Nothing’s on Track Until Nov. 19. F1’s Gulf Finale, Márquez’s Match Point and Red Bull’s Zero Are the Waiting Game

Nothing is on track today, and nothing will be inside the next 24 hours. The next engine fires on Thursday, Nov. 19, when Formula 1 opens practice in Las Vegas. Waiting-room week. Everybody is waiting on something, and only one of those things can end a championship. The biggest one is the F1 Gulf finale: the FIA says Qatar and Abu Dhabi are on, while Formula 1 itself has not said so.

Weekend Notebook

The development that changed the week: F1 has not confirmed the Gulf finale

Confirmed. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem told The National on Monday, Nov. 9, that the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix “will proceed as planned,” and that each event is assessed individually on the latest security advice. Qatar is scheduled for Lusail on Sunday, Nov. 29, and Abu Dhabi for Yas Marina on Sunday, Dec. 6.

Reported, not confirmed. PlanetF1 reports that Formula One Management is poised to confirm both races and stand down the Imola backup, with the deadline described as imminent. No official FOM statement has been published, and the reporting rests on sources who were not named.

Analysis. Antonelli and Mercedes already hold both titles, so the calendar matters for second place and for logistics. Drivers’ points still on offer fall from 75 across three Grands Prix to 50 if a single Imola round replaced both Gulf races, which would make Max Verstappen’s 17-point cushion for second far harder to catch. Our earlier look at the Gulf finale and its freight problem explains why shipping, not statements, usually decides these calls, and Yamaha’s decision to skip MotoGP Qatar showed some teams making their own risk calls.

What the timing and results actually show

Formula 1. Lando Norris won the São Paulo Grand Prix for McLaren, ahead of Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, with George Russell fourth and Kimi Antonelli fifth. Mercedes clinched the constructors’ title there on 652 points to Ferrari’s 510. Behind Antonelli’s 390, the order is tight and lopsided at once: Verstappen has 279, Russell 262, Lewis Hamilton 261, Charles Leclerc 249 and Norris 246. Third and fourth are one point apart, and 33 points cover second to sixth, with 75 still available.

MotoGP. Marco Bezzecchi won the 22-lap Qatar Grand Prix in 41:29.173, 3.083 seconds ahead of Marc Márquez, with Raúl Fernández third. Jorge Martín, racing on a fractured wrist, was seventh, 14.023 seconds behind. Márquez now has 431 points to Martín’s 371 and Bezzecchi’s 357, with 74 left across Portimão and Valencia. A grand prix weekend is worth 37 (12 for the Sprint, 25 for the race). Analysis: if Márquez wins the Portimão Sprint and Martín is second, the lead becomes at least 63 with 62 still to win, and that is why MotoGP.com says a Sprint win would end it. Our Qatar analysis has the full sum.

NASCAR. Kyle Larson wrapped up his third Cup title at the end of Stage 1 at Homestead, finishing fourth in the stage, and then ran 12th in the 267-lap finale without leading a lap. He beat Christopher Bell by 49 points, with Denny Hamlin 56 back. Ryan Blaney won the race after passing Tyler Reddick with two laps left. WEC. The No. 8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa took the Hypercar drivers’ title by 17 points with an 11th-place finish at Monza, where a Cadillac won.

Three things that changed since last week’s edition

1. The FIA’s final engine ruling left Red Bull at zero. Confirmed: on Nov. 10 the FIA published the third and last 2026 review of its engine-upgrade system (ADUO), covering races 12 to 18. It awarded no additional homologations. Red Bull Ford remains the one manufacturer with none; Mercedes holds one for 2026 and one for 2027, and Audi, Ferrari and Honda hold two each for 2027. FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis said the first year had “reinforced our belief” in the system and that refinements to the methodology are being explored for future seasons. The next review covers the opening rounds of 2027. Analysis: the 2026 allowances are now fixed, so what is left is who spends them. Our earlier analysis of Mercedes’ upgrade and Russell’s penalty pointed to Las Vegas as the likeliest place, which is a projection, not a team announcement. For why the zero matters, see our explainer on the Red Bull Ford benchmark.

2. Qatar kept the MotoGP title open, and Ducati lost a rider. Confirmed: Francesco Bagnaia suffered fractures to the fourth and fifth metatarsals in his right foot in the Sprint crash, per Ducati and MotoGP’s medical director, and went to hospital in Doha. I found no confirmation yet of whether he rides at Portimão. Yamaha has said it plans to return there after skipping Qatar, as we reported in last week’s edition.

3. Three seasons closed in a week. Confirmed: NASCAR and the WEC finished on Nov. 8, as above. In the WRC, Rally Italia Sardegna on Oct. 1 to 4 was the final round after Rally Saudi Arabia was removed from the world championship. The Saudi rally still runs on Nov. 11 to 14, but on the FIA Middle East Rally Championship calendar. Analysis: the offseason questions have arrived early. Rovanperä’s Toyota talks are unresolved and I found no announcement, while NASCAR’s open items include Dodge’s 2027 return and the Baldwin disqualification appeal.

The decisive next session

Saturday, Nov. 21, 10:00 a.m. ET: the MotoGP Sprint at Portimão, 12 laps, per the organizer’s provisional timetable (the same page lists conflicting Sunday times, so confirm before you set an alarm). It is the first session that can end the championship. Watch Márquez’s start, Martín’s wrist over a short distance, Bezzecchi’s pace on the Aprilia, and whether Bagnaia is on the grid at all. F1 gets going first, with Las Vegas Practice 1 on Thursday, and the race itself is Saturday night.

Formula1.com lists the Las Vegas weekend as Nov. 19 to 21 in local time; sessions run late at night in Nevada, so UTC listings show the following day. The timetable is subject to change.

Championship impact

Analysis. One trophy can change hands in the next 12 days: MotoGP’s, and only if Márquez wins the Sprint or otherwise gains enough on Martín at Portimão. In Formula 1 the drivers’ and constructors’ titles are settled; the live stakes are second place, where Verstappen leads Russell by 17, and the one-point fight for third. The size of that fight depends on whether the Gulf races happen, which is why F1’s silence is the story to watch. For the setup behind it, see our earlier edition on Márquez’s Qatar match point and the Leclerc penalty breakdown from Interlagos.

A Sprint win at Portimão ends Márquez’s title fight. Does Martín’s wrist keep it alive past Saturday?

Sources: FIA ADUO ruling as reported by RacingNews365 and The Race; Ben Sulayem interview in The National and PlanetF1; São Paulo result and points and the official Las Vegas timetable; MotoGP.com’s Qatar report and Crash.net’s Bagnaia update; the NASCAR Homestead report; Racer’s WEC finale report; the Portimão circuit’s event page. Times converted to Eastern by Backfire Racing; MotoGP times are provisional.

Featured image credit: Gabriel Bortoleto in the Audi at Sepang, Oct. 4, 2026 (file photo). Photo: Liauzh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Supporting images: Lewis Hamilton, Liauzh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); Marc Márquez, Pavel21kriz / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). All are file photos, not from this week’s events.

About the Author

Kyle Matthews

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Kyle Matthews is a staff writer at Backfire Racing, focusing on NASCAR coverage with additional reporting on Formula 1, IndyCar, and endurance racing.

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