McLaren mistake gives Verstappen hope

McLaren Mistake Allows Verstappen to Close Points Gap

​Oscar Piastri had a near-perfect weekend in Qatar for McLaren, that was until race day when a costly decision regarding pit stops ultimately cost both him and teammate Lando Norris.

​Going into the race weekend, Pirelli had said that tyres would be capped at 25 laps, meaning each driver would need to stop twice in the race. This became extremely interesting when Nico Hülkenberg collided with Pierre Gasly, leading to a safety car on Lap 7.

​All drivers who were left in the race except for three decided to pit for a new set of tyres, meaning they would change again after Lap 32. Two of the three who stayed out were the McLaren drivers, who would continue to stay ahead of the chasing pack.

​Max Verstappen would soon close down the leaders and swiftly took advantage of the later stops for Piastri and Norris to boost his title chances as he continued to lead until the very end of the race.

​The win for the Dutchman has been somewhat overshadowed by social media abuse aimed at Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli following Red Bull mistakenly claiming that the Italian had moved over to allow Norris to pass by, when footage shows he had actually lost control of his car for a short moment.

​Heading into the final race weekend of the season, Lando Norris still holds a slender lead in his bid for a first world title, but he will know that with Max Verstappen anything is possible, especially in Abu Dhabi.