- F1
Comment: Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri missed out on victory in Qatar, with Verstappen’s unlikely win taking this unpredictable F1 title race to the season finale in Abu Dhabi. For McLaren, it should never have got this nervy
Kieran JacksonFormula 1 CorrespondentMonday 01 December 2025 08:47 GMTComments
CloseLando Norris fumes after McLaren strategy error in Qatar: 'We didn't make the right decision'
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For all the smugness radiating off the face of Max Verstappen and, by the same token, the fumes of red mist emitting from furious McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, perhaps the first words should go to the true winner of the Qatar Grand Prix: Red Bull’s cool-headed strategy chief Hannah Schmitz.
For it was Schmitz, the 40-year-old Cambridge-educated engineer, who made the critical call amid yellow flags and muddled thinking on Sunday night. On lap seven, a crash and a safety car created a door of opportunity. Red Bull, and every other team on the grid for that matter, walked straight through. McLaren, however, turned a blind eye.
“I think they [McLaren] are in a very difficult situation where they obviously want to treat the drivers fairly,” Schmitz told Dutch broadcaster Viaplay, moments after deservedly collecting the constructors’ trophy on the podium alongside race winner Verstappen.
open image in galleryMax Verstappen celebrates his win in Qatar with Red Bull strategy chief Hannah Schmitz (Getty Images)“I guess we’re in a position to take advantage of that.” You can say that again.
It is the latest curveball in this impossible-to-predict F1 title race. Verstappen duly raced two supreme 25-lap stints to victory with a raging Piastri languishing behind in second. Verstappen now trails by 12 points, with Piastri a further four points behind. Norris endured a torrid final few laps and looked set for a damaging fifth-place finish before Kimi Antonelli’s mistake saw him nick fourth.
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Two vital extra points which mean, despite the recent screw-ups, a podium next week in Abu Dhabi will still be enough for the 26-year-old from Somerset to clinch his maiden championship. Anything less and a Verstappen win would complete the most remarkable of comebacks.
And boy will McLaren CEO Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella be hoping and praying that Norris ends up victorious next Sunday, such is the manner in which the papaya-clad outfit have allowed the irrepressible Verstappen to claw back a deficit which looked completely unobtainable.
Eight races ago, Verstappen trailed title leader Oscar Piastri by 104 points. In every round since, bar Brazil, the Dutchman has chewed away at that gap. Now, it is a mere 12 points. Verstappen is now actually four points clear of Piastri who, despite a much-needed strong weekend in Qatar, needs a minor miracle at the Yas Marina Circuit to win the championship from here.
Yet it was Piastri who was the main fall guy in Lusail. With overtaking a rare commodity – a high-speed circuit but one with no clear overtaking opportunities, something which must be changed by organisers moving forward – track position was everything. Piastri grabbed pole position on Saturday with a stunning final lap and on Sunday got off the line sharply to keep the lead, while Verstappen stormed around the outside to take second place from Norris.
open image in galleryOscar Piastri slows behind the safety car while most of the field pits (PA Wire)
open image in galleryLando Norris now only leads Verstappen by 12 points with one race left (Getty)Pierre Gasly, an ex-teammate of Verstappen’s at Red Bull, then collided with Nico Hulkenberg. A heavy crash, debris everywhere, and a safety car. This 57-lap race was already proceeding with a pre-set regulation surrounding tyres: no stint could be longer than 25 laps, given the risk of blowouts. The incident occurred on lap seven; it was almost too good to be true.
How Max Verstappen has fought back in F1 title race
- Dutch GP - 104 points (gap to leader)
- Italian GP - 94 points
- Azerbaijan GP - 69 points
- Singapore GP - 63 points
- United States GP - 40 points
- Mexico GP - 36 points
- Brazil GP - 49 points
- Las Vegas GP - 24 points
- Qatar GP - 12 points
It should be noted that McLaren, with Piastri the race leader, were in the unenviable position of being the first team to act. And while in hindsight a “free” pit-stop under yellow flags was the obvious route to pursue, the heat of battle can do funny things to the boffins on the pit-wall. Even Mercedes back in their pomp, in a similar scenario with Lewis Hamilton in Hungary in 2021, miscalculated and sent their star driver to last on the grid. It happens. Quite ironically, McLaren have recently hired ex-Red Bull strategy guru Will Courtenay as their sporting director, working alongside long-term racing director Randeep Singh.
But the underlying question here is: why did it happen? Was it an honest error in the moment? Or did McLaren make the call to stay out, as they have stated all year, because they wanted to be fair to both drivers? Surely, at a minimum, it was in their best interests to at least split the strategy, pitting one and not the other?
For what it’s worth, Stella denied that the infamous “papaya rules” came into their thinking.
open image in galleryOscar Piastri had to settle for second with Lando Norris in fourth (Getty Images)
open image in galleryQuestions must be asked of the McLaren pit wall (team principal Andrea Stella, centre) (Getty Images)“In fairness, we didn’t expect everyone else to pit,” he admitted afterwards. “Once everyone has pitted, it makes that the right thing to do. When you have the lead car, you don't know what the others are going to do.
"There could have been a loss for Lando if we pitted both cars with the double stack, but, effectively, the main reason was not expecting everyone else to pit. It was a decision. As a matter of fact, it was not the correct decision."
Sat in his Red Bull cockpit, Verstappen could be forgiven for rubbing his hands together when the events unfolded in front of him. Asked about McLaren’s error, the provocative Dutchman replied: “Another one, yep!”
Much like their disastrous double disqualification in Las Vegas, another McLaren mishap has given Verstappen a sniff in Abu Dhabi, where he so contentiously won his first title four years ago. This correspondent stated last week that McLaren must now ditch their ‘fairness’ ethos and prioritise Norris before it’s too late. The leaderboard, with Verstappen in second and Piastri 16 points off Norris, makes that call altogether more digestible.
How many more warnings do they need? Heading into the final furlong in Abu Dhabi, it is now or never.
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