The Qatar Grand Prix was a minefield of hazards, from a shattered mirror to dramatic crashes and unusually harsh penalties.
Yet, Max Verstappen expertly shrugged them off, securing his ninth win of the season on Sunday, following his Formula One drivers' title.
Lando Norris, Verstappen's closest title contender before the Dutch driver clinched the championship in Las Vegas last week, was battling to overtake Verstappen for the lead. However, a penalty for failing to slow down for yellow warning flags dropped him to the back of the pack.
Verstappen, who claimed his fourth consecutive title in Las Vegas, has won two of the last three races but hadn't triumphed in dry conditions since June.
"It was a lot of fun out there," Verstappen said. "Very happy. It’s been a while in the dry to be this competitive. Very proud of everyone within the team."
Verstappen disposed of another rival off the line, beating George Russell into the first corner. The Mercedes driver had been elevated to pole position in Verstappen's place after a contentious dispute in qualifying that resulted in a one-place penalty for Verstappen for driving too slowly.
Charles Leclerc finished second for Ferrari, and Norris' McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri was third.
In a season of controversy over the rules and upheaval at the governing body, the stewards again played a crucial role. Norris had been chasing down Verstappen for the lead before his penalty. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said Norris hadn't slowed down but argued the penalty was disproportionately harsh.
"It’s definitely material that the FIA should consider very seriously if we want fairness to be part of going racing in Formula One," Stella said. "To me, it looks like somewhere there must be a book with a lot of dust on the cover that was taken out. ‘Let me see what it says, I apply this.’ Seems a little too simplistic."
The stewards were busy, issuing a wide range of penalties for offenses like causing collisions. Additionally, Lewis Hamilton received two penalties: one for a false start and another for pit-lane speeding, while Russell was penalized for dropping too far back during a safety car period. Russell said later he didn’t know "when or how or why" he had been penalized.
The safety car came out three times: first for crashes at the back of the pack on the opening lap, then for debris from a smashed mirror, and again when Nico Hülkenberg’s Haas ended up in the gravel.
At one stage, it looked like McLaren could seal its first constructors’ title since 1998 in Qatar as Norris and Piastri both eyed podium places.
After Norris' penalty, Ferrari cut McLaren’s lead from 30 points to 21 with Leclerc’s second place and a solid sixth for Carlos Sainz Jr. after a puncture seemed to have wrecked his race. The constructors' title will now be decided at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next week.
That’s a boost to Ferrari's morale.
"We knew it was going to be a very difficult weekend compared to McLaren, but we even managed to take some points away from them so that the fight will be all the way to the last race in Abu Dhabi next week," Leclerc said.
"It’s going to be an exciting end to the year. Hopefully, we can be strong, but it’s going to take everything we’ve got to seal the deal," Piastri said.
Russell finished fourth, ahead of Pierre Gasly, who continued Alpine’s recent good form. Sainz finished sixth, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in seventh.
Zhou Guanyu picked up his and Sauber’s first points in eighth, ahead of Kevin Magnussen for Haas in ninth, and Norris, who had been dropped to 15th by the penalty, finished 10th.
Hamilton and Sainz both picked up punctures shortly after a discarded wing mirror on the track was shattered by Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber. Carbon fiber and glass were spread across the circuit, bringing out the safety car again, though it wasn’t immediately clear if the debris or tire failure caused the punctures. It was a long, hard race for seven-time champion Hamilton, who finished 12th.