Formula 1 heads into a three-way title decider for the first time in 15 years after Max Verstappen seized a dramatic victory in Qatar when McLaren made a costly strategic error.
McLaren’s mistake handed Verstappen the win at Lusail and cut Lando Norris’s championship lead to 12 points, with team-mate Oscar Piastri a further four points behind. Piastri, who looked set for victory, was left stunned as a certain win turned into second and his championship position slipped from second to third. “It’s pretty painful,” he said. Norris remains favourite — he needs a third place in Abu Dhabi even if Verstappen wins — but Qatar underlined how quickly fortunes can change.
The last time more than two drivers went to the final race in contention was 2010, when Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso led into Abu Dhabi only to lose the title after a strategic failure that opened the door for Sebastian Vettel. That memory looms large given McLaren’s errors this season, including a double disqualification in Las Vegas that cost valuable points.
The crucial mistake in Qatar came when a safety car was deployed on lap seven after a crash between Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly. Pirelli had imposed a 25-lap maximum on tyre stints because of the track’s punishing kerbs, and with 50 laps remaining a stop then would have left two legal 25-lap stints. Every other team pitted under the safety car; McLaren did not. Stopping under a safety car typically saves around nine seconds compared with a green-flag pit stop, turning an obvious call into a near-certainty — which Verstappen recognised immediately.
Norris asked his engineer why they hadn’t stopped. The team said they had resisted pitting to preserve strategic variability later in the race. But that logic cost them track position at a circuit where overtaking is extremely difficult. By delaying, McLaren ensured they would emerge from their final stops behind Verstappen, and that proved decisive.
Andrea Stella, McLaren team principal, said the team had feared others might stay out, which would have left McLaren surrendering a leading position if they’d pitted. He acknowledged the mistake and promised a thorough, constructive review of the decision-making that led the team to believe not all cars would pit. “We will have to go through the review in a very thorough way,” he said.
Another complicating factor was the prospect of a double-stack pit stop. As the race leader at the time, Piastri would have had pit-stop priority; stopping both cars would have meant queuing one behind the other and costing the second car roughly an extra five seconds. Norris had already dropped behind Verstappen at the start and might have fallen further behind team-mates and rivals during a stacked stop. Stella admitted the double-stack was an “extra consideration” but insisted it wasn’t the main reason to keep both cars out.
Rumours circulated in the paddock that McLaren’s approach this year — trying to be scrupulously fair to both drivers — had blurred decisions during high-pressure moments. Some insiders suggested the team has shown subtle preference for Norris on occasions, pointing to races such as Hungary and Monza where strategy calls appeared to benefit him. McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown has repeatedly dismissed claims of favouritism as “nonsense,” emphasising the team’s policy of fairness.
For the sport, the outcome is a thriller: a championship decided between three drivers in Abu Dhabi. Norris tried to play down the occasion, saying his approach would be the same as any weekend: “I try and beat them, they try and beat me. It’s nothing different.” Piastri acknowledged the pain but stressed perspective, noting the team will learn and grow from mistakes.
Verstappen, chasing a fifth consecutive title, said he goes to Abu Dhabi with “positive energy” and appreciates the chance despite being 12 points down. He added that, even if he does not win the championship, he’s had an “amazing season,” which eases pressure and allows him to enjoy racing.
Stella, who has experienced dramatic title swings before, drew on his history in the sport. He was race engineer to Kimi Räikkönen at Ferrari in 2007 when Räikkönen overturned a large gap in the final races to win the title, and he engineered Fernando Alonso in 2010 when Ferrari’s error in Abu Dhabi cost the Spaniard the championship. He also worked with Michael Schumacher during the German’s dominant run. Stella framed the current disappointment as part of racing’s tougher lessons: a painful moment but one that can strengthen the team if addressed properly.
McLaren must now manage intense internal scrutiny and external expectation ahead of Abu Dhabi, where the drivers’ championship will be decided. The team says it will review its decisions, learn from the failures in Qatar, and aim to present its best performance to stop Verstappen’s recent dominance. For neutral fans, the stage is set for a classic final showdown.