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Verstappen benefited from a strategy call from the British team that flew in the face of decisions made by every other team during an early race safety car deployment

It was a expensive choice that sacrificed track position to the Red Bull driver in the closing laps and retrospectively threw away the race win for the Australian driver

Grand Prix Outcome and Title Implications

Verstappen won to take his 7th win of the campaign, matching Norris and Piastri, while the Australian was second and the British driver fourth behind the Williams of the Spanish driver

Norris won himself an extra two points by overtaking Kimi Antonelli's Silver Arrow on the penultimate lap

Norris has been left with a twelve point lead over his rival, who overtook his teammate by four points heading to Abu Dhabi on December 5-7

To win the championship, the British driver must secure a podium position at Yas Marina if his rival wins the race next race day

Critical Events of the Dramatic Grand Prix

• The team's choice not to stop when a yellow flag was called on lap seven for a collision between the French team's Pierre Gasly and the Swiss team's Hulkenberg
• A strategy led by Piastri to bring forward his final stop in a desperate attempt to challenge the leader came to nothing
• A surprise podium finish for Sainz gifted by McLaren's strategy call

How The British Team Lost Out in The Race

The critical moment for McLaren was when the two drivers collided as the German tried to pass the Gasly around the outside of the first corner on the seventh lap

Hulkenberg's car was damaged beside the circuit That brought out the yellow flag

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

With Pirelli imposing a 25-lap safety limit on the tyres, that meant anyone who made a stop at that moment was locked into a fixed plan with a second stop on lap 32

Driver Responses and Post-Race Comments

Speechless

Piastri added in his after-race interview: Clearly we made mistakes tonight I drove the strongest performance I was capable of, as quick as I possible, but there was no more pace out there Attempted my utmost but couldn't secure victory

The race winner stated: This was an incredible race for us Our team executed the right call to box That proved smart And super-happy to win here and remain competitive to the head, incredible

Ultimate Race Positions

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

What's Next?

The crucial title decider at the Yas Marina This venue does not produce the most thrilling competition, but once again this twilight race hosts an contest which promises to be every bit as dramatic as Vettel's maiden championship in 2010, or Verstappen's much-debated initial championship in twenty-twenty-one