The Qatar Grand Prix could’ve been the night the 2025 Formula 1 world championship was won.
The fact it wasn’t, and the reason why that was the case, gives us a very clear loser and winner to start our traditional post-race list…
Loser: McLaren (2nd + 4th)
The McLaren that let a 1-2 turn into a 2-3 in the season finale in 2007 was a different team, with different drivers, run by different people, in a different F1. But once is enough for the brand name - this is a drivers' title it simply cannot lose.
Whatever the rationale is for the strategy call that the nine other teams all got right, a very stressful week has now been guaranteed.
It might have to use team orders to win. Its bosses may have to chew their fingernails through a late restart. It might, very well, lose.
That is not how McLaren, back-to-back constructors' champion, wants this season to be remembered. - Valentin Khorounzhiy
Winner: Max Verstappen (1st)
Max Verstappen has been playing with house money in terms of the title fight since about the first-third mark of the season, yet is now somehow one McLaren puncture or one power unit issue from a mind-boggling fifth title, which would be his greatest yet (and even perhaps anybody's greatest yet, though that conversation is only worth having if it actually happens).
He had done enough already off the line here to keep this one going to Abu Dhabi, then had McLaren mail him seven more points - though his pace was also fantastic to rebuff any efforts from the two Woking cars to correct the strategy error. - VK
Loser: Isack Hadjar (18th)
A strong Isack Hadjar weekend unravelled late on with a puncture that he had seen coming, as he confirmed after the race.
"Like 10 laps to the end I saw the front wing endplate going crazy down the straight," he explained. "I told the team about it but they were confident [it would be OK].
"Honestly I knew it was going to break - and once it broke it, just everything went under the floor. It smashed the whole car up."
The onboard footage - and the subsequent document from the stewards, who looked into whether Racing Bulls kept a dangerous car out there but ultimately decided the team didn't breach the rules - shows it was the front left wheel guard that was the issue, but in any case once it came off it immediately rendered the car undriveable.
It also prompted a very, very angry few moments from Hadjar in conversation with race engineer Pierre Hamelin.
IH: Yeah, it broke. Damage. Awesome.
PH: Copy, head down, it's good. We are good.
IH: We are not good! There you go.
PH: Tell me what's happening, Isack.
IH: I don't give a f**k about what's happening! Can you not see the data, I don't know-
PH: Copy, copy, puncture.
IH: Or the onboard?
PH: Copy, puncture.
IH: For f**k's sake! Is this car in f**king plastic or what?
Hadjar's race would've been toast anyway had he pitted for repairs. And it means Racing Bulls will have a less comfortable Abu Dhabi than it would've hoped for, with Aston Martin closing to within 12 points of its sixth place in the championship. - VK
Winner: Carlos Sainz (3rd)
Carlos Sainz has quadrupled his points in the last 10 races and now has Williams team-mate Alex Albon potentially in his sights for eighth in the drivers' standings - while the team is now assured of fifth place in the constructors'.
The early-season points gap to Albon was an aberration, but it did feel like there was a real, if small, performance gap. Yet since
the summer break Sainz has clearly been Williams's go-to guy, and two podiums is probably not that many fewer than he would've had this year had Ferrari decided to keep him on. - VK
Loser: Nico Hulkenberg (DNF)
Nico Hulkenberg was driving a good first stint on softs, and ultimately couldn't really be faulted for trying to force the issue around the outside of Pierre Gasly in a bid for ninth - but there was a risk inherent, and it didn't pan out.
As he put it: "I think our race pace would've been quite good and strong today, I felt really good with the car in those first seven laps, and yesterday, too. So there was good potential, so it's very frustrating to come away with nothing and just in shambles."
It's no indictment on him but leaves Sauber in a difficult spot come Abu Dhabi - only ninth in the championship with a 12-point deficit to Aston Martin and five points to Haas. - VK
Winner: Aston Martin (7th + 17th)
Aston Martin jumped back up to seventh in the constructors’ standings with Fernando Alonso’s eight points amassed across the Qatar weekend.
A pair of seventh place finishes in both the sprint and grand prix on Sunday and Haas fumbling was exactly what Aston Martin needed in a tough part of the season in which Haas’s recent big scores had pushed it down the order.
Now, being just 12 points behind Racing Bulls heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi means Aston Martin stands a chance, albeit unrealistic, of finishing sixth in this year’s standings. Something that would have seemed too much of a hill to climb just a few races ago. - Matt Jeffray
Loser: Ferrari (8th and 12th)
The positive: at least some points were salvaged from the race weekend.
But there's no getting away from the fact that this was another crushing weekend for Ferrari in a 2025 season that's featured plenty of them.
So much so that it is now consigned to fourth in the constructors' championship; its woes and the staggering late-season form of Verstappen mean that Red Bull, essentially a one-car team, is out of reach with a round to spare.
In the week that team principal Fred Vasseur suggested a complete switch of focus to the 2026 car came far earlier than we all thought, Ferrari can only be occupying itself with the hope that that decision bears fruit. - Jack Cozens
Winner: Liam Lawson (9th)
Liam Lawson’s ninth place finish to make sure Racing Bulls didn’t leave Qatar empty handed after Hadjar’s late race puncture from sixth place was also a very welcome two points for Lawson himself.
And of course, scoring his second points finish in three races at such a crucial point in the season, when the Red Bull family are looking to fill the remaining three seats in their stable, could prove to be invaluable.
Under pressure Yuki Tsunoda had a better weekend for Red Bull at the Lusail circuit this weekend, scoring in both the sprint and grand prix and finally outqualifying Verstappen for the first time as team-mates, but it was Lawson that finished ahead after a better qualifying, and being able to stay in the tight mid-pack during the race to beat Tsunoda to the flag by 1.7 seconds.
And with both drivers looking to stay within Red Bull’s plans for 2026, this could prove to be a pivotal result for Lawson. - MJ
Loser: Alpine (14th and 16th)
Whatever happens in Abu Dhabi, there will be no repeat of the miracle late-season leap up the order Alpine enjoyed in 2024, courtesy of its double-podium in that year's Brazilian GP.
The points simply don't allow it to happen, now: Alpine is consigned to last in the constructors' standings. You have to go back to 1985, when Toleman wasn't classified, for the most recent time anyone in the 'Team Enstone' lineage had a worse constructors' championship finish.
That's a particularly glum note to end on in a race where its most notable contribution was one of its cars having a hand in the race-changing crash. - JC
Loser: Ollie Bearman (DNF)
After running in the points positions early on thanks to a great start 13th place, and taking advantage of the early safety car, Ollie Bearman will be feeling aggrieved to leave Qatar empty handed.
A botched pitstop in the chaotic second wave of pitlane activity for the majority of the field on lap 32, ruined his chances of a sixth consecutive points finish.
Not only did the poor stop from Haas - where Bearman seemed to run over a wheel gun - lose him countless seconds, but a dim view from the stewards meant Bearman also had a 10-second penalty for his troubles.
This will be a tough pill to swallow for the Haas team, as its pointless race drops it down to eighth in the constructors’ standings behind Aston Martin heading to the finale. - MJ
