McLaren stuffed up in Qatar.

An incredible McLaren decision to not pit either driver under an early safety car has seen Max Verstappen win the Qatar Grand Prix and set up a three-way title showdown in Abu Dhabi.

Oscar Piastri finished the race second to extend his winless drought, while championship leader Lando Norris had to pass Kimi Antonelli on the final lap to save fourth.

It leaves Norris as the championship leader on 408 points, but now only 12 points ahead of Verstappen, and 16 ahead of Piastri who has slipped to third.

Baronvonrort wrote on Dec 5^th, 2025 at 9:42pm:


A long shot for Oscar, but not impossible.

It'll be interesting to see if Oscar lets Lando pass him if it means Max doesn't win the championship.

Good luck to all of them - may the best driver win.

Qualifying was good last night.

1      Max Verstappen

2      Lando Norris

3      Oscar Piastri

4      George Russell

5      Charles Leclerc

Gonna be a great race tonight.

Captain Nemo wrote on Dec 7^th, 2025 at 12:07pm:


Yeah, Piastri needs a lot of things to go his way.

Max won't be as nervous as Lando, and I think that'll help him win.

Whatever happens, it'll be a great race.

And it starts at a good time here in Perth (9pm), which is a bonus 

Putting aside the championship for a moment, don't discount Russell - I have a feeling he'll do very well in tonight's race.

https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1276/abu-dhabi/qualifying

Captain Nemo wrote on Dec 7^th, 2025 at 1:00pm:


George is really good do you remember when he was in Williams and crashed with Bottas in the dominant Mercedes in the wet at Spa while trying to overtake with inferior car?

Yuki is unlikely to stay in F1 unlike other Red Bull rejects like Sainz Albon and Gasly.
Hadjars promotion was inevitable a few good results in first year which is something all the champions achieved.

Helmet Marko is old school former F1 driver he lost an eye had to retire when a rock was thrown into his face while following Jack Brabham.
He doesn't want good drivers he wants to find future champions which is why they get the flick if they aren't up to it.

When Craig Lowndes went overseas to race F3000 open wheelers Marko was his team boss.
Bad news for Lowndes was Juan Pablo Montoya was his team mate who won then went on to win in Indycars did alright in F1 and Nascar.

As for this race best chance for Oscar is if Lando takes it easy into first corner being conservative to finish on podium then gets into first corner incident damaging a wing or tyre.

Lando wins championship by 2 points with Max second.

McLaren asked Oscar to give his place back to Lando at Italian GP when Lando had a slow pit stop.
Max laughed about this on radio during race "Why because of a slow pitstop?".

Lando gained 3 points because the team asked Oscar to let Lando pass in Italy.