F1 - Qatar GP

The penultimate round of the 2025 F1 season delivered a dramatic race in Qatar. Who was able to deliver in crunch time as the season winds down...?

Performances

McLaren - this bozo team strikes again!!!! Honestly, it's almost impressive the way they've managed to stretch this championship out. Why did they not pit under the safety car, everyone watching could see that was the correct strategy! Now the championship is going to the final race where anything could happen. I mean fumbling isn't new for McLaren (2000 - 2012 basically) but this is pretty poor. Oscar basically had his perfect weekend - sprint pole and win, regular qualifying pole and was the quickest car in the race but only got P2 because of the horrendous strategy call. He's still in the championship hunt but he will feel extremely hard done by to not win this weekend. He's 16 points behind and needs a lot to go his way in Abu Dhabi to win the title. Lando had a pretty shaky weekend, especially in the race. P3 in the sprint was not bad, but his pace was nowhere near Verstappen or Piastri in the main race, and obviously the bad strategy didn't help him either. He was lucky to get P4 at the end, but 12 points is a good gap for him. Anything higher than P3 in Abu Dhabi guarantees him the WDC, he's still the major favourite.

Red Bull - massive win for Max in the championship fight.  He didn't have pace in the sprint, but found pace in the main event and he capitalized superbly on the McLaren mistake to win the main race. Only 12 points behind Lando now, up to P2 in the WDC and crucially on the same amount of wins as him for countback purposes. He basically has to win the last race to have any hope of taking the title from Norris. Yuki had a really great sprint qualifying and finishing in P5, but that pace was nowhere in the main event. It looks like Red Bull will make their driver decision on Tuesday but reliable sources are saying he's gone, and if we're being honest he hasn't been good enough really, and Red Bull will always prioritize giving a young driver like Lindblad a chance.

Mercedes - another decent weekend for Kimi Antonelli. Off the pace slightly in the sprint but had some great race pace and would have got 4th but sadly made a small mistake at the end. 5th is still a good result, and honestly he's been very impressive in the last few races. George had a tough weekend, great pace in the sprint to get P2 but in the main race had a poor start and lost places, and then had to be held in the first round of safety car stops and only came home in P6. They've pretty much sealed P2 in the WCC though, which imo is a good overall season result for them.

Ferrari - easily the worst weekend I can remember in ages. The car had zero pace at all. No pace or points in the sprint and Charles managed to drag a P8 out of it in the main race. Meanwhile Lewis had one of the worst weekends of his career, constantly at the back of the field with just no pace or confidence in the car! Honestly I'm just so done with this season and these regulations😭😭😭hopefully we can have prime Hamilton back one more time before he retires. Also P4 in the WCC confirmed which is the teams worst result since that awful season in 2020. Just terrible all around.

Williams - SMOOTH OPERATOR AGAIN!!! This was such a great weekend for Carlos. Top 8 in both qualifying sessions, P8 in the sprint and then coming home in P3 for a podium!!!! Just awesome pace, especially with the floor damage he had at the end. First time since 2015 that Williams have had more than one podium in a season, and confirmed P5 finish in the WCC, their highest since 2017 and with 137 points their most points since 2016. Carlos has been quite unlucky this year but in the second half he has been one of the best drivers. He once again completely smoked Albon, who has had a really rough last few races, just nowhere near his teammate and not scoring points. (Also the fact that Carlos has more podiums in a Williams than Lewis in a Ferrari is just killing me as a Lewis fan 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭)

Racing Bulls - so unlucky for Hadjar to get a puncture and have to retire so late on! He had a great qualifying in P6 and was running nicely in the same position before that. Lawson had a decent race as well, gaining 3 places from his qualifying position to finish P9. Another weekend of the team doing a very nice job overall.

Aston Martin - a fantastic race from Fernando Alonso once again. Qualifying in P4 for the sprint and getting a P7 was good, but the main race was also very good, qualifying again in the top 8 and recovering from a spin to finish P7 again. Crucial points for Aston to hold on to P7 in the WCC, especially with Haas and Sauber having pointless weekends. 

Haas - a bit of a pace drop off compared to recent races. Bearman might have been able to score points today but had something go wrong with his pitstop and fell to the back, which Ocon moved before the signal at the start and got a time penalty.

Sauber/Alpine - didn't really have the pace to challenge for points today, even though Gasly managed to get another top 10 qualifying appearance.

Race rating - 6/10 - the actual racing was quite poor but the strategy and championship drama kept it interesting. This track is clearly not meant for F1 though, there's just nowhere for anyone to overtake!!!

Driver of the race - good performances from Alonso, Verstappen and Piastri, but Carlos Sainz deserves this one today for getting another brilliant podium finish for Williams! A very good drive.

Next weekend - the last race of the season at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. I'll try to be nice even though I think this track is a terrible finale for F1! The first ever F1 day-night race was first held in 2009, and since then has been the season finale for 13 (soon to be 14) seasons. The track format was pretty terrible, but since the changes in 2021 there has at least been closer racing and a few more overtakes. I think Kimi Raikkonen's comments in 2009 sum up my feelings best - "the first few turns are quite good, but the rest of it is shit." Some of the best races here over the years have been: 2010 (even though this was genuinely one of the worst on track races I have ever seen the championship drama was quite good), 2012 (Kimi winning for Lotus and Vettel pitlane to podium, this is probably the only actual good race that the circuit has ever had), 2016 (the last few laps when Lewis tried to back Nico into the other cars, apart from that it was terrible), 2021 (not even a good race tbh the drama was just peak though).

Honestly I'm just very excited that the championship is going to the last race though!!!! As someone that is not supporting anyone in the championship race it's quite exciting. Bring on Abu Dhabi!!!!