🔗 Share this article

The championship contender benefited from a strategy call from the British team that contradicted decisions made by all other squads during an early race safety car deployment

This proved to be a costly decision that gave up track position to Verstappen in the final stages and retrospectively threw away the race win for Piastri

Grand Prix Results and Title Implications

The race winner triumphed to take his 7th win of the campaign, equalling Norris and Piastri, while the Australian was runner-up and the British driver in fourth behind the Williams of Carlos Sainz

Norris won himself an additional points by passing the Mercedes driver's Silver Arrow on the penultimate lap

Norris has been maintained a 12-point advantage over his rival, who moved ahead of his teammate by four points heading to Abu Dhabi on December 5-7

To secure the title, the British driver must secure a podium position at Yas Marina if Verstappen takes victory next Sunday

Critical Events of the Thrilling Grand Prix

• McLaren's decision not to pit when a yellow flag was called on the seventh lap for a crash between Alpine's Gasly and the Swiss team's Hulkenberg
• A strategy led by the Australian to advance his final stop in a last-ditch effort to challenge the leader came to nothing
• A surprise second podium for Sainz handed by McLaren's strategy call

The Way McLaren Missed Out in The Race

The fateful point for McLaren was when Gasly and Hulkenberg collided as the Hulkenberg tried to pass the Gasly around the exterior of Turn One on lap seven

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

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

With Pirelli enforcing a twenty-five lap maximum usage on the tyres, that meant anyone who made a stop at that moment was locked into a fixed plan with a additional pit stop on the thirty-second lap

Driver Responses and After the Event Comments

Speechless

The McLaren driver added in his after-race interview: Obviously we made mistakes tonight My driving was the best race I could, as quick as I could, but there was nothing left out there Tried my utmost but didn't get it done

Verstappen stated: This was an amazing performance for us Our team executed the correct decision to box That proved smart Furthermore extremely pleased to triumph in Qatar and remain competitive to the end, remarkable

Final Grand Prix Standings

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

Looking Ahead

The crucial championship finale at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit This venue does not produce the most exciting racing, but yet again this twilight race features an event which appears set to become every bit as thrilling as Sebastian Vettel's first title in 2010, or Verstappen's much-debated first title in twenty-twenty-one