GPblog's Qatar GP preview!

It was a 49-point gap between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen before action got underway in Las Vegas. A bit of wriggle room in a tightening title battle for the McLaren driver.

That wiggle room has disappeared.

Now, that point gap drops below the 25 points for a Grand Prix win after Norris was disqualified due to excessive plank wear. While Verstappen roared to victory, he also threw all the pressure onto the championship leader.

However, we have seen Norris perform under pressure this campaign with impressive drives in Mexico City and Brazil, righting his wrongs from the 2024 title challenge that petered out after some disappointing performances.

The pressure will be at an all-time high at the Losail Circuit this weekend, and Norris may be required ot execute the drive of his life this weekend. A championship-winning drive.

Of course, if the Brit out-scores either Verstappen or teammate Oscar Piastri at the end of the race weekend, then a maiden title will be his.

But the red-hot form that Norris had in Lad Vegas has now turned ice cold, and it is Verstappen who is rising highest after his win in the Nevada desert.

What was a 104-point deficit after the Dutch Grand Prix now sits at 24 points with two race weekends remaining, and the Dutchman will be hunting for a second successive Grand Prix win in Qatar.

If anyone could cap off this unfathomable turnaround and seal a fifth consecutive world title, it is Max Verstappen.

But don't write Oscar Piastri off just yet, either.

It was another rocky race weekend that saw the Australian cross the line in fifth before his disqualification, with the 104-point deficit between himself and Verstappen now no more as they sit on 366 points each.

The 24-year-old may be trending downwards compared to the other title protagonists, but the talent and pace shown across the campaign means the McLaren man cannot be ruled out.

Behind the three drivers fighting for the world title, Mercedes edged closer to a P2 finish in the constructors' championship thanks to George Russell and Kimi Antonelli finishing P2 and P3, respectively.

They now open up a 40 points gap on Red bull in P3, while Ferrari's dismal 2025 continues to unravel, with the Scuderia now sitting 53 points off the P2 place they once occupied.

To go through which teams may have the advantage across the weekend in qatar, here is F1 Tech writer Francesco Bianchi!

The Losail International Circuit is characterised by a series of high- and medium-speed corners, as well as a long straight on the start-finish line, which makes overtaking possible.

Despite the race being held at night, temperatures are usually quite high there, meaning that both the PU and the tyres are under great stress. These two factors strongly influence the set-up choices made by teams.

Thanks to the smooth asphalt, they usually adopt very low ride heights to maximise the downforce generated by the Venturi channels in the medium- and high-speed sections.

Moreover, a high level of downforce helps drivers keep the rear tyre temperatures under control, even if the main limitation comes from the front left, with Qatar a clockwise track with plenty of high-speed corners and high kerbs.

For this reason, Pirelli imposed a compulsory two-stop strategy for this Grand Prix, with a maximum of 25 laps per set used in the race.

Starting to analyse the teams’ performance, the Losail International Circuit should offer a tight battle between McLaren and Red Bull once again, as already seen during the last couple of years.

The RB21 seems to behave slightly better in the high-speed corners thanks to the stiffer mechanical set-up, which makes the car particularly strong in high-speed sections. On the other hand, McLaren is very strong in tyre temperature management, another fundamental aspect to keep the tyres alive during the race and get the most out of them.

For this reason, the compulsory two-stop strategy dictated by Pirelli could play against the Woking team; as all sets must be used for a maximum of 25 laps (including the laps under Virtual and Safety Car), the MCL39 might not be able to demonstrate its superiority in terms of tyre management, as it emerged in other similar conditions, like Bahrain.

For their part, Red Bull Racing needs to find the right set-up straight away, as the Sprint weekend format would eventually strongly penalise Verstappen in the Sprint, making him lose important points to Norris in the championship.

Moving to Ferrari, the track should better suit the SF-25 after the last few races.

The high-speed sections, together with the possibility of running the car very closely to the ground, can exploit some of the car’s strengths in these conditions. As already seen during the first half of the season, in fact, the car has always demonstrated a good level of performance on those tracks where no compromises were needed, as it happened in Silverstone or Mexico.

A crucial aspect for them will be the tyre and PU temperature management during the race, as Hamilton and Leclerc could be forced to do plenty of lift-and-coast, especially if they find themselves stuck in a train of DRS.

Last but not least, Mercedes is expected to struggle on this layout: the high-speed corners and lack of traction zones, together with the hot temperature, are exactly what the W16 doesn’t like.

As a consequence, they could struggle during this weekend, even if, as always happens, a lot will depend on the team’s ability to make the car work in its working window, which could cause big shifts in terms of performance from the expected results.