Formula 1 title race: How McLaren’s mistake gave Max Verstappen an unexpected chance in his battle with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri | F1 News

When Oscar Piastri’s Dutch Grand Prix win at the end of August left Max Verstappen 104 points behind at the drivers’ championship lead, almost everyone in the Formula 1 paddock – including the Dutchman himself – thought his hopes of winning a fifth successive title were over.

Verstappen was also 70 points behind Piatri’s teammate Lando Norris. Lando Norris would have finished a dominant McLaren 1-2 at Zandvoort had he not retired from the race due to a late technical failure.

Verstappen’s second place at his home race meant his second podium during an eight-game winless streak, during which Christian Horner was sacked as Red Bull team principal and replaced by Laurent Mekies.

Not only did Verstappen have a huge deficit to overcome with nine rounds remaining, but his Red Bull team appeared to have no answer to McLaren’s pace.

Fast forward three months and Verstappen is heading into the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi with a legitimate chance of extending his winning streak.

He had scored a remarkable 108 points more than Piastri in the last eight rounds to move ahead of the Australian, but was 12 points behind leader Norris going into this weekend’s decider in the desert.

While Red Bull’s performance has seen an impressive uptick, Verstappen’s title aspirations would have already been shut if not for McLaren’s lackluster run.

How Red Bull got back on track

Red Bull’s season appeared to be spiraling out of control when Verstappen endured his worst weekend of the season, at least in terms of speed, at the final round before the summer break in Hungary, qualifying eighth and finishing the race in ninth.

Zandvoort showed marked improvement after the break, but Verstappen still lacked the power to challenge the McLarens, although he ultimately finished second as a result of Norris’ misfortune.

The turning point came as Red Bull brought a significant upgrade to the Italian Grand Prix, which allowed Verstappen to take pole position at Monza and win before repeating the feat next time in Azerbaijan.

Since the Monza upgrade, Verstappen has finished on the podium in eight consecutive races and taken four wins.

A lot of the toxicity that plagued the team in the second half of Horner’s tenure (for which it must be said the long-time head was not entirely to blame) seemed to disappear under Mekies’ leadership.

Despite still not getting many points from Yuki Tsunoda on the other side of the garage, both Verstappen and the team were at their best during his late-season surge.

Baku’s mistakes give hope to Verstappen

Serious mistakes by McLaren and their drivers, especially Piastri, were rare in the first two-thirds of the season.

It was therefore quite a surprise when Piastri was eliminated from both qualifying and the race on the streets of Baku.

Some theorize that the Australian’s confidence or focus may have been shaken by McLaren telling him to hand second place back to Norris a round earlier in Italy after the Australian lost time in a slow pit stop.

Whatever the cause of the error, it triggered a huge loss of form that saw him go six races without a podium.

Norris failed to make the crucial final lap in qualifying, finishing seventh on the grid, and was guilty of failing to make the most of Piastri’s mistakes as a few sloppy moments during the race meant he was unable to improve his position by the checkered flag.

Verstappen was cool-headed and made big gains on both McLarens, giving himself a glimmer of hope.

Piastri crashes Austin after ‘reverb’ failure.

Tensions ran high at McLaren after Norris overtook Piastri for third on the first lap of the Singapore Grand Prix, with the standings remaining unchanged until the end of the race.

Following Piastri’s complaint on the radio at the time, McLaren bosses Zak Brown and Andrea Stella initially said they regarded the contact as a racing incident, but announced two weeks later at the United States Grand Prix that Norris would face repercussions enforced by the team.

In the crucial closing stages of the qualifying session, it became clear that the impact was to give priority to Piastri in terms of choosing whether to play ahead or behind Norris.

The situation dominated the shaping of sprint weekend in Austin as the media tried to figure out what the unspecified ‘reverberations’ were.

They ultimately did not last long, with McLaren ensuring they were restoring a level playing field after Piastri made a reckless move that took both him and Norris at the start of the sprint race.

Verstappen won the sprint, earning eight points from both McLaren drivers, but the first corner exit meant the team was unable to gather vital data from the sprint to inform decisions for the remainder of the weekend.

Norris qualified and finished the race in second place, while Piastri finished in fifth place after qualifying in sixth place. This means Verstappen is within 40 points of the lead with five rounds remaining.

Las Vegas double disqualification hands Verstappen lifeline

Norris reduced a 34-point deficit to Piastri to 14, and the Englishman took control of the title battle with perhaps his best two weekends of the season.

He regained the championship lead for the first time since April with a pole and victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix, then followed up with another pole to win after winning the São Paulo Sprint with Piastri having a rather unlucky crash.

Despite a thrilling comeback drive from a pit lane start in Brazil to third place, Verstappen trails Norris by 49 points after the Interlagos weekend and said the win was “forgettable” with only the season-ending triple-header remaining.

Norris appeared to be on the verge of clinching his first championship when he finished second behind Verstappen in Las Vegas, but the Dutchman’s hopes would be dramatically rekindled hours after the checkered flag when both McLarens were disqualified for breaching board wear limits during the race.

The McLarens each have 25 points to pull Verstappen level, while Piatri is 24 points behind Norris, with just two rounds remaining in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. The disqualification actually represented a reprieve of sorts by preventing Piatri from losing an additional six points to Norris.

McLaren’s poor set-up judgment resulted in an extreme bounce during the race, a mistake made all the more painful given the strong position Norris had established.

As Norris falters, a bad strategy call hurts Piastri.

The Qatar Grand Prix provided Norris with his first opportunity to win a maiden title, but the weekend did not go as planned for the Briton.

It was Piastri who finally regained his form in the final sprint session of the season to take pole and victory. Norris finished third and Verstappen fourth in both sessions.

Norris allowed Piatri to take pole in the main race when he blew a final flying lap in qualifying, but still finished second on the grid ahead of Verstappen. Too much wheelspin in the second stage of Norris’ start left Verstappen in second, but the big moment of the race was yet to come.

Due to concerns about the possibility of punctures, there was a one-time limit on the number of laps each set of tires could be used, forcing each driver to make two pit stops during the race unless there was a red flag.

So when the safety car was sent out after a midfield crash on lap seven with exactly 50 laps to go, almost every strategist in the pit lane took it for granted that they would take advantage of the minimal time loss, maintain two lap times over 25 laps, and finish the race on lap 32.

McLaren decided not to stop then-leader Piatri or Norris, later citing a desire to maintain strategic flexibility and avoid the risk of pulling out of traffic if some cars behind did not get under the safety car.

Stella admitted concerns that Norris would incur additional punishment by having to wait in the McLarens’ double stack were a factor in the decision, but not the main one. Whatever the reason, the decision proved to be wrong as no further safety car stops were made during the race.

Piatri made a valiant attempt to chase down Verstappen but had to settle for second. The unfit Norris, on the other hand, looked set to finish fifth until a mistake by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli on the penultimate lap saw the British advance to fourth and earn an additional two vital championship points.

At that moment, Norris was 12 points ahead of Verstappen and Piastri was a further 4 points behind, leaving him a very clear favorite heading into the final weekend of the season. But McLaren’s fall mistakes opened the door for what will go down as the greatest comeback in the sport’s history.

The 2025 Formula 1 season concludes with the title decider at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports NOW – No Commitment, Cancel Anytime