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The championship contender benefited from a strategy call from McLaren that flew in the face of decisions made by all other squads during an initial safety car deployment

It was a expensive choice that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the closing laps and retrospectively threw away the race win for Piastri

Race Results and Title Consequences

Verstappen triumphed to take his seventh victory of the campaign, matching the McLaren drivers, while the Piastri was runner-up and the British driver fourth behind the Williams car of the Spanish driver

Norris won himself an additional points by passing the Mercedes driver's Mercedes on the penultimate lap

Norris has been left with a twelve point advantage over Verstappen, who moved ahead of his teammate by four points heading to the final race on 5-7 December

To secure the championship, the British driver must secure a podium position at Yas Marina if his rival wins the race next race day

Key Moments of the Dramatic Grand Prix

• McLaren's choice not to pit when a yellow flag was deployed on the seventh lap for a collision between the French team's Gasly and the Swiss team's Nico Hulkenberg
• A strategy led by the Australian to bring forward his last pit stop in a desperate attempt to challenge Verstappen came to nothing
• A surprise second podium for the Williams driver handed by the team's strategy call

How The British Team Lost Out in Qatar

The critical point for the team was when the two drivers collided as the German tried to overtake the Gasly around the exterior of Turn One on lap seven

The German's car was left damaged beside the track That brought out the yellow flag

The critical part of the timing was that it left exactly 50 laps remaining in the race

With the tire manufacturer imposing a 25-lap maximum usage on the tyres, that meant anyone who pitted at that moment was locked into a fixed plan with a second stop on the thirty-second lap

Driver Reactions and After the Event Comments

No words

Piastri commented in his post-race interview: Clearly we didn't get it right tonight My driving was the strongest performance I was capable of, as fast as I could, but there was no more pace out there Tried my best but couldn't secure victory

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

Ultimate Grand Prix Positions

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

What's Next?

The crucial championship finale at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina This venue does not produce the most thrilling competition, but once again this twilight race features an contest which promises to be every bit as thrilling as Sebastian Vettel's first title in twenty-ten, or the Dutch driver's highly controversial first title in 2021