McLaren picked up right where they left off on Friday to win the Sprint, but by the end of Saturday, Max Verstappen was getting the headlines.

It will be the most striking part of the highlight reel if McLaren walk out with the Constructors’ Championship by the end of Saturday, or even at Abu Dhabi.

Lando Norris, the pole position holder, let his teammate Oscar Piastri go past him just at the stroke of the finishing line of the Lusail International Circuit on Saturday, much to everyone’s surprise.

McLaren, after all, was guaranteed a one-two at the Lusail International Circuit after Piastri had pulled an early move on Mercedes’ George Russell earlier in the race to climb to the second position.

However, it was a tricky move to pull off, and Norris’s own team had warned him against it, since Russell was still in contention for the second spot.

“It’s probably a little bit sketchy, the team told me not to do it but I thought I could get away with it and we did,” Norris said after the 100-kilometre dash. “Honestly, I don’t mind. [I did] just what I thought was the best.”

A win for Piastri in the 19-lap race was a repayment move from the Briton to his teammate. Piastri had done the same for him earlier in November in Sao Paulo’s Sprint, to help Norris’ bid for the Drivers’ Championship, which now has been won by Verstappen for the fourth consecutive time. Norris said the plan had been on the work ever since.

“I’m not here to win Sprint races, I’m here to win races and a championship, but that’s not gone to plan,” the 25-year-old went on to say after the Sprint. “I did the best we could and I look forward to tomorrow.”

It was emblematic of McLaren’s efforts so far this season, who are up by 30 points at the top of the Constructors’ Championship now. Extend that lead to 44 by the end of this weekend and the Papaya will have their first title since 1998.

“It obviously doesn’t change the points and I think it just shows off our teamwork and lack of egos within the team,” Piastri said, after securing all eight points on Saturday, having also won the Sprint in Qatar in 2023.

“It’s always been very clear that the team comes first and in some scenarios, that means myself helping Lando,” he continued. “In some scenarios, that also means Lando helping me.”

Verstappen’s penalty puts Russell in pole position

By the end of Saturday, the headlines had shifted to Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, who had managed to secure a pole position for the first time since June.

That, however, did not last long as the reigning World Champion was handed a one-place grid penalty, handing the pole to Mercedes’ George Russell.

Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, said late on Saturday that the rare one-place grid penalty was handed to Verstappen for driving “unnecessarily slowly on a cool-down lap”.

“Unusually, this incident occurred when neither car was on a push lap. Had Car 63 [Russell] been on a push lap, the penalty would have most likely been the usual three-grid position penalty, however in mitigation of the penalty, it was obvious that the driver of Car 63 [Russell] had clear visibility of Car 1 [Verstappen] and that neither car was on a push lap,” the statement added.

Verstappen will now start between Russell and Norris, who finished third in front of his teammate Piastri.

Ferrari, currently the second-placed team, will have its drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz start in the fifth and the seventh spot respectively.

If all three of Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari finish where they start on Sunday, Verstappen’s team – the championship leaders – will be within touching distance of the trophy heading into Abu Dhabi with a 41-point lead.

A better performance from either Piastri or Norris to climb places will see McLaren seal the title on Sunday itself – setting up yet another high-stakes race at the Lusail International Circuit.