Lando Norris’ championship hopes took an unexpected hit in Qatar, and his reaction said everything. After a chaotic Qatar Grand Prix that saw McLaren fumble a race-defining strategic call, the British driver admitted he just wanted to “go to bed” rather than dissect what went wrong.

The race, which Max Verstappen won to close the title gap to just 12 points, may go down as the moment the championship momentum shifted.

While Norris was never fully in the mix for the win, Oscar Piastri had a legitimate shot at victory until McLaren elected not to pit either of its drivers under an early Lap 7 safety car while the rest of the grid dove in.

That decision forced both McLaren cars to run longer, lose the early track advantage, and ultimately concede control of the race to Red Bull.

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