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Verstappen benefited from a tactical decision from McLaren that contradicted decisions made by all other squads during an early race safety car deployment

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

Grand Prix Results and Championship Implications

The race winner won to take his 7th win of the campaign, matching Norris and Piastri, while the Piastri was runner-up and the Briton fourth behind the Williams car of Carlos Sainz

Norris won himself an additional points by passing the Mercedes driver's Mercedes on the second-to-last lap

The championship leader has been maintained a 12-point lead over Verstappen, who overtook his teammate by four points heading to the final race on December 5-7

To win the title, the British driver must finish at least third at Abu Dhabi if his rival wins the race next Sunday

Key Moments of the Dramatic Race

• McLaren's decision not to stop when a safety car was deployed on lap seven for a crash between Alpine's Pierre Gasly and the Swiss team's Hulkenberg
• A strategy led by Piastri to bring forward his final stop in a last-ditch effort to challenge the leader came to nothing
• A surprise podium finish for the Williams driver handed by the team's strategy call

How The British Team Missed Out in The Race

The fateful point for the team was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the German tried to overtake the Gasly around the outside of the first corner on lap seven

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

The critical part of the timing was that it meant there were 50 laps remaining in the grand prix

With Pirelli imposing a 25-lap maximum usage on the tires, that meant anyone who pitted at that time was locked into a rigid strategy with a second stop on the thirty-second lap

Driver Responses and After the Event Comments

No words

Piastri commented in his after-race conversation: Obviously we didn't get it right tonight My driving was the best race I could, as fast as I possible, but there was no more pace out there Attempted my utmost but couldn't secure victory

Verstappen said: That represented an incredible race for us Our team executed the right call to pit That proved smart And super-happy to triumph in Qatar and stay in the fight to the head, incredible

Final Race Standings

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

What's Next?

The all-important title decider at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit The circuit itself does not produce the most exciting racing, but yet again this twilight race hosts an event which appears set to become every bit as thrilling as Vettel's maiden championship in twenty-ten, or the Dutch driver's highly controversial initial championship in twenty-twenty-one