Verstappen storms into a three-way title finale after McLaren’s shocking Qatar strategy blunder
Max Verstappen will arrive in Abu Dhabi with a renewed sense of purpose and a title suddenly within reach, after a remarkable turn of events in Qatar transformed what once looked like a fading season into a genuine championship bid. The Dutchman cut Lando Norris’s lead to just 12 points and leapfrogged Oscar Piastri in the standings, setting up a three-way showdown that few thought possible even a month ago.
His victory under the floodlights in Lusail owed much to his own assured driving, but it was McLaren’s catastrophic strategic misjudgement that delivered him the opening he needed. When an early safety car appeared, every team except McLaren chose to pit. It was a free stop – an obvious decision on a circuit where overtaking is notoriously difficult. McLaren, inexplicably, stayed out. The mistake cost them track position and handed Verstappen a clear path to the chequered flag.
Piastri salvaged second, and Norris could manage only fourth, a result that has tightened the pressure on the championship leader at the worst possible moment.
Verstappen, however, cut a relaxed figure in the aftermath. A man who had once been 104 points adrift after the Dutch Grand Prix in August now finds himself just one race away from a fifth world title. The turnaround still seems to surprise him.
“I’m excited, I’m happy to go there and have a go at it,” he said. “I try everything I can, but if I don’t win it, I still know I had an amazing season. So it doesn’t really matter. It takes a lot of the pressure off.”
His confidence stems not just from form but from the technical revival Red Bull engineered in late summer. A package of upgrades introduced at Monza – targeting the floor and front wing – finally unlocked the balance and grip the team had been missing. Since then, Verstappen has collected five victories and three further podiums, a run that has dragged him back into contention and energised the entire operation.
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He was quick to credit the cohesion inside the team. “We’ve won races where maybe we shouldn’t have, like Sunday, by making the right call as a team,” he said. “The way I work with my engineer GP [Gianpiero Lambiase] and everyone around me – we’re really well integrated. We know exactly what to ask of each other.”
Norris still holds the advantage, and the mathematics remain in his favour. A podium finish will secure him the title regardless of what Verstappen or Piastri manage. Yet the past fortnight has shown how quickly McLaren’s situation can unravel. At the previous round in Las Vegas, both McLarens were disqualified for excessive skid-block wear – a technical infringement that gifted Verstappen a 25-point swing. Qatar compounded that misery through an avoidable strategic error.
The pressure now sits squarely on McLaren’s shoulders. For Norris, Abu Dhabi presents both the greatest opportunity of his career and a test of composure he has never faced before. Piastri, 16 points down, remains mathematically alive and needs a win combined with Norris finishing sixth or lower.
Verstappen, by contrast, enters the decider with the unusual luxury of expectation-free aggression. The last time he arrived in Abu Dhabi fighting for a championship was in 2021, when he prevailed over Lewis Hamilton in a finale marred by procedural controversy. This time, the variables are different, but the stakes feel no less intense.
As the paddock heads to Yas Marina, the season’s narrative has narrowed to one final question: can Norris withstand the surge from a revitalised Verstappen, or will McLaren’s late-season chaos prove fatal to their campaign? The answer will come on Sunday, and nothing about this season suggests it will be calm.