Formula 1 News: Verstappen beats Piastri to win 2025 Qatar GP

Max Verstappen (pictured) held off a charging Oscar Piastri in the superior Rob Marshall-designed McLaren to win the 2025 Qatar GP Formula 1 race at the Lusail International Circuit and keep his championship hopes alive as we go to the season finale in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Piastri took the lead from the pole at the start, and Max Verstappen slotted into 2nd from his third starting spot and crucially ahead of points leader Lando Norris.

The big break came for Verstappen when a Safety Car came out on lap 7 when Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg made contact.

The McLaren drivers did not pit for new tires, but the rest of the drivers did. It was a major mistake. That gave Verstappen an essentially free pitstop over the McLarens and he used it to steal the victory despite driving the inferior Red Bull RB21.

Piastri came home second, 7.995s behind Verstappen who took his 70th career Formula 1 win and has now won the Qatar GP three years in a row and it was his 7th race win in 2025. Amazing, given how bad the RB21 is compared to the McLaren.

“This was an incredible race for us,” said Verstappen. “We made the right call as a team to box under the safety car.”

“Asked about McLaren’s decision not to box under the safety car: “That’s an interesting move…”

Does Max believe he can win the title? “It’s all possible now. We’ll see, I don’t worry about it too much…”

“Clearly we didn’t get it right tonight, I drove the best race I could and there was nothing left out there,” said a dejected Piastri.

“In hindsight it’s pretty obvious what we should have done, but we’ll discuss it as a team. It’s not all bad [in the championship] but obviously tough to swallow at the moment.”

Lando Norris leads the points standings with 408 points, to 396 for Verstappen and Piastri with 392 points with 25 points to play for in Abu Dhabi. Those three have won seven races apiece in this brilliant season.

“It is a disappointing result overall, said McLaren boss Andrea Stella. “We had the potential to win the race with Oscar, and he deserved that. And the podium was available for Lando. So we lost the victory for Oscar and the podium for Lando. So, we need to review the decision we made with the Safety Car.

“It was a decision not to pit. We did not expect everyone else to pit. When you are the lead car, you do not know what everyone else will do. It would have been a loss to Lando with the double stack, but the decision was due to not expecting everyone else to pit.”

Carlos Sainz Jr. brought his Williams home in third for the final podium position, 22.665s behind Verstappen. It was Sainz’s 2nd podium finish of the year.

“I cannot be more proud,” said Sainz. “We got everything right today. We improved in so many areas and today there were a few opportunities, and we grabbed all of them by executing a perfect race. I’m over the moon with the podium because it was unexpected.”

Lando Norris finished 4th, 23.315s behind Verstappen, meaning he takes a 12-point lead over Verstappen going into the season finale.

Kimi Antonelli had 4th locked up but gifted 4th to Norris with one lap to go and therefore rounded out the top-5, 28.317s behind Verstappen.

George Russell was sixth ahead of Fernando Alonso who survived a big spin with Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Yuki Tsunoda in the 2nd Red Bull rounding out the top-10.

Alex Albon (Williams) was P11 from Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari), Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine).

Esteban Ocon finished P15 as the Haas driver was handed a five-second penalty for a false start, finishing ahead of Gasly, Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Hadjar.

Ollie Bearman retired after serving a 10-second stop/go penalty over his car being in an unsafe condition, while Hulkenberg’s race ended in the gravel after his collision with Gasly.

Norris remains a heavy favorite for the title; 12 points is not a small lead. Piastri needs to win and hope his teammate finishes sixth or lower, so realistically given McLaren’s pace advantage… His chances are slim now.

And Verstappen will need a win and to hope Piastri and maybe Russell start to push Norris down the order.

Just one race to go. No Sprint in Abu Dhabi, just three practice sessions, one Qualifying and the Grand Prix to close out the 2025 season.

And there are three drivers able to take the title.

2025 Qatar GP Formula 1 Race Results – 57 Laps