🔗 Share this article

The championship contender capitalized on a strategy call from the British team that flew in the face of decisions made by every other team during an initial safety car deployment

It was a expensive choice that sacrificed track position to Verstappen in the closing laps and retrospectively threw away the victory for the Australian driver

Grand Prix Results and Title Consequences

The race winner triumphed to take his seventh victory of the season, matching the McLaren drivers, while the Piastri was runner-up and the Briton fourth behind the Williams car of the Spanish driver

The McLaren driver won himself an extra two points by overtaking Kimi Antonelli's Silver Arrow on the penultimate lap

Norris has been maintained a 12-point lead over his rival, who overtook his teammate by four points heading to the final race on 5-7 December

To secure the championship, the British driver must finish at least third at Abu Dhabi if Verstappen wins the race next Sunday

Key Events of the Dramatic Grand Prix

• McLaren's choice not to stop when a safety car was called on the seventh lap for a crash between Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Sauber's Hulkenberg
• A strategy led by the Australian to bring forward his last pit stop in a last-ditch effort to challenge the leader proved unsuccessful
• A surprise second podium for the Williams driver handed by McLaren's strategy call

The Way McLaren Missed Out in Qatar

The critical point for McLaren was when the two drivers collided as the German tried to overtake the Gasly around the outside of Turn One on lap seven

Hulkenberg's car was damaged beside the track This triggered the yellow flag

The crucial part of the timing was that it meant there were 50 laps left in the race

With Pirelli imposing a 25-lap safety limit on the tyres, that signified anyone who pitted at that moment was locked into a fixed plan with a additional pit stop on lap 32

Driver Responses and After the Event Statements

No words

The McLaren driver commented in his post-race conversation: Clearly we didn't get it right tonight My driving was the best race I was capable of, as quick as I possible, but there was no more pace out there Attempted my best but couldn't secure victory

The race winner stated: This was an amazing performance for us Our team executed the right call to pit It was intelligent And super-happy to triumph in Qatar and remain competitive to the end, incredible

Final Race Positions

• 1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
• 2. Piastri (McLaren)
• 3. Carlos Sainz (Williams Racing)
• 4. Lando Norris (McLaren Racing)
• 5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes-AMG)
• 6. Russell (Mercedes-AMG)
• 7. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
• 8. Leclerc (Ferrari)
• 9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
• 10. Tsunoda (Red Bull Racing)

What's Next?

The crucial title decider at the Yas Marina This venue does not create the most exciting competition, but once again this twilight race hosts an event which appears set to become every bit as dramatic as Sebastian Vettel's first title in twenty-ten, or the Dutch driver's much-debated initial championship in twenty-twenty-one