🔗 Share this article

The championship contender benefited from a tactical decision from McLaren that flew in the face of decisions made by every other team during an early race safety car deployment

It was a costly decision that gave up track position to the Red Bull driver in the final stages and retrospectively threw away the race win for Piastri

Grand Prix Results and Title Implications

The race winner won to take his seventh victory of the campaign, matching Norris and Piastri, while the Piastri was second and the Briton fourth behind the Williams of Carlos Sainz

The McLaren driver earned an extra two points by overtaking Kimi Antonelli's Silver Arrow on the second-to-last lap

Norris has been left with a 12-point advantage over his rival, who moved ahead of Piastri by four points heading to the final race on 5-7 December

To win the championship, Norris must secure a podium position at Yas Marina if his rival wins the race next race day

Key Moments of the Thrilling Race

• The team's decision not to stop when a safety car was called on lap seven for a crash between Alpine's Gasly and the Swiss team's Hulkenberg
• A decision led by Piastri to bring forward his last pit stop in a desperate attempt to catch Verstappen came to nothing
• A surprise podium finish for the Williams driver gifted by the team's strategy call

The Way McLaren Missed Out in The Race

The critical moment for the team was when the two drivers collided as the Hulkenberg tried to overtake the Frenchman around the outside of the first corner on the seventh lap

The German's car was damaged beside the circuit This triggered the yellow flag

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

With Pirelli enforcing a twenty-five lap maximum usage on the tyres, that meant anyone who pitted at that moment was locked into a fixed plan with a additional pit stop on lap 32

Driver Responses and After the Event Statements

No words

The McLaren driver commented in his after-race interview: Clearly we didn't get it right tonight My driving was the best race I could, as fast as I could, but there was no more pace out there Tried my best but couldn't secure victory

The race winner stated: This was an amazing performance for us Our team executed the right call to pit It was intelligent And extremely pleased to triumph in Qatar and stay in the fight to the head, remarkable

Ultimate Race Standings

• 1. Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
• 2. Piastri (McLaren)
• 3. Carlos Sainz (Williams Racing)
• 4. Norris (McLaren)
• 5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes-AMG)
• 6. Russell (Mercedes-AMG)
• 7. Alonso (Aston Martin)
• 8. Leclerc (Scuderia Ferrari)
• 9. Lawson (Racing Bulls)
• 10. Tsunoda (Red Bull Racing)

Looking Ahead

The crucial championship finale at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina This venue does not produce the most exciting competition, but yet again this evening event features an contest which appears set to become every bit as dramatic as Sebastian Vettel's first title in 2010, or the Dutch driver's highly controversial first title in twenty-twenty-one