Verstappen claims massive win in Qatar as McLaren fumbles strategy
Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen stormed to victory under the lights at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Dutch driver, who qualified for the race in third place, executed a masterful race to claim victory ahead of Oscar Piastri.
How it happened:
The race in Lusail kicked off in a feisty fashion, with Verstappen making a lunge on Norris into the first corner. The Red Bull Racing driver, who was aiming to keep his title hopes alive, swooped past the championship leader to clinch second spot in the opening lap of the race.
Piastri, who started on pole, led the race from the lights out and continued to hold the lead even after an early safety car.
Early safety car impacts team strategy
The first major shake-up of the Qatar Grand Prix came on the seventh lap of the race, when Nico Hulkenberg made contact with Pierre Gasly as he aimed to make an overtake.
The 38-year-old was swooping past the outside of the Alpine driver until his rear right tyre hit the front left of Gasly. The incident triggered an early safety car, which every team, barring McLaren, took advantage of. The papaya-coloured boot stayed out longer, reaching the maximum 25 laps allowed in a single stint at the Lusail race.
Norris suffers damage as Verstappen maintains charge
McLaren eventually called Norris and Piastri in after reaching their 25-lap stint limit, but the pit stop did not yield the advantage they had hoped for, especially with the British driver sustaining damage to his car.
Norris also briefly ran off track, while teammate Piastri struggled to extract any significant pace from his tyres. Meanwhile, Verstappen, having switched to hard tyres, was consistently putting in quicker laps, keeping the pressure firmly on.
Verstappen takes the lead and seals Qatar victory
With Verstappen gaining consistently on both McLaren drivers, the Papaya-coloured team was forced to pit, leaving Verstappen in clean air to eke out quicker lap times.
It proved to be a torrid final stint for Norris, as he struggled to hit the pace he would have desired on the hard tyres. The fate of teammate Piastri was no better, as he struggled to close in on Verstappen as the race neared its final stint.
Norris, who came out behind Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, failed to make a move past the young Italian, leaving the McLaren driver stuck in fifth place. Antonelli would eventually go wide, allowing the British driver to make the move on him on the penultimate lap.
However, amid all the changes and strategic calls experienced by several teams during the race, it was Max Verstappen who claimed victory under the lights, ahead of Piastri and Carlos Sainz, who secured his second podium of the season and the first for the Williams team.
The win for Verstappen saw him remain in the title fight until the final round in Abu Dhabi.
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