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The championship contender benefited from a strategy call from McLaren that contradicted decisions made by all other squads during an initial safety car deployment

This proved to be a costly decision that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the closing laps and retrospectively cost the victory for the Australian driver

Grand Prix Results and Title Implications

Verstappen won to take his 7th win of the season, equalling the McLaren drivers, while the Piastri was runner-up and the British driver fourth behind the Williams of the Spanish driver

The McLaren driver won himself an additional points by passing Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes on the second-to-last lap

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

To secure the title, the British driver must secure a podium position at Yas Marina if his rival takes victory next Sunday

Critical Events of the Dramatic Grand Prix

• McLaren's choice not to stop when a safety car was deployed on lap seven for a collision between Alpine's Pierre Gasly and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg
• A strategy led 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 tactical decision

The Way McLaren Missed Out in Qatar

The critical moment for the team was when the two drivers came together as the Hulkenberg tried to pass the Gasly around the exterior of the first corner on lap seven

The German's car was damaged beside the circuit That brought out the safety car

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

With Pirelli imposing a twenty-five lap maximum usage on the tyres, that signified anyone who pitted at that time was committed to a fixed plan with a second stop on lap 32

Driver Responses and After the Event Statements

No words

The McLaren driver added in his post-race interview: Clearly we made mistakes tonight I drove the best race I could, as quick as I possible, but there was no more pace out there Attempted my best but didn't get it done

Verstappen stated: That represented an incredible race for us We made the right call to box That proved intelligent Furthermore extremely pleased to win here and remain competitive to the end, remarkable

Ultimate Grand Prix Positions

• 1. Verstappen (Red Bull Racing)
• 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren Racing)
• 3. Sainz (Williams Racing)
• 4. Norris (McLaren Racing)
• 5. Antonelli (Mercedes-AMG)
• 6. George Russell (Mercedes)
• 7. Alonso (Aston Martin)
• 8. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
• 9. Liam Lawson (RB F1 Team)
• 10. Tsunoda (Red Bull)

What's Next?

The crucial championship finale at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit The circuit itself does not produce the most exciting racing, but once again this evening event features an event which promises to be every bit as thrilling as Vettel's maiden championship in 2010, or the Dutch driver's much-debated first title in 2021