The 2025 title fight will go down to the final round in Abu Dhabi after Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix and championship leader Lando Norris finished fourth.
Verstappen is now Norris’ closest rival heading into next weekend’s season finale after Oscar Piastri slipped to third place in the standings with a second-place finish in Qatar.
Verstappen’s victory means he is just 12 points behind Norris in the championship with a maximum of 25 points available at the final round.
Piastri is now 16 points adrift of his teammate and was clearly aggrieved after his McLaren team appeared to throw away his shot at victory in Qatar by opting against a pit stop under a safety car on Lap 7.
“Speechless,” Piastri said over team radio after the race. “I don’t have any words.”
Max Verstappen took his 70th career win and seventh of the season. Andrej ISAKOVIC / AFP via Getty Images
The result means Norris will still win the title if he can finish in the top three in Abu Dhabi, but it piles the pressure on the 26-year-old ahead of the final round while opening the door to Verstappen, who has now won as many races this year (seven) as both McLaren drivers.
The race in Qatar hinged on a safety car on Lap 7, which was caused by Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly clashing on the exit of Turn 1 while fighting over ninth position.
The McLaren drivers were the only two not to make the most of a time-efficient pit stop under the safety car — a decision made all the more critical by a 25-lap maximum stint length mandated ahead of the race due to concerns about tyre wear.
By pitting on Lap 7, the vast majority of the field, including Verstappen, was then committed to two 25-lap stints to the end of the race, while McLaren still had two stops to make when racing resumed after the safety car on Lap 10.
Qatar Grand Prix top 10
Verstappen took his 70th grand prix win and third straight at Qatar; Sainz took his 2nd podium of the year
DriverTeamTime1 – Max VerstappenRed Bull1:24.9682 – Oscar Piastri*McLaren+7.9953 – Carlos SainzWilliams+22.6654 – Lando NorrisMcLaren+23.3155 – Kimi AntonelliMercedes+28.3176 – George RussellMercedes+48.5997 – Fernando AlonsoAston Martin+54.0458 – Charles LeclercFerrari+56.7859 – Liam LawsonRacing Bulls+60.07310 – Yuki TsunodaRed Bull+61.770*fastest lap
For McLaren’s strategy to work, both drivers needed to pull a significant gap over Verstappen in third place but they ultimately lacked the pace to do so.
In line with the maximum stint length of 25 laps, Verstappen made his final pit stop on Lap 32 and emerged just 3.2 seconds behind Norris and 7.6 seconds behind Piastri knowing both McLarens still had one pit stop to make.
Piastri struggled to extend his advantage over Verstappen during his second stint and therefore pitted on Lap 42 to take on fresh tyres in an attempt to chase down the Red Bull until the end of the race.
The Australian narrowed the gap to 7.9 seconds at the flag, but never truly looked in contention for victory after McLaren opted against the pit stop under the safety car.
Norris, who was clearly struggling for performance, made his second pit stop on Lap 45, but in doing so dropped to fifth place behind Carlos Sainz and Kimi Antonelli.
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Norris caught Antonelli by Lap 50 of 57, but remained bottled up behind the Mercedes until the final lap when Antonelli made a mistake and Norris slipped by.
Despite closing to within a second of Sainz at the finish, he was unable to put pressure on the Williams driver, who secured his second podium of his debut season with the British team.
Behind Antonelli in fifth, George Russell finished sixth after a slow start saw him drop down the order on the final lap. Fernando Alonso took seventh place despite a spin midway through the race and Charles Leclerc salvaged eighth place from another disappointing race weekend for Ferrari.
Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda took the final points on offer in ninth and tenth.
