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Verstappen benefited from a strategy call from McLaren that flew in the face of decisions made by all other squads during an initial safety car period

It was a costly decision that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the closing laps and in hindsight threw away the race win for the Australian driver

Grand Prix Outcome and Championship Consequences

The race winner won to take his seventh victory of the campaign, equalling Norris and Piastri, while the Piastri was runner-up and the British driver fourth behind the Williams car of the Spanish driver

Norris won himself an additional points by overtaking the Mercedes driver's Mercedes on the penultimate lap

The championship leader has been left with a 12-point advantage over Verstappen, who overtook his teammate by four points heading to Abu Dhabi on 5-7 December

To secure the title, the British driver must finish at least third at Yas Marina if Verstappen takes victory next Sunday

Key Moments of the Thrilling Grand Prix

• The team's choice not to stop when a safety car was deployed on lap seven for a crash between the French team's Pierre Gasly and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg
• A decision initiated by the Australian to bring forward his last pit stop in a last-ditch effort to challenge the leader came to nothing
• A surprise podium finish for Sainz gifted by the team's tactical decision

The Way McLaren Lost Out in The Race

The fateful moment for the team was when the two drivers came together as the German tried to overtake the Frenchman around the exterior of the first corner on the seventh lap

The German's car was damaged beside the circuit That brought out the safety car

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

With Pirelli enforcing a 25-lap maximum usage on the tires, that meant anyone who pitted at that time was committed to a rigid strategy with a second stop on lap 32

Competitor Reactions and After the Event Comments

No words

Piastri commented in his post-race interview: Obviously we didn't get it right tonight I drove the strongest performance I could, as fast as I could, but there was no more pace out there Tried my utmost but didn't get it done

Verstappen stated: This was an amazing performance for us Our team executed the right call to box That proved smart And extremely pleased to win here and remain competitive to the head, incredible

Final Race Standings

• 1. Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2. Piastri (McLaren)
• 3. Sainz (Williams)
• 4. Lando Norris (McLaren Racing)
• 5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes-AMG)
• 6. Russell (Mercedes)
• 7. Alonso (Aston Martin)
• 8. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
• 9. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
• 10. Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)

What's Next?

The crucial championship finale at the Yas Marina This venue does not create the most exciting racing, but once again this twilight race features an event which appears set to become every bit as dramatic as Sebastian Vettel's first title in 2010, or the Dutch driver's much-debated first title in twenty-twenty-one