Max Verstappen’s 70th career victory undoubtedly stands as one of his most important as it means he will go into the
final round with a serious chance of winning the world championship.
The surprise result set up F1’s first final-round title-decider involving more than two drivers since the 2010 season.
This remains the only time more than three drivers have gone into the final race with a shot at the title.
Verstappen’s win also means he and title rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri go into the final race with the same
number of wins this season – seven each. However Norris has a seemingly useful edge on points, with 408 to Verstappen’s
Champions in three-way finales
But history warns against complacency when it comes to the complexities of a three-way title fight. Out of F1’s 11
previous three-way title fights the points leader going into the race has only come away with the title on three
No driver in Norris’s situation has won the title in the last 50 years, though this of course reflects on the scarcity
of championship deciders involving more than two drivers:
Year Champion Position before final race Rivals 1950 Giuseppe Farina 3rd Juan Manuel Fangio, Luigi Fagioli 1959 Jack
Brabham 1st Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks 1964 John Surtees 2nd Graham Hill, Jim Clark 1968 Graham Hill 1st Jackie Stewart,
Denny Hulme 1974 Emerson Fittipaldi 1st Clay Regazzoni, Jody Scheckter 1981 Nelson Piquet 2nd Carlos Reutemann, Jacques
Laffite 1983 Nelson Piquet 2nd Alain Prost, Rene Arnoux 1986 Alain Prost 2nd Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet 2007 Kimi
Raikkonen 3rd Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso 2010 Sebastian Vettel 3rd Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton
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While it’s true that, historically, the driver in third place is statistically no more likely to take the title than the
points leader, and the driver in second place only has a slightly better chance, it is striking that the leader’s points
margin has tended not to count for as much in three-way title deciders.
This may reflect the fact that in an ‘ordinary’ two-way contest the points leader can focus their energies on keeping
one driver behind, but it’s harder to do the same with two or more. This was precisely the trap Alonso fell into the
last time F1 had a title-decider like this.
That point was certainly not lost on his race engineer at the time – Andrea Stella, now McLaren team principal.
More stats and facts from Losail
Piastri scored McLaren’s fourth consecutive pole position last weekend. This is their longest pole run since 2012, when
Hamilton and Jenson Button took four in a row from the Hungarian to Singapore grands prix.
It was Piastri’s sixth pole position of his career, giving him as many as Australia’s last world champion Alan Jones,
plus his current rival Carlos Sainz Jnr, as well as Emerson Fittipaldi, Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Carlos Reutemann and Ralf
McLaren’s hotly-debated strategy call not only cost them the win, but broke Losail’s run of never seeing a change of
lead after the opening lap of a race. The previous three winners all led every lap.
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As Piastri saw victory elude him through no fault of his own, it would have come as no consolation that he claimed the
fastest lap for the ninth time in his career. That gives him as many as Denny Hulme, Ronnie Peterson and Jacques
Piastri at least remained unbeaten in the Losail sprint race, winning it for the third time. Verstappen, however, took
his third consecutive grand prix win at this track. It was the 129th win for Red Bull, leaving them just two shy of
Mercedes, who are third in the all-time list of race-winning F1 teams.
Sainz scored a surprise podium finish for Williams at a track they expected would not suit their car. That secured fifth
place in the championship for them, which is their best finish since 2017. This is the first time in 10 years Williams
have scored multiple podium finishes in a season.
A late misfortune for Isack Hadjar cost him a second consecutive sixth-place finish – his best result this year aside
from his podium finish in Zandvoort. That misfortune promoted Yuki Tsunoda into 10th place, ensuring he scored points in
both the weekend’s races.
However Tsunoda now trails Verstappen by 363 points. Verstappen is therefore certain to end the year with the biggest
points lead over a team mate ever seen in F1, even adjusting for the two races where they were at different teams. Red
Bull announced yesterday Hadjar will take Tsunoda’s place for 2026, which is clearly both a huge opportunity and a
daunting prospect for the 21-year-old after a single season in F1.
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Qatar Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
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