Qatar GP 2025. McLaren’s mistake will make this championship thrilling

I have just finished watching the Qatar Formula 1 race, and it seems that McLaren doesn‘t want their drivers to win this championship. Even though this weekend featured the fastest car, they managed to squander their performance with an absurd strategy, making the final round in Abu Dhabi a bit more thrilling.

What makes this race different

This race was a bit of a weird race, as they made it mandatory to make 2 mandatory pit stops. This means that you need to plan your race to make those stops in the most efficient moment possible. The race lasts 57 laps, so if you have to make 2 stops, in theory you should make a pit stop after lap 7, because at that moment 50 laps remain and you can do two stints of 25 laps.
Therefore, if there is a safety car on lap 7 or later, what makes sense is to do the stop and lose fewer times against the other drivers. But seems that McLaren does not have this view.

So… What happened?

On lap 7, a small crash happened between Hulkenberg and Gasly. This caused a Safety Car, and it seems that the obvious decision is to stop using the chance and stop. In that moment, Piastry was leading, second Verstappen and third Norris. Norris, who is the leader of the championship. Therefore, in my opinion just had to copy what Verstappen does. Now it is very easy to say, but while watching the race I felt like that. No need to take any risk, just minimise damage, as he is the most likely candidate to win this championship. However, McLaren decided to stay out, and wait for another safety car and have more flexibility on their strategy. No one understood that.
However, the consequence of this is that after every driver did their first pit stop, we had in front the 2 McLarens, which didn’t stop immediately, followed by all the other drivers. So now, as soon as the period of safety car ended, they needed to push a lot to open a gap with Verstappen to stop in front of him, or at least open a gap to avoid most of the traffic.

But it was not enough, so after stopping, they were behind Verstappen. With newer tyres and good pace, but it was not enough to beat him. Therefore, in the last part of the race, the McLarens stop again to try to catch Verstappen from behind. This was a mistake for Norris, who finished 4th behind an extraordinary Carlos Sainz, who got another podium with his Williams.

What needs Verstappen to win his fifth title?

Verstappen needs to win the race and expects that Norris does not finish 4th or better. Norris is still the favourite, but it is not decided yet; motorsport is unpredictable sometimes. However, with the car that McLaren built, in my opinion, it is a bit ridiculous that this championship has not been decided yet. They had the constructors’ championship many races before the end, so the car is superior to the other, but Max is making this possible. Will see what happens next weekend.