There’s a particular talent McLaren seem to have mastered this season: making life harder for themselves than anyone else could.
If you handed them a loaded weapon, they’d somehow end up shooting themselves in the foot — or, as one wag put it, blowing off their own trotters.
And so here we are, heading into Abu Dhabi with the championship still dangling by a thread, all because of a Sunday afternoon decision that left Lando Norris rattled and Max Verstappen grinning like a man who’s seen this movie before.
Verstappen, the Sequel Nobody Asked For
Fresh from a confident win under the lights in Qatar, Verstappen is still very much alive in the title fight — a fact that should never have been true after this race.
But one disastrous strategic misstep opened the door wide enough for the Dutchman to stroll through and keep his hopes of a fifth straight crown intact.
And if you’re thinking, “Hang on, hasn’t he pulled off something extraordinary in Abu Dhabi before?” — well, yes. Yes, he has.
And the ghost of that 2021 finale suddenly feels like it’s drifting back into the paddock.
A Twelve-Point Margin That Suddenly Looks Fragile
Norris, who finished only fourth in Qatar, is twelve points up.
That should have been enough to silence all the uncomfortable questions McLaren didn’t want swirling around the season’s final act.
They hoped to lock the title early or at least ensure the finale was strictly an in-house argument between Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Instead, Verstappen is very much in the mix. Again.
Zak Brown summed the situation up best: Verstappen is “that guy in the horror movie who keeps coming back,” even after you’re sure he’s been dealt with.
Now Norris must finish at least third in Abu Dhabi to make the title his, no matter what Red Bull unleash.
The Lap Seven Chain Reaction
Everything hinged on lap seven. Pierre Gasly clipped Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 2, Hülkenberg went spinning into the scenery, and out came the safety car.
Perfect moment for a free pit stop — and every team recognised it… except three cars.
One was Esteban Ocon.
The other two were the McLarens.
Piastri was leading from pole. Norris had already been mugged off the line by a rocket-launching Verstappen.
The situation was ideal for a cheap stop. They skipped it anyway.
The Papaya Rules Come Back to Bite
Why on earth? The explanation appears to be McLaren’s intense commitment to perceived fairness, their so-called Papaya Rules.
They didn’t want to double-stack and disadvantage Norris. Admirable in theory. Painful in practice.
F1 titles aren’t handed out for harmonious vibes.
They’re won by ruthless clarity: a lead driver, a supporting act, and a willingness to make calls that hurt feelings but win championships.
McLaren opted instead for equality, and suddenly equality is melting away like warm butter on a Qatar kerb.
The Tyre Trap They Walked Into
The Lusail circuit eats tyres for breakfast, so a maximum stint length of 25 laps was imposed.
Anyone who pitted under the safety car could run deep into the race with far more flexibility.
McLaren’s late stop meant a long 25-second pit loss straight into traffic — twice.
Verstappen, meanwhile, enjoyed clean air and an extra seven laps of leverage.
Piastri put it bluntly afterwards: he was “speechless.”
Verstappen called the move “interesting,” in that dry tone drivers use when they know they’ve benefited from someone else’s blunder.
Norris Fights Himself as Much as the Field
Norris didn’t have a flawless day either.
At key moments he flinched, hesitated, worried — the same nerves that have flickered through his season.
While Piastri carved past Kimi Antonelli, Norris ran wide, questioned whether he’d damaged his car, and lingered behind the Mercedes far too long.
That delay cost him. He finally passed Antonelli only at the very end.
If he’d stayed stuck behind him, he’d have finished fifth, and Abu Dhabi would have demanded a second-place finish to clinch the title.
As it is, Carlos Sainz grabbed a brilliant third, and Norris made his own life harder yet again.
The Team Now Has a Headache No Amount of Debriefing Will Fix
McLaren now find themselves squinting through the dust of their own making.
The usual post-race line about “discussing it as a team” sounded shakier than usual.
Andrea Stella’s grand social experiment — treating both drivers as equals in every scenario — may ironically end with neither of them holding the trophy.
Not the outcome he envisioned, but technically still a form of equality.
The Villain Keeps Breathing
So here we are. Verstappen, the nightmare Brown can’t shake, is right there, lurking at the edge of their title dream. He isn’t stressed.
He said so himself: “It’s still possible… but I’m not thinking about it too much.”
Plenty of other people are.
What’s Next?
The curtain drops in Abu Dhabi. Norris needs third. Piastri needs a miracle.
McLaren need clarity. And Verstappen? He needs chaos — which, conveniently, his rivals keep delivering for him.
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