Max Verstappen took a perfectly executed Qatar Grand Prix, beating Oscar Piastri to rise to second place in the Drivers standing and to close to just 12 points behind championship leader Lando Norris, a strategic fumble cost McLaren dearly. The final podium position at Lusail went to Williams’ Carlos Sainz. 

Polesitter Piastri got away well at the start, but front-row-starting team-mate Norris was ambushed by Verstappen as they headed towards Turn 1. At the front, Piastri quickly began to build a gap ahead of the Red Bull driver and the second McLaren, with the papaya pair clearly expecting their greater pace to tell over the first stint. 

However, on lap seven the race was turned on its head when a Turn 1 clash between Kick Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly led to the Safety Car being deployed at exactly the point where the race could be split into two stops of the maximum 25 laps allowed for each tyre set in Qatar.

McLaren hesitated, however, with Piastri later saying, “I asked, what are we doing? Because we were getting pretty close to the pit entry, and I hadn’t had a call yet. I think when you don’t get a call instantly when the Safety Car comes out, clearly there’s probably some discussions going on about what to do.” 

The call to stay out eventually came for both Piastri and Norris, and it proved the wrong. Behind them, Verstappen and the rest of the field chose to take on new tyres and when the order shook out after the cheap stop, Piastri and Norris were faced with the task of building a large enough gap to get out ahead of traffic. 

They were aided in that quest by sixth-placed Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The Spanish driver tyre saving and backing up the field up behind them and by the time the McLarens neared the limit of their starting tyres they had done enough to avoid becoming mired in the midfield. Piastri headed in on lap 24 with Norris pitting a lap later and they emerged ahead of Alonso with only Verstappen, Sainz and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli ahead. 

Verstappen then led the rest of the field into the pit lane on lap 32. And this time, when the order played out, it became clear that the McLaren pair still had a massive challenger ahead. Although in P1 and P2, Verstappen was just a handful of second behind, and with fresh Hard tyres on board he was delivering enough pace to deny the McLaren drivers the opportunity of building another gap.

Piastri pushed the button on an early second stop on lap 42 with Norris pitting two laps later. But while Piastri emerged 15 seconds behind Verstappen and with a clear plan to reel in the Dutchman in the final quarter of the race, Norris slipped to fifth with his targets being Antonelli and Sainz. 

For much of the final 10 laps it looked like Norris would fail in his mission. Antonelli looked comfortable in defence and with overtaking in Qayar restricted to two points, Turns 1 and 6, the Italian rookie carefully managed his batter to deny Norris a chance to close under DRS. However, with his tyres wearing, Antonelli began to struggle in the final lap, and on the penultimate tour he slid wide enough at the exit of Turn 10 to allow Norris through to fourth place and two more, potentially crucial, points. 

At the front Piastri did all he could to reel in Verstappen. But despite rattling off a barrage of extremely quick laps he could only chew through half the deficit and after 57 perfectly controlled laps Verstappen took his seventh win of the season, and his 70th overall, with 7.9s in hand over the Australian, with Sainz scoring his second podium finish of the season with an excellent drive. 

Norris took fourth ahead of Antonelli who crossed the line 20 seconds clear of team-mate George Russell. Alonso recovered from a late spin to finish seventh ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, while Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.

2025 FIA Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix – Race 
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 57 1:24'38.241 
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 57 1:24'46.236 7.995
3 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 57 1:25'00.906 22.665
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 57 1:25'01.556 23.315
5 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 57 1:25'06.558 28.317
6 George Russell Mercedes 57 1:25'26.840 48.599
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 57 1:25'32.286 54.045
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 57 1:25'35.026 56.785
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 57 1:25'38.314 1'00.073
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 57 1:25'40.011 1'01.770
11 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 57 1:25'45.172 1'06.931
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 57 1:25'55.971 1'17.730
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 57 1:26'03.053 1'24.812
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 56 1:24'41.524 1 lap /3.283
15 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 56 1:24'42.494 1 lap /4.253
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 56 1:24'43.182 1 lap /4.941
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 55 1:23'35.203 2 laps
18 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 55 1:23'52.324 2 laps
     Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 41 1:03'53.892 Retirement
     Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 6 8'56.488 Accident