🔗 Share this article Norris' Title Hopes Continues as Verstappen Wins in Qatar Verstappen claimed his 7th win of the campaign McLaren's Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri will battle for a decisive championship showdown in Yas Marina after Verstappen emerged victorious in a gripping Qatar Grand Prix Verstappen capitalized on a strategy call from McLaren that flew in the face of decisions made by every other team during an early race safety car period It was a expensive choice that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the final stages and retrospectively cost the victory for Piastri Race Results and Title Consequences The race winner triumphed to take his seventh victory of the season, equalling Norris and Piastri, while the Australian was second and the Briton fourth behind the Williams of Carlos Sainz Norris won himself an additional points by passing Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes on the second-to-last lap Norris has been maintained a 12-point advantage over Verstappen, who moved ahead of Piastri by four points heading to Abu Dhabi on 5-7 December To win the championship, the British driver must finish at least third at Yas Marina if Verstappen takes victory next Sunday Critical Events of the Thrilling Race The team's choice not to stop when a safety car was deployed on lap seven for a collision between the French team's Gasly and the Swiss team's Hulkenberg A strategy initiated by Piastri to bring forward his last pit stop in a desperate attempt to challenge Verstappen came to nothing A unexpected second podium for Sainz gifted by the team's tactical decision How McLaren Lost Out in Qatar The fateful point for McLaren was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the German tried to pass the Frenchman around the outside of Turn One on the seventh lap Hulkenberg's car was damaged beside the circuit That brought out the safety car The crucial part of the timing was that it meant there were 50 laps left in the race With the tire manufacturer enforcing a twenty-five lap safety limit on the tyres, that meant anyone who pitted at that time was committed to a rigid strategy with a additional pit stop on the thirty-second lap Driver Reactions and Post-Race Comments Speechless The McLaren driver commented in his post-race conversation: Clearly we made mistakes 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 Verstappen stated: That represented an amazing performance for us We made the right call to pit That proved smart Furthermore super-happy to win here and stay in the fight to the head, remarkable Final Grand Prix Positions 1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 2. Piastri (McLaren Racing) 3. Sainz (Williams Racing) 4. Lando Norris (McLaren Racing) 5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes-AMG) 6. George Russell (Mercedes) 7. Alonso (Aston Martin) 8. Leclerc (Scuderia Ferrari) 9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 10. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) What's Next? The all-important title decider at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit The circuit itself does not create the most exciting competition, but yet again this evening event features an contest which promises to be every bit as dramatic as Vettel's maiden championship in 2010, or Verstappen's highly controversial first title in twenty-twenty-one