The three-way F1 title fight will go down to the last race of the season after took full advantage of a McLaren blunder to win the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday.
In second place
His win lifted him into second place in the title race with 396 points, 12 behind championship leader Norris, who finished fourth. Pole-sitter Piastri slipped to third in the standings but trimmed his deficit to Norris to 16 points with one race remaining in Abu Dhabi next Sunday, where Verstappen has won four times in the last five years. “It’s all possible now,” said Verstappen, who is chasing a fifth successive world title. Verstappen paid tribute to his Red Bull team and chief strategist Hannah Schmitz. The four-time champion admitted that he did not expect to win but had made the most of another mistake by and his main rivals Norris and Piastri thanks to a key strategic decision.
It came on lap seven when a safety car was deployed and he was called immediately into the pits while McLaren hesitated and chose to stay out without pitting — the only team to do so in a race where two stops were mandatory. “I didn’t expect to win, for sure,” explained the 28-year-old Dutchman.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen crosses the finish line to win the Qatar Grand Prix in Lusail on Sunday. Pic/AFP
‘We got a free pit stop’
“On pure pace, we are not at the same level as them [McLaren] but we made the right call and it gave us almost a free pit stop and it made the race for me. It meant two long stints but we managed the tyres well and they caught up, but not too much. And that decision won me the race today!”
Asked if he believed it was another one of the errors that he had previously said were helping him to stay in the championship fight, Verstappen said: “Another one?… Yes. They missed the whole opportunity. On pace, they are faster, but today showed that anything is possible and, with a positive mindset, we will go to and do our best and try to win.”
Without that strategy blunder, Piastri seemed on course to complete a clean sweep for the weekend after dominating every session and winning Saturday’s sprint.
F1’s title battle decoded
Lando Norris (408 pts): If McLaren’s Norris is on the podium in Abu Dhabi, he will be world champion no matter what his rivals do. If he finishes fourth, he will hope Red Bull’s Max Verstappen does not win. If he fails to score any points, he will need Verstappen to be off the podium and McLaren in third or lower.
Max Verstappen (396 pts): Verstappen must be on the podium at Abu Dhabi to have any chance of winning a fifth consecutive drivers’ title. His best chance is to win the race and hope Norris is off the podium.
Oscar Piastri (392 pts): Piastri must finish in the top two at Abu Dhabi to have any chance of claiming a first world title. Even with victory he needs teammate Norris to be sixth or lower. If Piastri finishes second, he will need Norris to be in 10th or lower, plus Verstappen to be off the podium.