Credit: The Guardian
Verstappen Sends Title Fight Down to Season Finale With Win in Qatar Grand Prix
Published: Thursday, December 4, 2025
by Thomas Mazurowski
Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday, November 30, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, forcing a three-driver championship finale in Abu Dhabi next week.
The win completes a remarkable comeback for the Dutchman in the second half of the season, which included five grand prix wins. After falling 104 points behind earlier in the year, Verstappen now sits second in the standings, only 12 points behind championship leader Norris.
Piastri finally returned to form this weekend, tightening the points situation even further. A sprint race win Saturday morning followed by runner up in the grand prix puts the McLaren driver 16 points behind his first-place teammate.
After qualifying on pole, Piastri led Verstappen and Norris off the line at the race start. Toward the rear, Lewis Hamilton exploded off the grid, jumping up to 13th from an 18th place starting slot. Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso moved into fifth and sixth respectively from further behind.
On lap seven, Nico Hulkenberg crashed his Sauber in turn two while battling Pierre Gasly. Under mandatory tire restrictions introduced due to safety concerns, cars were only allowed 25 laps on each set of tires, forcing a two-stop strategy.
Verstappen and the rest of the field took the opportunity for a free stop under the safety car, setting them up to pit again on lap 32 and see the race to the end.
In a controversial strategy call, neither McLaren pitted for new tires under the yellow, making them the only team on an alternate strategy. Piastri and Norris stopped later on laps 24 and 25 respectively.
Everyone else came in again between lap 32 and 34. Haas F1’s pit crew struggled with the left rear of Oliver Bearman’s car, prolonging his pitstop and picking up a ten-second penalty for an unsafe release.
The final cycle of stops came on lap 42 as the lonely McLarens came in for hard tires. Piastri came out in second behind Verstappen, while Norris dropped out of the podium spots down to fifth.
Sainz found himself in contention for a podium late in the grand prix. A botched Mercedes double stack helped the Spaniard jump Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in the pitlane, followed by McLaren’s strategy slowing down Norris.
In the closing laps, Piastri pushed hard to close a 14 second to Verstappen for the lead. Further behind, Norris chased down Antonelli to minimize the damage in the points. Antonelli ran wide in the final corners of the penultimate lap allowing Norris to take fourth.
Verstappen crossed the line first to take his seventh grand prix victory of the year, eight seconds ahead of Piastri. Sainz barely held off Norris to take third place.
RedBull now find themselves second in the driver’s standings with Verstappen at 396 points. Norris still leads at 408, and Piastri falls to third with 392.
Next week’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix marks the first time in 15 years that three or more teams were mathematically eligible for the Drivers' Championship in the final race.
In the 2010 championship, Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, joined by the still-active duo of Hamilton and Alonso, duked it out for the title in Abu Dhabi. The race ended with Vettel taking home the championship.
Formula 1 will return to Yas Marina Circuit for the season finale on Sunday, December 7 at 8:00 A.M.
Thomas Mazurowski can be reached at thomas.mazurowski@student.shu.eduPosted in: sports,