The 2025 Formula One season is coming to a close, but there will be no shortage of drama heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi. That's thanks to the race result in Qatar, the penultimate track for the campaign, which left the World Drivers' Championship wide open.
Lando Norris could've sealed the championship heading into the race, but with Oscar Piastri's sprint win, and Max Verstappen's Grand Prix triumph, the gap has been closed on the British driver at the top. Both McLaren drivers were ultimately left disappointed after some questionable decisions on the pit wall.
Most notable of all was the decision not to pit under the safety car on lap seven, while the rest of the teams decided to bring their drivers in. "There is nothing I can do about it," Norris said after finishing fourth in the race. "It is not our greatest day, it is not our greatest weekend but I don't know if anyone saw the run of results I had before? They were great.
"I put myself in this position and I am still happy. It was not my finest day in terms of driving and putting things together. That is life. Everyone has bad weekends. I take it on the chin, we all take it on the chin, and we will see what we can do next weekend."
There was frustration for Piastri, who could've had the perfect weekend with a sprint win alongside a Grand Prix win, if the race went differently on Sunday. The Australian driver admitted he was "speechless" on the team radio with the strategy that saw his opportunity to win slip away.
"I don't really know what to say," Piastri told the press after the race. "Obviously we didn't get it right with the strategy, the pace was very strong, I feel like I didn't put a foot wrong. I left it in the team's hands to decide what the best strategy was, they've clearly got more info than I do."
While Piastri did manage to put a dent into Norris' lead by finishing second, it was Verstappen who came out as the big winner with his triumph. It was his seventh of the season, which puts him level with the two McLaren drivers and heats up the race at the very top.
"This was an incredible race for us," Verstappen said after the race. "We made the right call as a team to box. It was smart. And super-happy to win here and stay in the fight to the head, incredible. It was a little bit offset because of it all but for us it was a very strong race on a weekend when it was a little bit tough but we still got it done."
Ultimately, it has dragged Verstappen into an unlikely title race heading into the final Grand Prix of the season, which the current champion is all too familiar with winning. The Dutchman will have his eye on another championship, even though it's still advantage Norris at the top.
Piastri still has a chance, having eaten into that initial 24-point lead before the weekend, but it all comes down to who can hold their nerve the best. Will the experience of Verstappen give him the advantage, or will there be a new World Drivers' Champion in Norris or Piastri?
A top-three finish for Norris will be enough to seal it, but anything else splits it wide open. So, with that said, here's a look at the driver standings.
F1 driver standings after Qatar GPLando Norris (McLaren) - 408 points
Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 396 points
Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 392 points
George Russell (Mercedes) - 309 points
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 230 points
Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 152 points
Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) - 150 points
Alex Albon (Williams) - 73 points
Carlos Sainz (Williams) - 64 points
Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) - 51 points
Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) - 49 points
Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) - 48 points
Ollie Bearman (Haas) - 41 points
Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) - 38 points
Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) - 33 points
Esteban Ocon (Haas) - 32 points
Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) - 32 points
Pierre Gasly (Alpine) - 22 points
Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) - 19 points
Franco Colapinto (Alpine) - 0 points
Jack Doohan (Alpine) - 0 points
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