LAS VEGAS -- McLaren's sensational double disqualification from the Las Vegas Grand Prix has blown the drivers' championship wide open and moved Max Verstappen back to within striking distance of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The technical infraction on both cars came past midnight in Nevada, several hours after the conclusion of the race, and added a dramatic twist in what has been a tense and captivating championship. While McLaren has dominated this season, Verstappen has maintained outsider status since the summer break, with Red Bull orchestrating a remarkable turnaround with the upgrade introduced at September's Italian Grand Prix.
With two races left to run, the championship is tantalizingly poised.
What are the current standings?
Norris remains the favourite, although what had looked like being a comfortable 30-point lead over Piastri and a 42-point lead over Verstappen pre-double DQ has been whittled down to a 24-point lead over both drivers with two races left to run over the next two weekends.
While the double-DQ obviously helped Verstappen, it ironically also aided Piastri, who had lost further ground to both by finishing the Nevada race in fourth position.
In full, the championship reads:
Norris - 390 points
Piastri - 366 points
Verstappen - 366 points
Crucially, Piastri is currently ahead of Verstappen in the current standings as he has seven race victories to Verstappen's six. Tiebreakers are done on a countback system.
Norris and Piastri are currently tied on seven wins apiece.
If drivers who tie on points have the same amount of wins, second-place finishes are used, and so on and so forth until one driver has more than the other.
Who's in the best form?
Norris has been F1's most in-form driver down the stretch, with podiums in Singapore and Austin followed by lauded back-to-back wins in Mexico and Brazil. Although Las Vegas will go down as a DQ, Norris had claimed a remarkable pole position in treacherous conditions on Friday evening, before turning in a solid drive to second (before being thrown out of the result).
Verstappen's form since the summer break has also been remarkable, with four wins from the eight races after F1's resumption post-August. In that run of races, he finished on the podium at the four he did not win.
Verstappen's run has been down to a number of reasons, with Red Bull's upgrade at the Italian Grand Prix credited with making the car competitive again, although the season has underlined just how good the four-time world champion is.
A fifth championship this year would likely go down as one of the greatest in F1's history given how far back he was -- after the Dutch Grand Prix he was 104 points adrift of Piastri, who at the time led the title fight.
Piastri's form, on the other hand has been woeful.
His win at Zandvoort on Aug. 31 appeared to be a major moment, opening up a 34-point lead after teammate Norris retired with car trouble.
Piastri had since relinquished that championship lead and has not finished a race ahead of Norris since the Dutch GP.
What's the earliest the championship can be won?
Only Norris can win the championship in Qatar given his title lead and he's the only one guaranteed to still be in contention in Abu Dhabi regardless of what happens next week.
F1 has 58 points available from those remaining two events, but 33 of those are available at next week's Qatar Grand Prix as it features a sprint race.
In the most basic arithmetic, Norris will be champion if he leaves Qatar leading the championship by 26 points or more, which effectively means outscoring both Piastri and Verstappen by two points or more.
Barring a major setback, Norris would still likely expect to take some form of championship lead to Abu Dhabi should he not wrap it up in Qatar next weekend. The most either Verstappen or Piastri could go into the finale leading the championship by would be nine points, but that would require Norris to score zero across both the sprint and grand prix in Qatar.
F1's sprint race hands points out as 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 to the top eight finishers, while a grand prix hands points out as 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4--2-1 to the top 10.