Our three championship contenders line-up in the first three spots on the grid for today’s race and Lando Norris can become a World Champion if things go his way on Sunday – but first he’ll have to get past team mate Oscar Piastri, and out-score Max Verstappen.
And just to add a little more intrigue, we have an unusual set of restrictions on tyre usage, tailored to prevent a repeat of last year’s punctures. It may make strategy more complicated, it make it more straightforward – but it’s certainly going to make it different…
What happened last year?
Lusail is one of those circuits that ushers drivers into an ultra-high-speed game of chicken, in which nobody wants to blink first. Last year’s race was a medium>hard one-stop, with an optimum time for a pit-stop around Lap 20.