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The championship contender benefited from a tactical decision from McLaren that contradicted decisions made by every other team during an early race safety car deployment

It was a costly decision that gave up track position to Verstappen in the final stages and in hindsight cost the victory for Piastri

Race Results and Championship Implications

The race winner won to take his 7th victory of the season, equalling Norris and Piastri, while the Piastri was second and the Briton in fourth behind the Williams car of the Spanish driver

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

Norris has been left with a 12-point lead over Verstappen, who overtook his teammate by four points heading to the final race on 5-7 December

To secure the championship, Norris must finish at least third at Yas Marina if his rival takes victory next race day

Critical Moments of the Dramatic Grand Prix

• The team's choice not to pit when a safety car was deployed on the seventh lap for a crash between Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Swiss team's Nico Hulkenberg
• A strategy led by the Australian to advance his final stop in a desperate attempt to catch Verstappen proved unsuccessful
• A unexpected second podium for Sainz handed by the team's strategy call

How The British Team Missed Out in Qatar

The critical moment for McLaren was when the two drivers came together as the Hulkenberg tried to overtake the Frenchman around the exterior of Turn One on lap seven

Hulkenberg's car was damaged beside the track That brought out the safety car

The critical part of the timing was that it left exactly 50 laps left in the grand prix

With Pirelli enforcing a 25-lap maximum usage on the tires, that signified anyone who pitted at that moment was locked into a fixed plan with a second stop on the thirty-second lap

Driver Responses and Post-Race Comments

No words

Piastri added in his post-race conversation: Obviously we made mistakes tonight I drove the strongest performance I was capable of, as fast as I possible, but there was no more pace out there Attempted my utmost but didn't get it done

The race winner said: This was an incredible race for us We made the right call to pit That proved intelligent Furthermore super-happy to win here and remain competitive to the head, incredible

Ultimate Grand Prix Positions

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

Looking Ahead

The crucial title decider at the Yas Marina This venue does not produce the most thrilling competition, but once again this twilight race hosts an event which appears set to become every bit as thrilling as Sebastian Vettel's maiden championship in twenty-ten, or the Dutch driver's highly controversial initial championship in 2021