🔗 Share this article

Verstappen benefited from a strategy call from the British team that contradicted decisions made by every other team during an initial safety car period

It was a expensive choice that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the final stages and in hindsight threw away the victory for Piastri

Grand Prix Outcome and Title Consequences

The race winner won to take his seventh victory of the season, equalling the McLaren drivers, while the Piastri was runner-up and the British driver fourth behind the Williams of Carlos Sainz

The McLaren driver won himself an extra two points by overtaking Kimi Antonelli's Silver Arrow on the penultimate lap

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

To win the title, Norris must secure a podium position at Yas Marina if Verstappen wins the race next Sunday

Critical Moments of the Thrilling Grand Prix

• McLaren's choice not to stop when a safety car was called on the seventh lap for a crash between Alpine's Gasly and Sauber's Hulkenberg
• A strategy led by Piastri to bring forward his final stop in a desperate attempt to challenge Verstappen proved unsuccessful
• A unexpected second podium for Sainz handed by McLaren's strategy call

How The British Team Missed Out in The Race

The critical moment for the team was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the Hulkenberg tried to pass the Frenchman around the exterior of Turn One on lap seven

Hulkenberg's car was left damaged beside the track This triggered the yellow flag

The critical part of the timing was that it left exactly 50 laps left in the grand prix

With Pirelli enforcing a 25-lap maximum usage on the tyres, that meant anyone who made a stop at that moment was committed to a rigid strategy with a additional pit stop on lap 32

Competitor Responses and After the Event Statements

Speechless

The McLaren driver added in his post-race interview: Obviously we made mistakes tonight My driving was the strongest performance I could, as quick as I could, but there was nothing left out there Tried my best but couldn't secure victory

Verstappen said: This was an incredible race for us Our team executed the right call to pit That proved intelligent Furthermore extremely pleased to win here and stay in the fight to the end, remarkable

Final Race Positions

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

Looking Ahead

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