🔗 Share this article

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

It was a costly decision that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the closing laps and retrospectively threw away the race win for Piastri

Race Results and Title Consequences

Verstappen won to take his 7th victory of the season, equalling Norris and Piastri, while the Piastri was runner-up and the British driver fourth behind the Williams of Carlos Sainz

The McLaren driver won himself an additional points by passing Kimi Antonelli's Silver Arrow on the second-to-last lap

Norris has been maintained a twelve point advantage 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 his rival wins the race next Sunday

Key Moments of the Dramatic Race

• McLaren's decision not to stop when a yellow flag was deployed on lap seven for a collision between Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Sauber's Hulkenberg
• A strategy initiated by the Australian to advance his last pit stop in a last-ditch effort to challenge the leader proved unsuccessful
• A surprise podium finish for Sainz handed by the team's tactical decision

How The British Team Missed Out in Qatar

The critical moment 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 That brought out the safety car

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

With Pirelli enforcing a twenty-five lap safety limit on the tires, that signified anyone who made a stop at that moment was committed to a rigid strategy with a additional pit stop on the thirty-second lap

Competitor Reactions and After the Event Comments

Speechless

Piastri commented in his post-race interview: Clearly we made mistakes tonight My driving was the best race I could, as fast as I possible, but there was no more pace out there Attempted my utmost but couldn't secure victory

The race winner stated: This was an amazing performance for us Our team executed the correct decision to box That proved intelligent Furthermore extremely pleased to triumph in Qatar and remain competitive to the head, remarkable

Final Race Standings

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

What's Next?

The crucial title decider at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit The circuit itself does not create the most exciting competition, but once again this twilight race hosts an contest which promises to be every bit as dramatic as Vettel's first title in 2010, or Verstappen's highly controversial initial championship in 2021