🔗 Share this article

Verstappen benefited from a strategy call from the British team that contradicted decisions made by every other team during an early race safety car deployment

It was a costly decision that sacrificed track position to Verstappen in the final stages and in hindsight threw away the victory for the Australian driver

Grand Prix Results and Championship Consequences

Verstappen triumphed to take his 7th win of the season, matching Norris and Piastri, while the Piastri was runner-up and the Briton in fourth behind the Williams of the Spanish driver

Norris earned an extra two points by overtaking the Mercedes driver's Silver Arrow on the second-to-last lap

The championship leader has been left with a 12-point advantage over Verstappen, who moved ahead of Piastri by four points heading to Abu Dhabi on December 5-7

To win the title, Norris must secure a podium position at Yas Marina if Verstappen wins the race next race day

Critical Events of the Thrilling Grand Prix

• The team's choice not to pit when a yellow flag was deployed on the seventh lap for a crash between the French team's Pierre Gasly and Sauber's Hulkenberg
• A decision led by Piastri to advance his last pit stop in a last-ditch effort to catch Verstappen proved unsuccessful
• A surprise podium finish for Sainz handed by the team's strategy call

How McLaren Missed Out in The Race

The fateful moment for the team was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the Hulkenberg tried to overtake the Gasly around the outside of Turn One on the seventh lap

The German's car was left damaged beside the track That brought out the safety car

The crucial part of the timing was that it left exactly 50 laps left in the race

With the tire manufacturer enforcing a twenty-five 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 the thirty-second lap

Competitor Responses and Post-Race Statements

Speechless

The McLaren driver added in his post-race interview: Clearly we didn't get it right tonight I drove the strongest performance I could, as quick as I could, but there was no more pace out there Tried my utmost but didn't get it done

Verstappen said: This was an incredible race for us Our team executed the correct decision to pit That proved intelligent And super-happy to triumph in Qatar and remain competitive to the end, remarkable

Final Grand Prix Positions

• 1. Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
• 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
• 3. Carlos Sainz (Williams)
• 4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
• 6. George Russell (Mercedes)
• 7. Alonso (Aston Martin)
• 8. Leclerc (Ferrari)
• 9. Liam Lawson (RB F1 Team)
• 10. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

Looking Ahead

The all-important championship finale at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit This venue does not create the most exciting competition, but yet again this evening event hosts an contest which appears set to become every bit as dramatic as Vettel's first title in 2010, or Verstappen's much-debated initial championship in twenty-twenty-one