The Dutchman delivered a superb drive from third to claim his seventh win of the season — and his third consecutive triumph at Lusail — beating Oscar Piastri and an inspired Carlos Sainz to move into second in the standings.

Verstappen now sits four points ahead of Piastri and 12 behind Lando Norris with one round remaining.

Norris finished fourth after a late move on Kimi Antonelli, limiting the damage but seeing his championship lead tighten dramatically.

Piastri’s second place drops him to third in the title battle, four points behind Verstappen and 16 adrift of his McLaren teammate.

Verstappen’s win hinged on a pivotal strategy call that McLaren opted not to follow. An early Safety Car — triggered by contact between Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly — flipped the race on its head.

With Pirelli enforcing a maximum 25-lap stint rule for the 57-lap race, teams were forced into improvised strategies. Eighteen of the 20 drivers pitted under the caution, with only Piastri and Norris staying out to commit to a Lap 25 stop.

That decision played perfectly into Verstappen’s hands. Having passed Norris for second on the opening lap, he had the pace to build a crucial margin across both pit sequences and ultimately win by 7.9 seconds, claiming the 70th victory of his career.

 

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A delighted Verstappen praised his team’s execution afterwards.

“This was an incredible race for us,” he said.

“We made the right call there as a team there to box under the safety car. That was smart.

“Super happy to win here. We stay in the fight till the end. Yeah. Incredible.”

He admitted the early curveball required a quick reset.

“It was a little offset because of it all,” he said.

“But for us I think it was a very strong race on a weekend where I think it was a little bit tough.

“But yeah, we still won the race and that was the most important [thing].”

When asked about McLaren’s refusal to pit under Safety Car, he didn’t hide his surprise.

“I was like that was an interesting move,” Verstappen admitted.

“I knew that then of course we had a bit of a gap, but still you need to keep the tyres alive for 25 laps as well.

“The wear is very high around here. But luckily it all worked out.”

He also remained relaxed about his championship prospects heading to Abu Dhabi.

“It’s all possible now,” he smiled.

“And we’ll see. I don’t really worry about it too much.”

A clearly dejected Piastri said he had given it everything in the race.

“Clearly we didn’t get it right tonight,” he said.

“I drove the best race I could as fast as I could. And yeah, there was nothing left out there.

“So I tried my best but it wasn’t to be tonight unfortunately.”

The Australian conceded McLaren misjudged the strategy, adding it was extra hard to take given his  pace shown across the weekend.

“I think in hindsight it’s pretty obvious what we should’ve done but I’m sure we’ll discuss it as a team,” he said.

“It’s not all bad obviously. It’s been a really good weekend. The pace has been very strong.

“But obviously a little bit tough to swallow at the moment.”

Sainz, meanwhile, was thrilled with an unexpected podium — Williams’ first multiple-podium season since 2016.

 

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“I’m so happy,” Sainz said.

“So proud of the whole team of what we’ve done today because we came into this weekend thinking it was going to be the most difficult weekend of the year.

“And suddenly we came out with a podium out of it.

“We nailed the race pace. I was super quick, much quicker than expected and we nailed the strategy, we nailed the tyre management, nailed the start, nailed all the defending and management and that brought us an unexpected podium.

“So I cannot be more proud.”

He credited strong pit work for helping him climb four positions from seventh on the grid.

“That’s why we got everything right today,” Sainz admitted.

“We had a tough first half of the season where things didn’t come together but we improved in so many areas during the yeah and today there were a few opportunities to grasp and we grabbed all of them by executing a perfect race.

“Honestly, I’m over the moon with this podium because I absolutely didn’t expect it.”

The race itself began perfectly for Piastri, who launched cleanly from pole and dropped Norris, while Verstappen immediately attacked the second McLaren. The Dutchman swept into Turn 1 to take second and quickly pulled out of DRS range.

Things only stabilised briefly before Lap 7, when Hulkenberg attempted an outside move on Gasly into Turn 1.

Gasly clipped the Sauber’s right-rear, sending Hulkenberg into the gravel and triggering the Safety Car that would define the race.

Seventeen drivers immediately pitted, with only the two McLarens and Esteban Ocon staying out. Ocon stopped next lap, also serving a five-second penalty for jumping the start.

This left Piastri and Norris committed to stops around Laps 25 and 50, while the early stoppers were boxed into pitting by Lap 32. Norris questioned the decision, but race engineer Will Joseph insisted the majority had “lost all their flexibility.”

Racing resumed on Lap 10. Piastri and Norris pushed hard to build the margin needed to rejoin ahead of sixth placed Fernando Alonso, who headed a long DRS train.

Piastri boxed on Lap 24, rejoining fifth ahead of Alonso. Norris followed on Lap 25. Verstappen and the rest of the Safety Car group stopped by Lap 32, with the Red Bull emerging third, 4.1 seconds behind Norris.

Piastri regained the lead, having crucially cleared Antonelli before the cut-off—a benefit Norris did not enjoy.

As the second round of stops unfolded, Verstappen grew increasingly threatening. He slashed 1.5 seconds from Norris in five laps, while Norris ran wide at Turn 14 and was warned about tyre temperatures.

Piastri, fearing he wouldn’t have enough laps left if he waited until Lap 50, boxed early on Lap 42 for hards in a superb 1.8-second stop.

Verstappen arrived on Norris’s gearbox shortly afterwards. Norris briefly inherited the lead but delayed his stop until Lap 44. A slower 2.7-second stop dropped him behind Piastri, Sainz and Antonelli.

Piastri pushed hard to trim Verstappen’s lead below 15 seconds, but Norris became stuck behind Antonelli and Sainz. The Italian finally ran wide on the penultimate lap, allowing Norris through for fourth.

Antonelli finished fifth ahead of George Russell, with Alonso seventh after a strong defensive drive. Charles Leclerc recovered to eighth after dropping back early, Liam Lawson secured ninth for Racing Bulls, and Yuki Tsunoda completed the points in tenth.

With Verstappen, Piastri and Norris now split by just 16 points, the 2025 title fight will be decided under the lights of Yas Marina next weekend — setting up one of the most dramatic championship finales in recent years.