{"id":415867,"date":"2025-11-30T21:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T21:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/415867\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T21:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T21:32:17","slug":"verstappen-wins-qatar-gp-as-f1-title-fight-goes-to-final-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/415867\/","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen wins Qatar GP as F1 title fight goes to final race"},"content":{"rendered":"

One week after losing all their points from the Las Vegas Grand Prix<\/a>, McLaren threw away a bunch more in an increasingly tense Formula 1<\/a> title race by botching a strategy call at the Qatar GP on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen took full advantage of the unexpected gift to clinch a seventh win this season \u2014 his 70th overall<\/a> \u2014 as he closed the gap on championship leader Lando Norris from 24 points at the start of the weekend to 12 points, heading into next Sunday\u2019s title decider in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n

McLaren still has two drivers in contention<\/a>, with Oscar Piastri four points behind Verstappen in third, but must stop the slide. <\/p>\n

Last Sunday, the two drivers lost a combined 30 points after both were disqualified<\/a> following the race, won by Verstappen.<\/p>\n

At the Qatar GP, Norris would have clinched his first F1 title with a win but finished fourth, with Piastri placing second having started from pole position and looking assured. <\/p>\n

But after an early safety car, McLaren\u2019s decision to keep both drivers out backfired badly as Verstappen effectively benefited from a free tire change in a mandatory two-stop race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough, we just have to have faith in the team to make the right decision,\u201d Norris told broadcaster Sky Sports. \u201dNow it\u2019s the wrong decision, we shouldn\u2019t have done it (and) we didn\u2019t do a good job today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris leads with 408 points, Verstappen has 396 and Piastri 392. All three title contenders have won seven races. Verstappen is aiming for a fifth straight F1 crown, with Piastri chasing a first title. Norris will become the first British driver to win the championship since Lewis Hamilton clinched his seventh title in 2020 if he finishes at least third in Abu Dhabi even if Verstappen wins the race.<\/p>\n

McLaren\u2019s gamble backfires<\/p>\n

Although Verstappen overtook Norris heading into Turn 1, Piastri made a clean start and took a comfortable lead early on.<\/p>\n

Piastri also said McLaren made an error by staying out following the safety car, which came out after Nico Hulkenberg\u2019s Sauber was sent spinning off the track on Lap 7 after being clipped by Alpine driver Pierre Gasly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeechless. I don\u2019t know any words,\u201d Piastri said. \u201cIt is a little bit tough to swallow at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, the Australian added: \u201cClearly we didn\u2019t get it right\u201d and said there would be discussions.<\/p>\n

The decision played into Verstappen\u2019s hands and the elated Dutchman climbed out of his car and jumped into the arms of his mechanics and engineers after winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an incredible race for us, we made the right call as a team to box under that safety car,\u201d Verstappen said. \u201cSuper happy to win here, we stayed in the fight until the end. Incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to stay out was even more questionable in a race where drivers had to take two pit stops over the 57 laps \u2014 a measure imposed on safety grounds due to a high risk of tire degradation at the Lusail International Circuit.<\/p>\n

Gambling on holding track position left McLaren at risk later on, unless there was another safety car.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the correct decision,\u201d McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said.<\/p>\n

Because drivers were restricted to a maximum of 25 laps on the Pirelli tires, those who pitted had to change again on Lap 32.<\/p>\n

After the McLarens made their first tire changes, Norris was in fifth place behind Piastri in fourth. That left Verstappen out in front and with several laps to build his lead.<\/p>\n

McLaren pitted Piastri again on Lap 43 and Norris soon after, but when Norris came back out on Lap 45 he was fifth with Antonelli and Sainz barring his way.<\/p>\n

Norris overtook Antonelli right at the end but could not catch Sainz, who finished third.<\/p>\n

George Russell was sixth for Mercedes, with Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) completing the top 10.<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s dismal run for Ferrari continued with a 12th-placed finish. Aside from clinching a sprint race<\/a> in China in March, the 40-year-old has not been on the podium all season.<\/p>\n

Verstappen eyes another Abu Dhabi decider<\/p>\n

Desert battles seem to suit Verstappen, who clinched a third straight win in Qatar and has won four of the last five races in Abu Dhabi. Norris may take hope from the fact he won there last year.<\/p>\n

But the McLarens head to Abu Dhabi with a hard-charging Verstappen looking to repeat history by clinching a championship in the last race at Abu Dhabi, having done so when he overtook Hamilton on the final lap after a controversial finish<\/a> in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s possible now but we will see,\u201d said Verstappen, who had written off his chances earlier this season. \u201cI don\u2019t really worry about it too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP auto racing: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/auto-racing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One week after losing all their points from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, McLaren threw away a bunch…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":415868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[189110,5218,4703,189108,23168,189109,189111,57,18452,51,23740,2184,20319,194999,18451,50,36060,34614,194998,62,52,61,41637],"class_list":{"0":"post-415867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-andrea-stella","9":"tag-auto-racing","10":"tag-automobile-racing","11":"tag-charles-leclerc","12":"tag-fernando-alonso","13":"tag-formula-one","14":"tag-formula-one-racing","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-george-russell","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-lando-norris","19":"tag-las-vegas","20":"tag-lewis-hamilton","21":"tag-liam-lawson","22":"tag-max-verstappen","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-nico-hulkenberg","25":"tag-oscar-piastri","26":"tag-pierre-gasly","27":"tag-sports","28":"tag-top-stories","29":"tag-u-s-news","30":"tag-yuki-tsunoda"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115640791391280543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}