After another bungled team performance from McLaren, Max Verstappen is now within reach of what seemed to be an improbable fifth consecutive drivers' world championship.
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Lando Norris, after two dominant and polished triumphs in Latin America, has rediscovered his self-doubts and will make the short trip from Doha to Abu Dhabi with a lead of only 12 points ahead of Red Bull's Verstappen.
His McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, the fastest driver, also lost out in his team's strategic pit-stop blunder and fell to third, a further four points adrift, ahead of a three-way showdown in the desert on Sunday.
AFP Sport looks at three things we learned from the Qatar Grand Prix:
MCLAREN CONTORTED BY 'PAPAYA RULES'
After two weekends of self-inflicted damage to their drivers' championship ambitions, McLaren have one chance left to avoid ultimate sporting disaster at the Yas Marina circuit by gifting the drivers' crown to a rival after clinching the teams' title with months to spare.
But, confined as they seem to be by their own "papaya rules" that require complete equality in support and opportunity for both Norris and Piastri, they cannot allow for any more mistakes.
Or they have to abandon equality and issue team orders that require Piastri to support Norris.
They had both cars disqualified for a technical error in Las Vegas and then, in Qatar, took the decision not to pit both cars at the same time under the safety car on lap seven when every other driver pitted.
It was a basic blunder made because they wanted to maintain fairness and a two-car stop with race leader Piastri coming in first ahead of Norris, who was third on track behind Verstappen, would have disadvantaged the Briton.
The 2025 #F1 drivers' championship will be settled by a three-way title decider in Abu Dhabi 💥#SSMotorsport pic.twitter.com/KkEISw0cl1
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) December 1, 2025
"Potentially, I would have lost time," said Norris. "A bit of time, maybe. I wouldn't have lost a position, I don't think. But there's nothing I can do about it."
Piastri said: "On a personal level, I feel like I've lost a win. In hindsight, it's pretty obvious what we should have done. It's gut-wrenchingly painful for me."
Team chief Andrea Stella admitted it was a team mistake and had cost them a win and a podium finish as the pair finished second and fourth.
But Zak Brown, the chief executive officer who has championed giving both drivers equal backing, was unusually quiet.
VERSTAPPEN HAS COMPOSURE AND MOMENTUM
Described by Brown as comparable to a horror movie monster, Verstappen has laughed at McLaren's mistakes and claimed last week that, if he drove one of their cars, he would have won the title already with weeks to spare.
He wrote his own chances off when he was 104 points adrift of the leader at the end of August, but goes to Abu Dhabi – where he has won four times in five years – with a real chance.
Norris can take the title if he finishes on the podium, but to judge from his jittery weekend in Qatar it may not be as simple as that. Verstappen, who invited them to call him "Chucky", after the serial-killer doll, has got under McLaren's corporate skin.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 #𝐅𝟏 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐛𝐮 𝐃𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢 🔥
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) November 30, 2025
Max Verstappen wins the Qatar GP ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.#SSMotorsport pic.twitter.com/VGYTWK9IOS
"On pure pace, it will be tough in Abu Dhabi," he said. "But a race like today shows that it's not always straightforward at a Grand Prix and a lot can happen.
"So, I'm probably relying a bit on that. It's all possible now, of course. We’ll see... I don't really worry about it too much."
Relaxed, joking and enjoying teasing his rivals, Verstappen has a chance to complete a remarkable run with a spectacular title triumph.
HAMILTON DOWNCAST, FERRARI IN DISARRAY
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were equally despondent after finishing 12th and eighth, vanquished by all their main rivals and left with little optimism for the future even if Hamilton, humiliated in qualifying for the second consecutive Grand Prix, spoke of hope.
Both lacked confidence in the car and with other teams like Aston Martin, with Adrian Newey appointed as team chief, and Mercedes, with an envied new power unit on the way for 2026, on the march, the outlook is bleak.