Race report
Formula 1 Qatar GP
F1 Qatar GP: Max Verstappen wins from Oscar Piastri, taking title fight to Abu Dhabi
A blunder from McLaren during the early safety car period left Verstappen free to charge to victory ahead of Oscar Piastri, with Lando Norris in fourth
Jake Boxall-Legge
Edited: Dec 1, 2025, 7:41 AM
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Max Verstappen delivered a crucial victory at the Qatar Grand Prix as he closed to within 12 points of Lando Norris in the 2025 Formula 1 title race, as McLaren threw away a potential win thanks to a poor strategy call on a seventh-lap safety car.
Polesitter Oscar Piastri had looked settled in the lead of the race and, owing to the difficulty of overtaking around the Losail circuit, the Australian was in prime position to make good on his track position.
But the race was turned on its head when Nico Hulkenberg clashed with Pierre Gasly, which produced a safety car. As this had occurred on the seventh lap, this was at the point where the drivers could do their two stops and fulfil the maximum 25-lap stint length. All but Piastri and Norris took as an opportunity to call into the pitlane.
This forced both McLaren drivers onto the offensive as they aimed to build a pitstop's grace over the chasing pack, but the lack of pit call had severely hampered the team's race.
Both McLarens cleared the majority of the midfield as they'd gapped a lengthy DRS train – led by Fernando Alonso – by more than the 26-second time loss needed for a pit stop. After Piastri's lap 24 stop and Norris' stop on lap 25, it effectively left just Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli in their sphere.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
The rest of the field, bar a few stragglers, all had to complete their stops at the end of the 32nd lap. This put Piastri and Norris back into the lead positions, but once more on the back foot; although Piastri demonstrated stunning pace, Norris was unable to go with him and this allowed Verstappen to close in on the Briton.
Piastri contended that he could go quicker on a new set of hard tyres, with the intent of putting Verstappen onto the defensive. Indeed, the Australian called in at the end of lap 42, with the hope of setting a string of terrifying lap times to close the Red Bull driver down.
Yet, he couldn't quite make the difference, and Verstappen was 7.9s clear at the line to cement a crucial victory for his championship chances.
Piastri at least kept his own title hopes alive with second, while Norris was punished for his lack of pace as he was unable to rescue a podium finish – instead, Sainz clinched his second podium finish of the season with an excellent drive.
The Williams driver had made up a place on Isack Hadjar at the start, and then capitalised on Antonelli's slow stop amid the safety car to move up a further position. Sainz was well clear of Antonelli, who went off track on the penultimate lap to allow Norris to make his way up to fourth.
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Antonelli finished 20 seconds clear of George Russell, who dropped to seventh at the start of the race, then lost more positions as he was held up double-stacking behind Antonelli in the first stop. However, the seas parted late on; Alonso made an unforced error and spun to let Isack Hadjar and Russell through, before Hadjar suffered a puncture late on to give Russell a further place.
Alonso recovered from his pirouette to finish seventh ahead of Charles Leclerc, who spent most of his day ensconced in the Alonso-led DRS train behind Russell, while Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.
F1 Qatar GP results
RACE
All Stats
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Chassis Engine 1 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1
57
1:24'38.241
218.776 2 25 Red Bull Red Bull 2 O. Piastri McLaren 81
57
+7.995
1:24'46.236
7.995 218.432 2 18 McLaren Mercedes 3 C. Sainz Williams 55
57
+22.665
1:25'00.906
14.670 217.804 2 15 Williams Mercedes 4 L. Norris McLaren 4
57
+23.315
1:25'01.556
0.650 217.776 2 12 McLaren Mercedes 5
A. Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
12 
57
+28.317
1:25'06.558
5.002 217.563 2 10 Mercedes Mercedes 6 G. Russell Mercedes 63
57
+48.599
1:25'26.840
20.282 216.702 2 8 Mercedes Mercedes 7 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14
57
+54.045
1:25'32.286
5.446 216.472 2 6 Aston Martin Mercedes 8 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16
57
+56.785
1:25'35.026
2.740 216.357 2 4 Ferrari Ferrari 9 L. Lawson Racing Bulls 30
57
+1'00.073
1:25'38.314
3.288 216.218 2 2 RB Honda 10 Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing 22
57
+1'01.770
1:25'40.011
1.697 216.147 2 1 Red Bull Red Bull 11 A. Albon Williams 23
57
+1'06.931
1:25'45.172
5.161 215.930 2 Williams Mercedes 12 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44
57
+1'17.730
1:25'55.971
10.799 215.478 2 Ferrari Ferrari 13 G. Bortoleto Sauber 5
57
+1'24.812
1:26'03.053
7.082 215.182 2 Sauber Ferrari 14 F. Colapinto Alpine 43
56
+1 Lap
1:24'41.524
1 Lap 214.796 2 Alpine Renault 15 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31
56
+1 Lap
1:24'42.494
0.970 214.755 3 Haas Ferrari 16 P. Gasly Alpine 10
56
+1 Lap
1:24'43.182
0.688 214.725 2 Alpine Renault dnf L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18
55
+2 Laps
1:23'35.203
1 Lap 213.746 4 Aston Martin Mercedes dnf I. Hadjar Racing Bulls 6
55
+2 Laps
1:23'52.324
17.121 213.019 3 RB Honda dnf O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87
41
+16 Laps
1:03'53.892
14 Laps 208.369 4 Retirement Haas Ferrari dnf N. Hulkenberg Sauber 27
6
+51 Laps
8'56.488
35 Laps 216.353 Collision Sauber Ferrari View full results
Photos from Qatar GP - Race
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Qatar GP - Sunday, in photos
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Qatar GP - Sunday, in photos
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Qatar GP - Sunday, in photos
Qatar GP - Sunday, in photos
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Qatar GP - Sunday, in photos
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Qatar GP - Sunday, in photos
Qatar GP - Sunday, in photos
Qatar GP - Sunday, in photos
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