Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday after a costly strategy error by McLaren hurt both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, setting up a three-way championship decider next weekend in the last Formula 1 race of the 2025 season.
Oscar Piastri finished second and fellow McLaren driver Lando Norris finished fourth after getting stuck behind a few cars following his final pit stop.
Norris continues to lead the standings with 408 points, but his lead has narrowed after the result. Verstappen is behind him with 396 points and Piastri slightly further behind with 392 points.
Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren looks on in the pit lane during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Lusail International Circuit on Saturday.Kym Illman / Getty Images
With a maximum of 25 points available in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next weekend, all three of them stand a chance of winning. For Norris and Piastri, it would be their first championship. For Verstappen, it would be his fifth consecutive championship.
“Really well done with the strategy, guys,” Verstappen said over team radio after taking the checkered flag. “We keep staying in it! That’s a very lovely race.”
It will be the first F1 title decider in a finale since 2021, when Verstappen captured his maiden world championship, and the first since 2010 when more than two drivers entered the last race with a mathematical chance of winning the trophy.
While a victory awards 25 points, second place awards 18 points and third place grants 15 points. From there the points gradually diminish through 10th place.
Piastri, who looked like the strongest driver all weekend, qualified on pole position and led away at the start. Norris qualified second but was overtaken by Verstappen in the first corner after the Red Bull driver started on the grippier side of the grid.
Carlos Sainz of Williams finished third place, just holding off Norris in the final lap.
Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Lusail International Circuit on Saturday.Kym Illman / Getty Images
The race was unusual in that it required a maximum stint of 25 laps on any tire, meaning at least two pits stops for each driver in the 57-lap race, limiting strategy options.
The race was upended on Lap 7 by a “safety car” brought out by a crash between Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly. Verstappen, along with most of the grid, came in for a cheap pit stop for fresh tires, but the two McLarens stayed out.
“Speechless,” a bitterly disappointed Piastri said over team radio after the race ended. “I don’t have any words.”
“In hindsight it’s pretty obvious what we would have done, but we’ll discuss it as a team,” Piastri said in a postrace interview broadcast on F1TV and ESPN. “Obviously a little bit tough to swallow at the moment.”
The victory Sunday was the 70th of Verstappen’s career, marking a staggering comeback after he sat 104 points behind the championship lead in the middle of the season and all but wrote off his own title hopes.
Oscar Piastri of Australia driving the McLaren MCL39 Mercedes leads the field away at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Lusail International Circuit on Saturday.Mark Thompson / Getty Images
“We will fight to the end, mate,” Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told him.
His fight back was aided by a self-inflicted wound by McLaren, which had both of its cars disqualified last weekend in the Las Vegas Grand Prix due to illegal plank wear. Had that not occurred, Norris’ fourth place in Qatar would have been enough to clinch the world championship.
Ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, Piastri won the “sprint” race on Saturday, while Norris finished third. The race broke a lengthy slump for Piastri, in which he failed to finish on the podium since early September. In that time, Norris closed a 34-point deficit to Piastri and took the lead in the world championship.
Piastri led the world championship for much of the season, but he has fallen to third place heading into the final race.
David Beckham was spotted in the McLaren garage snapping a photo of Piastri’s first pit stop on his phone.
