Despite Lando Norris’ dominant win at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, a Supercomputer has made a very surprising prediction for the Formula 1 title race.
Norris went to Brazil with a one point lead over McLaren teammate and rival Oscar Piastri and drove faultlessly over the weekend to win the main grand prix and the sprint race.
And after Piastri crashed out of the sprint and only finished fifth on Sunday, the Brit’s championship lead is now at 24 points, with reigning champion Max Verstappen 49 points behind.
There are now just three grand prix remaining in 2025 – Las Vegas, Qatar (sprint weekend) and Abu Dhabi – with 83 points up for grabs.
Just a few weeks ago, Norris was third-favourite to win the title but is now very much the frontrunner as he looks to become McLaren’s first champion since Sir Lewis Hamilton in 2008.
JeffBet’s F1 Supercomputer tips the 25-year-old to get the job done, but surprisingly predicts that he will not win anymore races this season.
Instead, it predicts Verstappen to take maximum points in the last four races and finish narrowly behind Norris, who will continue to finish on the podium and keep his distance to his rivals.
2025 F1 standings after Sao Paulo Grand Prix
- Lando Norris (McLaren) – 390pts
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 366pts
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 341pts
Piastri’s poor form is tipped to continue, with the Australian slumping to third despite topping the standings for much of the year.
Despite enjoying a resurgence at Red Bull after the summer break, Verstappen has repeatedly ruled himself out of title contention but Norris disagrees with the Dutchman who can still become only the second driver after Michael Schumacher to win five consecutive championships.
‘I’m sure Max is going to be a threat in terms of races, and you never know with the championship. So, it’s pointless trying to guess and come up with these things,’ the Brit said after winning in Brazil.
‘With how quick he was, he would have won if he started higher up. But that’s racing. Not everyone puts it together, and it’s easy to make mistakes in the world that we live in.
‘Max will be a threat because he always is. He’s always there, he’s always fighting, and I’m sure he’ll fight to the end. I look forward to it.’
When can Lando Norris win the F1 title?
Verstappen clinched his fourth consecutive F1 championship in Vegas last year but Norris won’t be able to do the same.
Even if everything went perfectly in Sin City on the weekend of November 21-23, Norris would lead Piastri by 49 points with 58 still on offer in the final two grand prix.
As a result the championship will be decided either in Qatar on November 28-30 or the season finale in Abu Dhabi on December 5-7.
How does the Supercomputer work?
JeffBet say: ‘This was done by simulating all remaining races and sprints 10,000 times. Use pre-calculated chances by a model which gave each driver the chance of winning in each session. DNF chances where included based on the number of times the driver has done so this season.
‘Using these 10,000 simulations we are able to cover all different types of possibilities to see how likely it is each driver would finish where in the championship with their average result.’
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