The Formula 1 world driving championship will go down to the final race of the season next weekend as four-time champion Max Verstappen claimed a crucial victory in Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix at the Losail International Circuit.
Verstappen’s unlikely win was courtesy of McLaren’s alternative strategy which came as a consequence of an early Safety Car intervention and an enforced 25-lap maximum stint length on all Pirelli tire sets.
It was Verstappen’s seventh triumph of the season and his second in the past two weekends. Verstappen finished ahead of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, who started from the pole, with Carlos Sainz finishing third for Williams and championship leader Lando Norris fourth in the second McLaren.
The result trimmed Norris’ point lead to 12 markers over Verstappen heading to Abu Dhabi next weekend, with Piastri third, another four points behind Verstappen.
“This was an incredible race for us. We made the right call as a team to box under the Safety Car,” Verstappen said. “That was smart. Of course, I’m super happy to win here and stay in the fight until the end.
“It was a little bit offset because of it all, but for us I think it was a very strong race on a weekend where it was a little bit tough. We still won the race and that was the most important thing.
“[McLaren choosing not to pit] was an interesting move. I knew that then of course we had a bit of a gap, but you still need to keep the tires alive for 25 laps – the wear is very high around here, but luckily it all worked out.”
Piastri, meanwhile, was disappointed with the runner-up finish.
“Pretty gut-wrenching, to be honest. It felt like I drove probably the best weekend I’ve had this year, if not in F-1, so to not have the result is painful,” Piastri said. “Clearly, we didn’t get it right tonight. I drove the best race that I could as fast as I could and there was nothing left out there, so I tried my best. It wasn’t to be tonight unfortunately.
“I think in hindsight it’s pretty obvious what we would’ve done. I’m sure we’ll discuss it as a team.”
While Sainz collected the second podium of the season for Williams, Norris was critical of his McLaren team’s strategy.
“Nothing to complain about, just strategy as the second car is always a bit worse and had me over today” Norris said. “It wasn’t even the fact we were the second car, we shouldn’t have done what we did. Simple as that.”
Kimi Antonelli finished fifth for Mercedes.