The Red Bull driver took advantage of his opportunities and McLaren's mistakes, while the Argentine benefited from the incidents but did not finish in the points
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The race in Lusail featured very little real on-track action, but strategy ended up becoming the decisive factor on a day that reshuffled the title fight. At the start, Oscar Piastri managed to pull away from pole by taking advantage of the better grip on the outside, while Max Verstappen easily overtook Lando Norris to move into second place. Everything suggested a predictable procession would begin until a safety car caused by the collision between Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly disrupted everyone's plans.
At that key moment, most of the drivers, including Verstappen himself, pitted to fit medium tires. McLaren took the opposite approach, as they kept Piastri and Norris on track, which allowed them to move into 1-2, but forced them into a more complex strategy, since they would be the only ones unable to make their second mandatory stop on lap 32 along with the rest.
From that point on, the British team needed to build a solid gap over Verstappen, but never managed to pull away. When lap 32 arrived, the Dutchman made his second stop and fitted hard tires, as did Carlos Sainz, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Fernando Alonso, Isack Hadjar, and George Russell, all of whom were among the top seven.
With the hard tires, Verstappen began to close the gap and was less than a second behind Norris with 17 laps remaining. It was clear that McLaren's gamble of not stopping under the safety car had been a mistake, and the team started to chase the situation. On lap 42, Piastri made his second stop and was 17 seconds behind the Dutchman. Two laps later, Norris pitted and Verstappen took the lead of the race and never relinquished it.
Verstappen aprovechó los errores de estartegia de McLaren
The Briton rejoined the traffic just behind Sainz's Williams and Antonelli's Mercedes. With less than 13 laps to go, Norris launched a constant attack on the Italian, but only managed to overtake him on the final lap to finish fourth, while Sainz brought a damaged Williams to the podium.
With this result, the championship will be decided in Abu Dhabi. Norris remains in the lead with 408 points, closely followed by Verstappen with 396 and Piastri with 392.
How Colapinto Fared
Franco Colapinto, who had started from the pit lane, moved up thanks to the incidents involving Hülkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Gasly, Stroll, and Hadjar, and crossed the finish line in a commendable 14th place despite the difficult overtaking conditions in Lusail.
Colapinto quedó 14°
This performance, one of the best of his rookie season with Alpine, once again left him outside the points, and leaves the upcoming Abu Dhabi GP as his last chance to score points.
