Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri has been left the picture of dismay as his world championship title hopes took a potentially decisive hit through a calamitous strategic blunder by his McLaren team.
The Australian, comfortably the fastest driver over the weekend in Lusail, had to settle for second behind victorious Max Verstappen on Monday's race, slipping back to third in the title race after McLaren's gamble not to pit their drivers under an early safety car while all their rivals did.
It meant he lost what looked a surefire win, while teammate and championship leader Lando Norris could only finish fourth, his advantage trimmed to just 12 points over Red Bull's champ Verstappen going into the championship finale in Abu Dhabi next Monday (2am NZT).
Piastri was left so fed up, he could only sigh to the team over the radio: "I don't have any words..."
He's now four points behind Verstappen, as McLaren CEO Zak Brown admitted "we clearly made a huge mistake" and team principal Andrea Stella added: "We lost the victory with Oscar, and we lost the podium with Lando."
Piastri could only shrug despondently: "Obviously, it's a little bit tough to swallow. Clearly, we didn't get it right tonight.
"I drove the best race that I could, as fast as I could, and left nothing left out there, but it wasn't to be unfortunately.
"In hindsight, it's pretty obvious what we would have done."
Pole-sitter Piastri, who had dominated every session and won the sprint race, again made a perfect launch, dominating again while Verstappen slipped past Norris at the start to go second.
But McLaren decided to keep the pair on the track when the safety car was needed on lap seven after Nico Hulkenberg's Sauber collided with Pierre Gasly's Alpine, with every other team cashing in on what was effectively a free stop.
So Piastri and Norris ended up having to pit later and do the chasing in a race where two pit stops were mandatory.
After his second stop, Piastri, by now 17.5 seconds behind Verstappen, manfully reduced the deficit to under eight seconds by the finish but the Dutchman was untouched for win No.70.
It could have been an even worse afternoon for Norris if he hadn't overtaken Kimi Antonelli on the last lap to snatch two extra points for fourth.
"It's the wrong decision, we shouldn't have done it, we didn't do a good job today," said Norris. "That's life. Everyone has bad weekends. I take it on the chin, we all take it on the chin."
But Norris, who would have lifted the title with a victory in Qatar, is still in control of his own destiny, with 25 points up for grabs for next week's victor.
But Piastri's hopes look bleak. Sixteen points behind Norris, even if he wins next week, his teammate could finish as low as fifth in Abu Dhabi and still be ahead of him.
Unless calamity strikes Norris, his best hope looks to finish as championship runner-up.
Asked what he could to regroup, he shrugged: "Just drive like I did this weekend. That's all I can do. It was more than good enough to dominate this weekend, so if I can do the same thing next weekend, we'll see."
But Verstappen now looms as McLaren's worst nightmare. After a week in which McLaren boss Brown noted the Dutchman was like "that guy in a horror movie who right as you think he's not coming back, he's back", Verstappen couldn't resist smiling afterwards: "He can call me Chucky!"
Verstappen, 104 points behind the then leader Piastri at the end of August, didn't believe he could win in Qatar but could yet complete the most sensational of comebacks.
Still, though, even if he was to win in Abu Dhabi, third place for Norris would still be enough for the Briton to take the crown.
"But it's still possible now," shrugged Verstappen, looking for title No.5 after his fifth win in the last eight grand prix.
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