The Dutchman moved from third to first at Lusail, capitalising on McLaren’s strategy misstep to claim his seventh win of the season — and the 70th of his career — while moving into second in the championship, 12 points behind Lando Norris and four ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen admitted he had not expected to win in Qatar.
“I didn’t expect to win today. That’s for sure,” he told SkySportsF1.
“I think also looking at pure pace, we were not on the same level as McLaren. But we made the right call, as most of the grid, in boxing under the safety car, and that almost gives you a free pit stop kind of.
“And yeah, that made the race for me.
“Of course, I knew after that pitstop it was going to be two long stints on the tyre, in terms of tyrewear.
“But we managed that I think very well. They didn’t really catch up too much. It was all under control, let’s say like that.
“But for sure, that call with the pit stop made me win the race today.”
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The victory was Verstappen’s fifth since the summer break, part of a late-season surge that has seen him claw back from 104 points behind then championship leader Piastri after the Dutch Grand Prix. He now joins Piastri and Norris on seven wins apiece for 2025.
Asked whether McLaren’s misjudged strategy was another example of his championship fortunes relying on others’ errors, Verstappen confirmed: “Another one, yeah.”
He also shrugged off suggestions that McLaren’s attempts to play fair between their drivers had contributed to the decision.
“I don’t think it was about playing too fair today,” he said.
“It was just missing the whole pit stop opportunity. So we’ll see.
“I mean, on pure pace they are faster, but as it showed today again, anything is possible.”
Asked further about the decision in the post-race press conference and whether he believed that was going to enable him to win, he added: “I thought at that moment that there was a big chance of winning it. Yeah.
“I don’t think about losing. That’s not in my head. I think about how to win.”
The result sets up only the third time this millennium that a drivers’ championship will go into the final round with two or more drivers able to win the title, joining both 2007 and 2010.
Asked whether he could take confidence from the last battle to feature two or more drivers 15 years ago, which saw Sebastian Vettel come from 15 points behind in the final race, Verstappen said that he would be more focused on seeing what he could do.
“I mean those are great stories,” he said.
“Of course it doesn’t always go like that, but we go in there with a positive mindset and we’ll try everything we can.”
If Verstappen can claim the championship in Abu Dhabi, he would become only the fourth driver in history to claim five F1 championships, joining Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, and Lewis Hamilton, and only the second to win five consecutively after Schumacher’s run between 2000 and 2004.
McLaren strategy slip gives Verstappen Qatar win, ignites three-way title battle
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