Title race should never have got this nervy for McLaren

Max Verstappen's victory in the Qatar GP on Sunday has set up a thrilling finale to the F1 season, writes Kieran Jackson

- Kieran Jackson

For all the smugness radiating off the face of Max Verstappen and, by the same token, the fumes of red mist emitting from furious McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, perhaps the first words should go to the true winner of the Qatar Grand Prix: Red Bull's cool-headed strategy chief, Hannah Schmitz.

For it was Schmitz, the 40-year-old Cambridge-educated engineer, who made the critical call amid yellow flags and muddled thinking on Sunday night. On lap seven, a crash and a safety car created a door of opportunity. Red Bull, and every other team on the grid for that matter, walked straight through. McLaren, however, turned a blind eye.

“I think they [McLaren] are in a very difficult situation where they obviously want to treat the drivers fairly,” Schmitz told Dutch broadcaster Viaplay, moments after deservedly collecting the constructors’ trophy on the podium alongside race winner Verstappen. “I guess we’re in a position to take advantage of that.” You can say that again.

It is the latest curveball in this impossible-to-predict F1 title race. Verstappen duly raced two supreme 25-lap stints to victory with a raging Piastri languishing behind in second. Verstappen now trails by 12 points, with Piastri a further four points behind. Norris endured a torrid final few laps and looked set for a damaging fifth-place finish before Kimi Antonelli’s mistake saw him nick fourth.