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The championship contender capitalized on a strategy call from McLaren that flew in the face of decisions made by all other squads during an early race safety car period

This proved to be a expensive choice that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the final stages and in hindsight threw away the race win for the Australian driver

Race Results and Title Consequences

Verstappen won to take his 7th win of the campaign, matching the McLaren drivers, while the Piastri was runner-up and the Briton in fourth behind the Williams car of the Spanish driver

Norris earned an additional points by passing the Mercedes driver's Mercedes on the penultimate lap

Norris has been left with a twelve point advantage over Verstappen, who moved ahead of Piastri by four points heading to Abu Dhabi on 5-7 December

To secure the title, Norris must secure a podium position at Yas Marina if his rival takes victory next race day

Critical Events of the Thrilling Race

• The team's decision not to stop when a yellow flag was deployed on the seventh lap for a collision between Alpine's Gasly and the Swiss team's Hulkenberg
• A decision initiated by the Australian to bring forward his last pit stop in a last-ditch effort to challenge the leader proved unsuccessful
• A surprise podium finish for the Williams driver handed by the team's strategy call

How McLaren Missed Out in Qatar

The critical moment for McLaren was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the German tried to pass the Frenchman around the outside of Turn One on lap seven

Hulkenberg's car was damaged beside the track This triggered the yellow flag

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

With Pirelli enforcing a 25-lap maximum usage on the tires, that meant anyone who made a stop at that moment was committed to a fixed plan with a additional pit stop on the thirty-second lap

Driver Reactions and After the Event Statements

Speechless

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

The race winner said: That represented an amazing performance for us Our team executed the right call to pit That proved smart Furthermore extremely pleased to triumph in Qatar and remain competitive to the end, remarkable

Final Grand Prix Positions

• 1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
• 2. Piastri (McLaren)
• 3. Sainz (Williams)
• 4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
• 6. Russell (Mercedes)
• 7. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
• 8. Charles Leclerc (Scuderia Ferrari)
• 9. Lawson (RB F1 Team)
• 10. Tsunoda (Red Bull)

What's Next?

The crucial championship finale at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina This venue does not create the most exciting competition, but once again this twilight race features an contest which appears set to become every bit as dramatic as Vettel's first title in twenty-ten, or the Dutch driver's highly controversial first title in 2021