Max Verstappen delivered a crucial victory at the Qatar Grand Prix as he closed to within 12 points of Lando Norris in the 2025 Formula 1 title race, as McLaren threw away a potential win thanks to a poor strategy call on a seventh-lap safety car.
Polesitter Oscar Piastri had looked settled in the lead of the race and, owing to the difficulty of overtaking around the Losail circuit, the Australian was in prime position to make good on his track position.
But the race was turned on its head when Nico Hulkenberg clashed with Pierre Gasly, which produced a safety car. As this had occurred on the seventh lap, this was at the point where the drivers could do their two stops and fulfil the maximum 25-lap stint length. All but Piastri and Norris took as an opportunity to call into the pitlane.
This forced both McLaren drivers onto the offensive as they aimed to build a pitstop’s grace over the chasing pack, but the lack of pit call had severely hampered the team’s race.
Both McLarens cleared the majority of the midfield as they’d gapped a lengthy DRS train – led by Fernando Alonso – by more than the 26-second time loss needed for a pit stop. After Piastri’s lap 24 stop and Norris’ stop on lap 25, it effectively left just Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in their sphere.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
The rest of the field, bar a few stragglers, all had to complete their stops at the end of the 32nd lap. This put Piastri and Norris back into the lead positions, but once more on the back foot; although Piastri demonstrated stunning pace, Norris was unable to go with him and this allowed Verstappen to close in on the Briton.
Piastri contended that he could go quicker on a new set of hard tyres, with the intent of putting Verstappen onto the defensive. Indeed, the Australian called in at the end of lap 42, with the hope of setting a string of terrifying lap times to close the Red Bull driver down.
Yet, he couldn’t quite make the difference, and Verstappen was 7.9s clear at the line to cement a crucial victory for his championship chances.
Piastri at least kept his own title hopes alive with second, while Norris was punished for his lack of pace as he was unable to rescue a podium finish – instead, Sainz clinched his second podium finish of the season with an excellent drive.
The Williams driver had made up a place on Isack Hadjar at the start, and then capitalised on Antonelli’s slow stop amid the safety car to move up a further position. Sainz was well clear of Antonelli, who went off track on the penultimate lap to allow Norris to make his way up to fourth.
Antonelli finished 20 seconds clear of George Russell, who dropped to seventh at the start of the race, then lost more positions as he was held up double-stacking behind Antonelli in the first stop. However, the seas parted late on; Alonso made an unforced error and spun to let Isack Hadjar and Russell through, before Hadjar suffered a puncture late on to give Russell a further place.
Alonso recovered from his pirouette to finish seventh ahead of Charles Leclerc, who spent most of his day ensconced in the Alonso-led DRS train behind Russell, while Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.
F1 Qatar GP results
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