DOHA:Max Verstappen rebounded from a grid penalty to win the Qatar Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday while McLaren's constructors' title ambitions were delayed because Lando Norris was hit with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty to finish 10th.
Red Bull's world champion Verstappen got his ninth season victory after passing Mercedes driver George Russell at the start, after being demoted one place following qualifying for dangerous driving.
Norris was punished for not slowing down sufficiently under yellow flags as he lost second place which would have put McLaren in a great position to clinch a first team title since 1998.
Ferrari cut deficit on McLaren
Instead, Ferrari cut the deficit from 30 to 21 points heading into next week's season-ender in Abu Dhabi as Charles Leclerc came second ahead of Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren, and Carlos Sainz was sixth for the Scuderia while Norris only got one point, plus that for fastest lap.
There are still 44 points on offer in Abu Dhabi, and defending champions Red Bull in third are out of the race, 59 points behind McLaren.
The race saw a flurry of penalties, including for Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton for a false start and Russell for a safety car incident, and three safety car phases, including one to clear debris from a broken wing mirror from the track.
Piastri admitted that "this was not quite the result we were looking for".
"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," he said.
Leclerc said that "we managed to take some points away from them so the fight will be all the way to the last race in Abu Dhabi next week." Verstappen's turnaround Verstappen, who clinched a fourth straight drivers' title last week in Las Vegas, managed a major turnaround from Saturday's sprint race where he had to settle for eighth while McLaren enjoyed a one-two from Piastri and Norris.
"It was a very good race. Of course, already yesterday in qualifying the car was a lot better, and today that first stint was very, very fast," he said. "It was a lot of fun out there."
Verstappen wins start and restart
Russell earned pole position from Verstappen because the Dutchman was handed the grid penalty but Verstappen had the better start and never looked back.Norris also sneaked past Russell into second, just failing to get past Verstappen as well.
At the back of the pack the Williams of Franco Colapinto and Alpine's Esteban Ocon's made contact and had to retire, with Nico Hülkenberg of Haas also involved but able to continue.
The incident brought out the safety car but Verstappen also won the restart while Piastri passed Leclerc for fourth.
Vertappen and Norris pulled away up front while Russell came more and more under pressure from Piastri.
He escaped a possible pass on the track by being the first to pit, but it was slow one due to trouble with the right rear tyre as he lost ground.Two more safety cars
Things then got turbulent.Williams driver Alex Albon lost his wing mirror on the main straight, Sauber's Valtteri Bottas rode over it a little later and the debris appeared to be the reason why Hamilton and Sainz suffered punctures before the safety car returned to allow the track to be cleared.
Verstappen narrowly held off Norris on the restart but the safety car returned immediately when his team-mate Sergio Perez had to retire and Hulkenberg spun out.Norris agony Verstappen was untroubled on the third restart while Norris had to defend himself against Leclerc but it all unravelled when Norris was then hit with the penalty for going too fast under yellow flags when the mirror debris was on the track.
He clawed his way back to 10th for a little bit of damage limitation.
Sauber, who will become an Audi works team, could meanwhile celebrate their first championship points at last in the 23rd race from Zhou Guanyu's eighth place finish.
