• Follow qualifying updates, 2pm GMT start in the desert
• Sign up for The Recap newsletter | And email Philip

It really shouldn’t be like this, if you are McLaren. With clearly the better car across the season, and a better pair of drivers than Red Bull have, McLaren should already have the drivers’ title to go with the constructors’ gong they wrapped up weeks ago. Yet Max Verstappen’s stubborn rejection of second best has enabled Red Bull’s main – and in effect only – man to reach Abu Dhabi with a shot at the title, after successive blunder weekends for McLaren.

First the Las Vegas disqualification, which cost Lando Norris 18 points and Oscar Piastri 12. Then the Qatar misread on pitting during a safety car, which turned a likely win for Piastri into second place and a probable third into a lucky fourth for Norris.

• Follow qualifying updates, 2pm GMT start in the desert
• Sign up for The Recap newsletter | And email Philip

It really shouldn’t be like this, if you are McLaren. With clearly the better car across the season, and a better pair of drivers than Red Bull have, McLaren should already have the drivers’ title to go with the constructors’ gong they wrapped up weeks ago. Yet Max Verstappen’s stubborn rejection of second best has enabled Red Bull’s main – and in effect only – man to reach Abu Dhabi with a shot at the title, after successive blunder weekends for McLaren.

First the Las Vegas disqualification, which cost Lando Norris 18 points and Oscar Piastri 12. Then the Qatar misread on pitting during a safety car, which turned a likely win for Piastri into second place and a probable third into a lucky fourth for Norris.

• Follow qualifying updates, 2pm GMT start in the desert
• Sign up for The Recap newsletter | And email Philip

It really shouldn’t be like this, if you are McLaren. With clearly the better car across the season, and a better pair of drivers than Red Bull have, McLaren should already have the drivers’ title to go with the constructors’ gong they wrapped up weeks ago. Yet Max Verstappen’s stubborn rejection of second best has enabled Red Bull’s main – and in effect only – man to reach Abu Dhabi with a shot at the title, after successive blunder weekends for McLaren.

First the Las Vegas disqualification, which cost Lando Norris 18 points and Oscar Piastri 12. Then the Qatar misread on pitting during a safety car, which turned a likely win for Piastri into second place and a probable third into a lucky fourth for Norris.