Qatar GP 2025: McLaren stay out and Verstappen wins at Lusail

Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix at Lusail from third on the grid, 7.995 seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri, after McLaren left both of its cars out when the safety car appeared on lap 7. Carlos Sainz took third for Williams and Lando Norris was fourth. It was Verstappen's seventh win of the season and the 70th of his career, and it sends a three-driver title fight to Abu Dhabi.

How McLaren lost the Qatar GP

Piastri led from pole and was out of DRS range by the end of the first lap. Verstappen got past a slow-starting Norris into Turn 1, while George Russell ran wide at Turn 2 and fell from fourth to seventh.

On lap 7 Nico Hülkenberg tried the outside of Pierre Gasly, made contact and ended up in the gravel with a damaged right-rear tyre. The stewards took no further action. The timing was everything. Pirelli had capped every set of tyres at 25 laps, so lap 7 was the first moment a driver could pit and still reach the flag with only one more stop. Every team brought both cars in, except McLaren.

Piastri and Norris led the restart with two stops still to make; Verstappen ran third with one. Team principal Andrea Stella said afterwards that McLaren had not expected the whole field to pit and had overestimated tyre wear, so the gap it hoped to build never came. "It wasn't the correct decision," he said.

Piastri stopped on lap 24 and Norris a lap later, which handed the lead to Verstappen. When Piastri made his second stop at the end of lap 42, he rejoined 17 seconds behind the Red Bull and never got close. Norris had a big moment at Turn 14, came out fifth after his last stop and spent the closing laps in DRS range of Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli lost the rear at Turn 10 on the penultimate lap and Norris went through to finish fourth, 0.65 seconds behind Sainz, who kept his podium with a damaged floor.

The teammate duels at Lusail

McLaren. Piastri won both halves of his duel with Norris: pole by 0.108 seconds after Norris ran wide at Turn 2 on his final lap, then second place on Sunday. He had also won Saturday's sprint. Norris still leads 13–10 in qualifying and 12–9 in races in our count, and the strategy call cost Piastri more than it cost him.

Mercedes. Russell out-qualified Antonelli again, fourth to fifth, then lost three places at the start and more time in the pits. Antonelli finished fifth despite his late slip; Russell got sixth only through another driver's puncture. A rare Sunday for the rookie: Russell still leads their head-to-head 20–3 in qualifying and 16–3 in races on F1 Duels.

Racing Bulls. Isack Hadjar qualified sixth, roughly three tenths quicker than Liam Lawson, and was on course for sixth until a left-front puncture in the closing laps ended his race. Lawson finished ninth and takes the race verdict. Hadjar still leads the pairing 15–6 on Saturdays and 10–7 on Sundays.

Williams. Sainz qualified seventh, jumped Antonelli during the safety car stops and stayed ahead for his second podium of the season. Alex Albon, out in Q2, finished 11th. Sainz now edges the qualifying count 13–10, but Albon leads the race column 11–5.

Yuki Tsunoda, eliminated in Q1, collected the last point in tenth after Hadjar's puncture. Verstappen has beaten him in all 19 races we count this season.

What it means for the title

Norris goes to Abu Dhabi with a 12-point lead over Verstappen and 16 over Piastri. Before Sunday's race the gap to Verstappen was 22. Stella said McLaren will still not use team orders, so its two drivers will race each other and a Red Bull driver who has not lost a race to his teammate all year. Every verdict from the weekend is on the Qatar GP duels page.