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Piastri's dream weekend undone by McLaren disaster
SEN • December 1st, 2025 8:26 am
The race to be crowned world champion remains a three-driver race but Oscar Piastri was left fuming over a McLaren strategy disaster that cost him victory in the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Australian, who started the weekend 24 points behind teammate Lando Norris in the over all standings, secured a vital win and eight points in the sprint race before claiming pole position for the Grand Prix.
Piastri finished the race second behind Max Verstappen with Carlos Sainz rounding out the podium while Norris secured fourth after a last lap overtake on Kimi Antonello.
It marked Piastri's first podium in seven races. A timely return.
He had put on a faultless performance just days after publicly stating he would not be helping Norris to claim his maiden title despite the team asking him to.
A shame the same could not be said about McLaren.
An early safety car on lap in the Grand Prix gifted drivers the chance for a tyre change but McLaren opted to keep both drivers on track. The only team to do so.
"Clearly we didn't get it right tonight," Piastri said afterwards. "I drove the best race I could and as fast as I could. There was nothing left out there.
"I tried my best but it wasn't to be tonight unfortunately. In hindsight it's pretty obvious what we would have done, but I'm sure we will discuss it as a team.
"It's not all bad. it's been a really good weekend and that pace has been very strong. it's a little bit tough to swallow at the moment."
As things stand, Norris heads into the season finale in Abu Dhabi on 408 points, Verstappen is second on 496 and Piastri third on 492.
If Norris wins the next Grand Prix he will be world champion. For Verstappen to win he would need the Briton to finish 4th of lower.
Piastri would need to win the race and have Norris 6th or.
McLaren were unable to explain what had led to their safety car decision but the experts were all in agreement; this was a freebie for Verstappen and treating your drivers as equals had come home to roost for the team.
“They are shell-shocked down here at McLaren," Ted Kravitz said on Sky F1. "They don’t know what to say, they have gone down to the back of the garage.
“They said no interviews until after the podium. They need to go and understand, get their ducks in a row, and explain this all away.”
His Sky peers all agreed.
“Piastri is overall 14 seconds faster than Verstappen,” Martin Brundle said.
“You’d have to say in a normal race, Piastri had enough speed. But they rolled the dice behind the safety car compared to everyone else did McLaren, and that’s just left the road open. You don’t need to give Max Verstappen a second chance.”
Simon Lazenby added: “Extraordinary. Absolutely extraordinary. McLaren’s worst nightmare has materialised. Papaya rules appears to have caught them out.
