🔗 Share this article Norris' Title Wait Goes On as Verstappen Wins in Qatar The Red Bull driver secured his seventh win of the season Lando Norris, Red Bull's Verstappen and Oscar Piastri will battle for a decisive championship showdown in Abu Dhabi after the Dutch driver won a thrilling Qatar GP The championship contender benefited from a strategy call from the British team that flew in the face of decisions made by all other squads during an early race safety car period This proved to be a expensive choice that gave up track position to Verstappen in the final stages and retrospectively cost the victory for the Australian driver Race Results and Title Implications Verstappen triumphed to take his seventh win of the campaign, equalling Norris and Piastri, while the Piastri was runner-up and the Briton in fourth behind the Williams car of the Spanish driver The McLaren driver earned an additional points by passing Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes on the second-to-last lap Norris has been left with a twelve point lead over Verstappen, who overtook Piastri by four points heading to the final race on December 5-7 To win the championship, Norris must finish at least third at Abu Dhabi if Verstappen wins the race next race day Key Events of the Dramatic Race McLaren's choice not to stop when a yellow flag was deployed on the seventh lap for a crash between Alpine's Gasly and the Swiss team's Hulkenberg A decision led by the Australian to advance his last pit stop in a last-ditch effort to catch Verstappen came to nothing A unexpected podium finish for Sainz gifted by McLaren's tactical decision The Way The British Team Missed Out in Qatar The critical moment for the team was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the Hulkenberg tried to overtake the Gasly around the exterior of the first corner on the seventh lap The German's car was left damaged beside the track This triggered the safety car The critical part of the timing was that it meant there were 50 laps left in the grand prix With Pirelli imposing a twenty-five lap safety limit on the tyres, that signified anyone who pitted at that moment was committed to a rigid strategy with a additional pit stop on the thirty-second lap Driver Reactions and Post-Race Comments No words Piastri commented in his post-race interview: Obviously we didn't get it right tonight I drove the best race I was capable of, as quick as I could, but there was no more pace out there Attempted my best but couldn't secure victory Verstappen said: This was an incredible race for us We made the right call to box That proved smart Furthermore extremely pleased to win here and remain competitive to the head, incredible Ultimate Race Standings 1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren Racing) 3. Carlos Sainz (Williams Racing) 4. Lando Norris (McLaren Racing) 5. Antonelli (Mercedes-AMG) 6. George Russell (Mercedes) 7. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 8. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 10. Tsunoda (Red Bull Racing) Looking Ahead The all-important championship finale at the Yas Marina Circuit This venue does not create the most thrilling racing, but once again this twilight race features an event which promises to be every bit as dramatic as Sebastian Vettel's first title in twenty-ten, or Verstappen's highly controversial first title in twenty-twenty-one