LUSAIL CITY, QATAR - NOVEMBER 30: Race winner Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates on arrival in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Lusail International Circuit on November 30, 2025 in Lusail City, Qatar. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202511300762 // Usage for editorial use only //
(Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

F1 Review: Max Verstappen Steals Qatar Grand Prix Win From McLaren; Title To Be Decided In Abu Dhabi

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Max Verstappen, benefitting from an early pit stop under a lap-seven safety car, easily held off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to win the Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday (November 30th). McLaren chose to leave both Piastri and Lando Norris out during the pivotal safety car period, which opened the door for Verstappen to take the victory and stay alive in the championship race. 

Piastri’s second was likely the most disappointing of his career, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz also took advantage of McLaren’s strategy to take third, less than a second ahead of Norris. Norris’ fourth looked like it would be a fifth until a Kimi Antonelli wobble on the final lap gave Norris fourth.

The extra two points for Norris mean the Brit can finish third at Abu Dhabi and still win the title, even if Verstappen wins the race. 

Antonelli finished fifth, followed by Mercedes’ teammate George Russell in sixth. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took seventh, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc grabbed eighth, and Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson and Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda closed out the points-scoring positions. 

“This was an incredible race for us,” said Verstappen. “We made the right call as a team to box under the Safety Car. That was smart. Of course, I’m super happy to win here and stay in the fight until the end. Incredible.”

“I think the pace was a little bit offset because of it all, but for us, I think it was a very strong race on a weekend where it was a little bit tough. We still won the race and that was the most important thing.”

 In the driver standings, Norris leads Verstappen by 12 points, 408 to 396, with Piastri four points behind Verstappen with 392.

In the constructors standings, McLaren leads Mercedes by 341 points, 800 to 459, with Red Bull third with 426.

The Race

In the tension-filled drag down to Turn 1, Piastri easily held serve, while Verstappen took advantage of Norris’ subpar start to sweep into second. After what could have been a wild start, the processional began, with all early indications being that the championship would be decided next week at Abu Dhabi.

Piastri faced no threat from Verstappen, but Norris had to manage the Mercedes of Antonelli behind him. Norris needed to maintain third place, as a third-place finish in Qatar and a third in Abu Dhabi would guarantee him the championship, regardless of what Piastri and Verstappen did.

Everything changed on lap 7, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly touched, sending Hulkenberg spinning into Turn 2, stranding his car in the gravel. The safety car arrived, and Verstappen quickly pitted while the McLarens stayed out. In fact, everyone pitted except for the McLarens and Haas’ Esteban Ocon.

McLaren’s choice meant they would need two more pit stops, the first in the mandatory 25-lap window, while everyone else would need only one. McLaren would likely have a tire advantage in their final stint, but would need to pass someone, likely Verstappen, and possibly multiple cars, to win the race.

McLaren was looking at the real possibility of not winning the race, with a real possibility of finishing off the podium. Both cars were urged to push and build the gaps to the cars behind. When McLaren pitted on lap 25, they would ideally want to come out behind as few cars as possible.

On lap 21, the order was Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Sainz, Antonelli, Alonso, Hadjar, Russell, Leclerc, and Bearman. Alonso, in sixth, was actually doing McLaren a favor by holding up traffic behind him.

Piastri pitted on lap 24, and a mediocre 3.1-second stop brought the Australian back out in fifth place. Norris came in a lap later, giving Verstappen the lead, and after a 2.2-second stop, Norris emerged in fifth, importantly ahead of Alonso. McLaren did what they needed to do to alleviate some of the impact of not pitting under the safety car. Both McLarens took medium tires, which left them the option of soft tires for their final stint. 

Piastri smoked Antonelli into Turn 1 to take third place and eyed Sainz in second place ahead. 

Verstappen and many others boxed on lap 32. The Red Bull took a set of hard tires and planned on going the distance on that set of Pirelli’s. Verstappen came out in third, just over three seconds behind Norris, while Piastri assumed the lead.

While Piastri was opening a gap to Norris, Verstappen was gaining on Norris, even with the Red Bull on hard tires. Plus, Norris was dealing with tire temperature issues. It looked like time for damage control for Norris, as finishing below third would be devastating.

Piastri suggested pitting before lap 50 to give him more laps to chase down Verstappen, who would eventually take the lead once both McLarens pitted. McLaren agreed, and Piastri pitted on lap 43 for hard tires. A lightning-quick 1.8 stop gave Piastri a chance. 

Norris went to the lead, and the state of affairs meant he would come out behind Sainz and Antonelli, in fourth and fifth, respectively, once he did pit. Norris came in on lap 45, and a 2.7 stop brought him out behind Sainz and Antonelli. Norris had 12 laps to extract himself from the worst-case scenario.

Piastri trailed Verstappen by over 14 seconds as lap 47 began, and it was easily an “advantage Verstappen” situation. Piastri would need to gain over a second per lap to catch the Red Bull, and Piastri didn’t seem confident he could do it.

Norris couldn’t get close enough to Antonelli to even attempt to pass. But an error by Antonelli on lap 56 allowed Norris to take fourth and a crucial two extra points.

Verstappen wasn’t remotely challenged by Piastri and took the checkered flag with an eight-second cushion over the McLaren. Sainz held on for third, earning his first podium of the season.

The Bad

Did McLaren make the wrong decision not to pit either one of their cars during the early safety car? Of course, hindsight is 20-20, and if they had it to do over, I’m sure McLaren would have opted for a different strategy or strategies. 

But who’s to say everyone else would have also pitted if they saw the McLarens pit? In situations like that, it’s often a case of “do the exact opposite of what the leaders do.” 

