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Verstappen benefited from a strategy call from McLaren that contradicted decisions made by every other team during an early race safety car deployment

This proved to be a costly decision that gave up track position to Verstappen in the final stages and in hindsight threw away the race win for the Australian driver

Race Results and Title Implications

Verstappen triumphed to take his 7th win of the season, matching Norris and Piastri, while the Australian was second and the British driver fourth behind the Williams of Carlos Sainz

The McLaren driver earned an extra two points by overtaking the Mercedes driver's Mercedes on the penultimate lap

The championship leader has been left with a 12-point lead over his rival, who overtook Piastri by four points heading to the final race on December 5-7

To win the championship, the British driver must finish at least third at Abu Dhabi if Verstappen wins the race next Sunday

Key Events of the Thrilling Race

• The team's decision not to stop when a yellow flag was called on lap seven for a collision between the French team's Gasly and the Swiss team's Nico Hulkenberg
• A decision led by Piastri to advance his final stop in a last-ditch effort to challenge the leader came to nothing
• A unexpected second podium for Sainz handed by McLaren's strategy call

How The British Team Lost Out in Qatar

The critical point for the team was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the Hulkenberg tried to pass the Gasly around the exterior of Turn One on the seventh lap

Hulkenberg's car was left damaged beside the track That brought out the yellow flag

The crucial part of the timing was that it left exactly 50 laps left in the race

With the tire manufacturer imposing a twenty-five lap maximum usage on the tyres, that signified anyone who pitted at that time was locked into a rigid strategy with a second stop on lap 32

Competitor Responses and After the Event Statements

Speechless

Piastri commented in his post-race conversation: Clearly we didn't get it right tonight I drove the best race I could, as quick as I could, but there was nothing left out there Attempted my best but couldn't secure victory

Verstappen said: That represented an incredible race for us Our team executed the correct decision to pit It was smart And extremely pleased to win here and remain competitive to the end, remarkable

Final Grand Prix Positions

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

Looking Ahead

The all-important title decider at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina The circuit itself does not produce the most exciting racing, but yet again this twilight race features an event which appears set to become every bit as thrilling as Sebastian Vettel's maiden championship in 2010, or the Dutch driver's highly controversial first title in twenty-twenty-one