Verstappen Profits as McLaren Stumble in Title Fight Mark Sutton - Formula 1 - Getty ImagesPhillip HortonMon, December 1, 2025 at 2:53 AM UTC·7 min readMcLaren got its strategy wrong at the Qatar Grand Prix, clearing the path for Max Verstappen to triumph and setting up a three-way showdown for the 2025 championship at next weekend’s Abu Dhabi finale. Autoweek rounds up the main talking points from the event at Lusail.
Verstappen wins, McLaren blunders
And then, still, after 23 races and six Sprints, there were three.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLando Norris had a chance of clinching the title in Qatar, but instead the fight will go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi between three drivers. Verstappen started third in Qatar but jumped Norris at the start, while Oscar Piastri converted pole position into the lead. Yet the race turned on its head when the Safety Car was deployed on lap seven of 57 after Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg clashed.
Under the one-off Qatar-only rule, with Pirelli mandating only 25 laps per tire set due to safety concerns at the high-energy circuit, it offered the opportunity for drivers to make a free pit stop—in turn locking in their second stop on lap 32. It all looked straightforward. Yet the McLaren drivers surprisingly stayed out, while everyone else pitted, meaning it was clear that either nine teams, or the singular team, was in the wrong.
It was swiftly clear that it was McLaren, not the nine, that was in the wrong. It effectively gave Verstappen just a one-stop strategy, while McLaren had to stop twice more. The prodigious pace of the MCL39 around Lusail was an ace up McLaren’s sleeve, which was exerted to strong effect in clean air, but it essentially gifted Verstappen the win. Piastri—comfortably the fastest driver all weekend—stewed at finishing second, while Norris was left down in fourth.
Max Verstappen. Mark Sutton - Formula 1 - Getty Images“This was an incredible race for us, we made the right call as a team to box, that was smart,” Verstappen said after the 70th victory of his career. “Super happy to win here, we stay in the fight until the end, incredible. For us it was a very strong race on a weekend where it was a little bit tough but we still won the race and that was the most important.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe outcome is that Norris has 408 points, Verstappen 396, and Piastri 392, with 25 up for grabs in Abu Dhabi, and all three have taken seven victories so far in 2025. It will be Formula 1’s first three-way title decider since 2010.
There was some soul searching at McLaren.
Piastri was, understandably, downbeat, as the prospect of a first victory since August was snatched from his grasp.
“Clearly we didn’t get it right tonight. I drove the best race I could, as fast as I could, there was nothing left out there, I tried my best but it wasn’t to be,” Piastri said. “I think in hindsight it’s pretty obvious what we should have done, but we’ll discuss it as a team. It’s not all bad obviously, it’s been a really good weekend, the pace has been strong, but it’s a little bit tough to swallow at the moment.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNorris described the result as “tough” and accepted “it’s the wrong decision, we shouldn’t have done it, Oscar lost the win and I lost P2… not our finest day, but that’s life.”
The points lead is with Norris, the recent results with Verstappen, and Piastri’s pace this weekend shows he cannot be ruled out. Expect a very tense weekend in Abu Dhabi.
Sainz scoops surprise podium
Carlos Sainz has had a strong second half of the season, and he and Williams performed exceptionally in Qatar to score an unlikely podium finish.
Williams expected to struggle around the high-speed Lusail circuit, but instead Sainz was towards the front of the midfield group throughout proceedings, and qualified in seventh position. A superb opening lap brought Sainz into fifth place, and during the first pit stop phase he jumped Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli for fourth spot. That became third when the offset Norris came in for his second pit stop, and despite sustaining floor damage, Sainz was able to keep the pursuing cars—first Antonelli, then Norris—at bay across the closing laps.
Carlos Sainz. Clive Mason - Getty Images“I’m so proud of the whole team, we came into the weekend thinking it’ll be the most difficult weekend of the year and we came out of it with a podium,” Sainz said “We nailed the race pace, we nailed the strategy, the tire management, the start, and that brought us an unexpected podium, I cannot be more proud. We got everything right today, we had a tough first half of the season but we improved in so many areas during the year. There were few opportunities to grab today but we grabbed all of them, I’m over the moon with this podium, but I didn’t expect it.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe podium also secured Williams fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship—its highest finish in eighth years—and means that Sainz now has two more podiums this season than his successor at Ferrari.
Ferrari’s dismal Doha
Ferrari’s thoroughly disappointing campaign is meandering towards a completely dismal conclusion. The team entered the season harboring title ambitions but instead it is now guaranteed to finish in fourth position, after a weekend in which Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were all at sea behind the wheel of the SF-25. Every corner looked like a fresh adventure, and Leclerc spent most of qualifying seesawing at the wheel of the car before spinning at high speed, while an understandably downbeat Hamilton was third-slowest.
“There’s zero performance in this car,” noted Leclerc, whose usual optimism and belief has been completely sapped. “Mid-corner understeer, oversteer on entry and exit, difficult to drive and keep the car on the track.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLeclerc made little impression during the race, gaining positions only through the mistakes and setbacks of others, including a late issue for Isack Hadjar, but even then it was enough for just eighth. Hamilton made gains on the opening lap by running the soft tires, but from there was marooned in the midfield, and finished only 12th.
“It’s been incredibly tough, a frustrating weekend, we’ve been nowhere from the first lap to the very last lap… I have no words,” said Leclerc. “It’s very disappointing to see that amount of performance, I just hope we can finish on a higher note in Abu Dhabi.”
Excellent Gasly gives Alpine hope
There hasn’t been much to cheer about for Alpine through 2025. The organization entered the current era of regulations as the team best-primed to challenge the leading teams—and finished fourth in 2022—but is already guaranteed to finish stone last in this year’s championship.
Pierre Gasly. NurPhoto - Getty ImagesBut one beacon of hope has been the performance of Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman once again dragged the unloved and undeveloped A525 into the top 10 in qualifying, the third-straight event at which he has made it to Q3 despite the limitations of statistically the worst car on the grid. Unfortunately points once more went begging in the race, after Gasly clashed with Nico Hulkenberg through the first corner after seven laps, while he was valiantly trying to hang onto a top-10 spot.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat clash elevated Oliver Bearman into the top 10, as he chased a sixth successive grand prix inside the points, but a calamitous second visit to the pits proved costly. Bearman’s left-rear tire was not fitted when he was given the all-clear to leave the box, and while he managed to bring the VF-25 to a stop so Haas’ mechanics would remedy the situation, he tumbled to last. An obligatory 10-second stop/go penalty for an unsafe release was a further sucker punch, and Haas duly retired Bearman from the race.
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