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Verstappen capitalized on a strategy call from McLaren that contradicted decisions made by all other squads during an early race safety car deployment

It was a expensive choice that sacrificed track position to Verstappen in the final stages and retrospectively threw away the victory for the Australian driver

Race Results and Title Implications

Verstappen won to take his seventh victory of the season, matching the McLaren drivers, while the Piastri was runner-up and the British driver in fourth behind the Williams car of the Spanish driver

Norris earned an additional points by passing the Mercedes driver's Mercedes on the penultimate lap

Norris has been left with a 12-point advantage over Verstappen, who overtook Piastri by four points heading to Abu Dhabi on 5-7 December

To win the championship, the British driver must finish at least third at Yas Marina if Verstappen takes victory next race day

Key Moments of the Dramatic Grand Prix

• McLaren's decision not to pit when a yellow flag was deployed on the seventh lap for a collision between the French team's Pierre Gasly and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg
• A strategy led by the Australian to advance his final stop in a desperate attempt to challenge the leader proved unsuccessful
• A surprise second podium for Sainz gifted by McLaren's strategy call

The Way The British Team Missed Out in The Race

The fateful point for the team was when Gasly and Hulkenberg came together as the Hulkenberg tried to overtake the Gasly around the outside of Turn One on lap seven

The German's car was left damaged beside the track This triggered the safety car

The crucial part of the timing was that it left exactly 50 laps remaining in the race

With Pirelli imposing a 25-lap safety limit on the tyres, that signified anyone who made a stop at that time was committed to a rigid strategy with a second stop on the thirty-second lap

Competitor Reactions and After the Event Statements

No words

Piastri added in his after-race interview: Obviously we didn't get it right tonight My driving was the strongest performance I could, as quick as I could, but there was no more pace out there Tried my best but couldn't secure victory

Verstappen said: That represented an incredible race for us Our team executed the correct decision to box It was smart And extremely pleased to win here and stay in the fight to the end, incredible

Ultimate Race Positions

• 1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren Racing)
• 3. Sainz (Williams Racing)
• 4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 5. Antonelli (Mercedes-AMG)
• 6. Russell (Mercedes)
• 7. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin F1)
• 8. Charles Leclerc (Scuderia Ferrari)
• 9. Liam Lawson (RB F1 Team)
• 10. Tsunoda (Red Bull)

What's Next?

The all-important championship finale at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina The circuit itself does not create the most thrilling racing, but yet again this twilight race hosts an contest which promises to be every bit as thrilling as Vettel's first title in 2010, or the Dutch driver's highly controversial first title in 2021