F1 Championship Leader Lando Norris Suffers Costly Crash In Saudi Arabia Qualifying

Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first big twist of the Formula 1 season!

Through four race weekends, the story has been McLaren. They've got what is, without a doubt, the most complete car at the moment, and both drivers seem to be at the top of their games, with Lando Norris coming into the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend with a slim three-point lead over his teammate, Oscar Piastri.

However, one big obstacle for Norris as he tries to chase down a championship is himself.

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Norris was gearing up for his first timed lap of Q3 and made it through the first few corners of the intimidating, 27-turn Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit, but the car became unsettled upon hitting a curb.

He fought to correct the ensuing oversteer, but unfortunately, for him, he clobbered the wall to his left and appeared to destroy his front and rear suspension on the left side of the car.

Man, that's a tough break that looked to be the result of pushing just a bit too hard, but oddly enough, it happened right as his teammate Oscar Piastri crossed the finish line. That meant that he had the only time on the board when the red flag came out and paused the session.

The Piastri-Norris race through the rest of the season will be fascinating. It seems to me that Norris has high-highs, but more lows than Piastri, who is wildly consistent, a quality that wins championships no matter what series you're in.

I think this is a prime example of this, because now, Norris will start in P10 on a circuit where overtaking is a little tricky, since there are only maybe two good spots to do it.

Meanwhile, Piastri will be on the front row in P2 alongside Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who beat him by just 0.01 seconds.

Verstappen is just five points behind Piastri in the standings, too, so if Norris gets stuck in the middle of the field during the Grand Prix, we could see a pretty big championship swing before the series moves on to Miami in a couple of weeks.