Oscar Piastri claimed a brilliant win in the Qatar Sprint as Max Verstappen secured his third Formula 1 title on Saturday.
The Australian lost the lead to George Russell early on as there was a split on soft and medium tyre runners, but patience paid off as he reclaimed P1 for a superb victory.
Verstappen was another caught out by those starting on soft tyres, but made his way through to finish second while teammate Sergio Perez crashed out.
Lando Norris completed the podium in the second McLaren.
Sprint Review
Piastri held the lead at the start as Russell and the two Ferraris made a blistering start on soft tyres to move upto P2, P3 and P4 respectively.
Norris had a poor getaway from second and dropped to sixth behind Verstappen, who also lost two places to the soft tyre starters.
Behind, Liam Lawson slid off the track at Turn 2 triggering an early Safety Car.
At the restart, Russell snatched the lead from Piastri into Turn 6 as Norris and Alonso had a ding-dong battle for half a lap.
A spin for Logan Sargeant into the gravel at Turn 9 led to a second Safety Car in the opening four laps.
Piastri came under big pressure from Sainz at the restart but held on to P2 as Russell got the jump on the field.
Further down, Sergio Perez had a difficult start, slipping outside the top 10, while Verstappen caught and eased ahead of Leclerc to claim fourth.
A lap later, the Dutchman passed Sainz for third with DRS as those on soft tyres began to struggle for grip.
That enabled Piastri to make an easy move on Russell to retake the lead at Turn 1.
The championship was decided when Perez was involved in a crash with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg at Turn 2, triggering a third Safety Car.
The restart was clean as Piastri led Russell and Verstappen, with the Ferraris working together to get Leclerc ahead of Norris.
Verstappen moved upto second with a nice move into Turn 1 but had a 2.3s gap to Oscar ahead.
Norris responded to the Ferrari move by passing both Leclerc and Sainz in just three corners as the soft tyre runners began to struggle again.
Lewis Hamilton was also making moves on the mediums, passing Alonso’s Aston Martin before attacking the two Ferraris heading onto the last lap.
Norris jumped Russell to claim the final podium place while Piastri held Verstappen at bay to claim a brilliant win for McLaren.
A third world championship will be enough to console Max in P2, with Lando in third.
Russell claimed fourth as Hamilton passed both Ferraris on the last lap to claim fifth ahead of Sainz and Leclerc.
Alex Albon gained nine places from his grid slot to claim the final point in eighth.
Alonso took ninth and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10.
