Verstappen Wins Qatar, Will Battle McLarens for WDC Rudy Carezzevoli - Getty ImagesVictoria BeaverSun, November 30, 2025 at 5:39 PM UTC·4 min readMax Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix Sunday evening to move into second position in the 2025 title fight and force the championship to the season final next week in Abu Dhabi.
Oscar Piastri, after leading the opening 25 laps, became the first driver to control the race on lap one at Losail Circuit and not win, thanks to the McLaren team's decision not to use an early safety car as a free pitstop in a mandatory two-stop race.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementVerstappen and Piastri were joined at the end of the race on the podium by Carlos Sainz, with Norris finishing fourth, losing ground to both his championship competitors.
Norris still leads the championship, but now by one point, 12 points to Verstappen, who overtook Piastri with his grand prix win, and 16 points to his Papaya teammate.
On the opening lap of the Qatar Grand Prix, Max Verstappen made it by Lando Norris on the start as the dirty side of the track held up the even-starting drivers, and Verstappen and Norris both lunged to the back of Oscar Piastri’s slipstream.
This early mistake separated the McLaren drivers in their interterm battle for a WDC, inviting back the four-time champion.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWith the 25-lap tire limit in effect and Pirelli concerned about left-front wear, a safety car on lap 7 changed the race.
Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly were involved in a racing incident that saw the Sauber drive through a foam board and out of the race.
With the safety car running into the very beginning of the window to change out tires on the mandatory two-stop, everyone pitted but the McLarens and Esteban Ocon in a Haas. Ocon would suffer a rolling start penalty and end up pitting a lap later under safety car to serve his five-second time penalty.
"This was a great race for us; we made the right call as a team to box under that safety car," Verstappen told F1TV. "That was smart."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhen asked whether he knew he had won the race after McLaren decided to keep both drivers out following the lap-seven incident, he simply called it an "interesting move."
The McLaren garage decided to keep both its drivers out to increase flexibility. A decision that Norris questioned over the radio, wondering why he wasn’t called to box once Piastri stayed out, splitting the strategy and following Verstappen.
"We should’ve just followed him in, no?" Norris asked, "If we knew the car ahead was staying out."
"They have lost all of their flexibility for the remainder of the race."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPaistri was called to box first, coming in one lap before the maximum on lap 24, and had a 3.1-second stop, letting him out in fourth behind Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, and Kimi Antonelli.
Norris followed on lap 25, in the 16-lap stint since the safety car left the track, Piastri gained 4 seconds on his teammate. It looked as if Norris would exit the track into traffic, but a 2.2-second pit helped the driver come out in fifth just behind his teammate.
On lap 32, the other 17 drivers still racing came to pit, with Verstappen leading the field down pit lane from the lead. The majority of the field switched to hards for their final stint, unsure of how the softs, the fastest but most prone to degradation, would hold up.
The McLarens then needed to make their final stop by lap 49 and 50. Piastri called to come in early, once he pulled away enough to clear Sainz and come back out to the racing circuit behind just Verstappen.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHe was asked if he believed he could keep his time under 1:24.000, and he answered that he had to try, as both McLarens were starting to show signs of attrition running in clean air up front with aging mediums.
Piastri came to pit on lap 41, as Verstappen gained on Norris. When Norris pitted on lap 44, Verstappen was within four-tenths of a second of the championship leader. Norris’ pit was 2.5 seconds, and with less time made up in the last stint, he returned to the racing circuit in fifth behind Sainz and Antonelli.
Piastri needed to gain a second on Verstappen a lap in order to challenge for the win, in the end, he finished 7.995 seconds behind the Red Bull driver, losing P2 in the championship standings.
Norris made it by Antonelli on the last lap to move up to fourth position. The Mercedes rookie made a mistake in turn 10, trying to battle Sainz for his third straight podium, and lost fourth to Norris.
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