Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix ahead of second-placed Oscar Piastri and third-placed Carlos Sainz.
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| Photo: Clive Rose |
The penultimate race of the season took place in Qatar, featuring a sprint-weekend format. Oscar Piastri returned to strong form after a longer slump — he topped qualifying for the sprint and went on to win the sprint itself. For the Grand Prix he also started from pole position and was leading the race comfortably. It looked like he would cruise to a dominant victory, but everything changed with the Safety Car, which came out on track on lap seven after Nico Hülkenberg’s crash. Everyone decided to dive into the pits to complete one of the two mandatory pit stops. McLaren was the only team to stay out, and that decision ultimately proved decisive — and likely cost them the win.
A pit stop under the Safety Car, as explained by Red Bull strategist Hannah Schmitz, carries a significant time advantage. "The safety car stop has such an advantage when you have to make two stops that it was the obvious choice for us. And I'm guessing a lot of the pit lane felt the same way.
"Even though this meant you had no flexibility at all on the second stop, you gained the benefit of a huge amount of time saved," she explained.
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| Photo: Altaf Qadri |
Max Verstappen fully capitalized on this time advantage and won the race with a comfortable margin of just under eight seconds. Oscar Piastri finished second. After his second pit stop, Norris dropped down to fifth place behind fourth-placed Antonelli, whom he overtook on the final lap. In third place finished a driver few would have bet on before the race — Carlos Sainz, who brought his Williams to a Grand Prix podium for the second time this season. Williams thus secured fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
As for the title fight, Lando Norris currently leads by twelve points over Max Verstappen and sixteen points over Oscar Piastri. The championship will be decided this Sunday in Abu Dhabi. The clear favourite is Norris — for him to lose the title to Verstappen, Max would need to win and Norris finish fourth or lower. For Piastri to win the title, he must win the race and Norris must finish sixth or worse.
If the title were to be won by one of the McLaren drivers, it would be the first time since 2009 that the world champion was not a Red Bull or Mercedes driver.