Max Verstappen and Red Bull came out on top in a battle of strategies in the Qatar Grand Prix, giving the reigning World Champion the boost he needed to remain in the fight for the Drivers’ Championship title.
After he passed standings leader Lando Norris at the first corner on the opening lap, it looked like Verstappen would have to settle in behind Oscar Piastri and wait to see what played out in the 57-lap race.
His first big opportunity came sooner than expected as Nico Hulkenberg made contact with Pierre Gasly, forcing the Kick Sauber driver to retire and prompt a Safety Car period. With Pirelli placing a 25-lap limit on each set of tyres at this circuit, almost all of the teams chose to pit and take advantage of the neutralised conditions.
While they lost significantly less time compared to a normal stop and ticked off one of the two mandatory tyre changes, McLaren chose to stay out on track, giving them a much harder job as they had to catch up on two stops in normal racing conditions.
Verstappen was understandably full of praise for his team’s strategy after the race, saying: “This was an incredible race for us. We made the right call as a team to box under the Safety Car.
“That was smart. Of course, I’m super happy to win here and stay in the fight until the end.
“It was a little bit offset because of it all, but for us I think it was a very strong race on a weekend where it was a little bit tough. We still won the race and that was the most important thing.
“[McLaren choosing not to pit] was an interesting move. I knew that then of course we had a bit of a gap, but you still need to keep the tyres alive for 25 laps – the wear is very high around here, but luckily it all worked out.”
The result came at the end of a challenging weekend for Verstappen as he struggled with bouncing in every session, which contributed to him missing out on a podium in the Sprint.
He came back to take P3 in Qualifying, before eventually winning the Grand Prix by nearly eight seconds over Piastri, taking him within 12 points of Norris’ lead in the Standings.
“Well, it’s all possible now,” he concluded. “We’ll see, I don’t really worry about it too much.”