McLaren could have done themselves a favor by splitting strategies and pitting one driver while the other remained out. Had McLaren pitted Norris and left Piastri out, Norris would likely be world champion. Had McLaren pitted Piastri and left Norris out, McLaren could have almost guaranteed that one of their drivers would be crowned world champion in Abu Dhabi. 

One would think the “strategists” at McLaren would understand, at the very least, “strategy.” Regarding its impact during the safety car on lap 7, shouldn’t McLaren have known that pitting their drivers then reduced their chances of winning? In the age of analytics and computer power that can give you, in an instant, the probability of likely outcomes, for you and your competitors, shouldn’t McLaren strategists have some idea of the ramifications of their decisions, before they make them?

Especially when the safety car occurs on lap 7 of a 57 lap race, a race in which you are not allowed to run a tire over 25 laps.

Even a simpleton like me could see that pitting under the safety car on lap seven would necessitate just one more stop to complete the race. In addition, the Lusail Circuit has one of the longest pit times (approximately 26 seconds) on the F1 calendar. That would tell me, again, a simpleton, that the fastest way to complete the race is with the fewest number of pit stops.

You have to feel bad for Piastri, who, during the cool-down lap, said he was “speechless” in a tone that really said, “I wouldn’t be speechless if I could really tell you how I feel, preferably while using colorful Max Verstappen-toned language.”

Then, during the post-race interviews, Piastri was standing beside Verstappen when the Red Bull driver was asked about McLaren’s strategy. Verstappen called it “interesting,” which is a polite way of saying “stupid,” so as not to offend the driver beside you who lost the race because of that stupidity.  

Get ready for a solid week’s worth of F1 pundits everywhere using the words “permutations,” “clinching scenarios,” “tightening nerves,” and “possibly the biggest team collapse in F1 history.” And speaking of things “clinching” and “tightening,” how must the backside of Zak Brown be feeling right about now? If Brown claims to be the architect of McLaren’s rise to dominance, then he must also take responsibility for their tumble from such a lofty pedestal should McLaren fail to deliver in Abu Dhabi. 

The Good

I appreciate the confidence it takes for Verstappen to opine that he’d “easily” have won the drivers championship in a McLaren. But I’ll need some clarification, Max. In this hypothetical “you in a McLaren” scenario, would you have a teammate the equivalent of your current Red Bull mate Yuki Tsunoda, who is incapable of challenging you for wins? Or, would your teammate be, let’s say, Norris or Piastri, who definitely would challenge you for victories? 

But if you really want to make a bold statement, Max, claim you could have won the title in a Ferrari. Or, for an even bolder claim, tells us you could win the championship in a McLaren with the same brilliant McLaren strategists that Norris and Piastri have enjoyed this season. Would your hypothetical McLaren team handicap your efforts with the sporadic ineptitude and sometimes cluelessness that they’ve shown with their 2025 lineup? Still want to make that claim? Go ahead, I dare you.

While the race had to be a nightmare for Norris, his pass of Antonelli for fourth late in the race could ultimately be the deciding points in the championship. On a day in Qatar in which nearly everything went wrong for Norris, it at least ended on a somewhat positive note.

When asked about McLaren’s strategy blunders in Qatar, Norris quipped, “I just want to go to bed.” Let that quote serve as a wake-up call to McLaren.

Grid Walk Moments

Martin Brundle started the “Grid Walk” chatting with diminutive comedy giant Kevin Hart, a man who’s such a huge fan of F1 that he doesn’t even know how to pronounce “Alpine” correctly. 

Also, I’ve always been curious as to exactly how small Hart is. I mean, could you fit two of him in the cockpit of an F1 car? Or, if Hart contorted his body in the right way, could a pit crew fit him inside a tire warmer? I think “Alpeen” should invite Hart to Abu Dhabi next week so we can find out the answers to these questions.

Then, it was on to tennis legend Novak Djokovic, who visited McLaren headquarters in June when the 24-time major champion was playing at Wimbledon. At that time, did Zak Brown and company pick the brain of Djokovic, known universally as one of the mentally strongest stars in his sport, about how to be mentally strong under adverse conditions? It doesn’t seem like it.  

The Driver

It would seem prudent to give this honor to Verstappen, but he really didn’t do anything that special, except not do what McLaren did.

Instead, the “Driver Of The Day” goes to Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who finished third for only his second podium of the year. Yes, Sainz’s strategy was almost identical to that of Verstappen, but Sainz earned his podium in a much more inferior car. 

Sainz’s victory also clinched fifth in the contructors standings for Williams.


The Results (Qatar Airways Qatar Grand Prix, Lusail International Circuit)

Pos.No.DriverTeamLapsTime / RetiredPts.
11Max VerstappenRed Bull Racing571:24:38.24125
281Oscar PiastriMcLaren57+7.995s18
355Carlos SainzWilliams57+22.665s15
44Lando NorrisMcLaren57+23.315s12
512Kimi AntonelliMercedes57+28.317s10
663George RussellMercedes57+48.599s8
714Fernando AlonsoAston Martin57+54.045s6
816Charles LeclercFerrari57+56.785s4
930Liam LawsonRacing Bulls57+60.073s2
1022Yuki TsunodaRed Bull Racing57+61.770s1
1123Alexander AlbonWilliams57+66.931s0
1244Lewis HamiltonFerrari57+77.730s0
135Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber57+84.812s0
1443Franco ColapintoAlpine56+1 lap0
1531Esteban OconHaas F1 Team56+1 lap0
1610Pierre GaslyAlpine56+1 lap0
1718Lance StrollAston Martin55DNF0
186Isack HadjarRacing Bulls55DNF0
NC87Oliver BearmanHaas F1 Team41DNF0
NC27Nico HulkenbergKick Sauber6DNF0
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