Qatar GP: Da penultimate race of the 2025 season: A quaint last Sprint race, and due to McLaren self-sabotage to it's drivers, Drivers Cup now up for grabs at final race. Oh, and don't mess with Kimi!

We are almost at the end of the season, with Race 23 ready to roll after the exciting (but gut-punch post-race news) we had in Las Vegas! We have our last Sprint Race, and we may have a new Drivers Champion, if the numbers roll a certain way. After last week's DQ fiasco, I don't want to hear anything about planking again!

Only Paddock Buzz I have is there be changes at Aston-Martin behind the scenes- definitely a team to keep an eye on as they build their corporate structure, as Adrian Newey is the new Team Principal! This race, we do the saucy pics of some of the drivers have posted online. next week, for the last race, its going to be Driver's Pets, as we don't want to show favoritism to any one driver!

Your driver/team grid- switch Lawson and Tsunoda, and Colapinto replaces Doohan.

Only one 60 minute practice due to Sprint racing.

P1: Note: Pirelli, the maker of the tyres used in F1, has stated that here in Qater, tyres will have a maximum 25 laps use, so we will have a two pit-stop GP on Sunday. Teams can go for a Medium and Medium or Soft and Medium, for example...point being 25 laps, change tyres! 77 degrees, 91 degrees track temperature, with high humidity and a dusty sky in the desert as the sun sets on a true race track, not a street track. Wind gusts are causing some of the cars siding into the runoff. No incidents, so on to Sprint qualifying! SQ1: 12 minutes. 69 degrees, its a bit cooler for this night Sprint quali. New Medium tyres in both SQ1 and Sq2, SQ3 will be soft tyres. At this point of the season, i'm using the drivers first names. No incidents, so your bottom five, are both Alpines, Pierre and Franco, Sugar-Free RB's Liam, Ferrari's Lewis, and Aston-Martin's Lance. SQ2: 10 minutes. No incidents, so your next bottom five are: both Haas drivers, Ollie and Esteban, both Sauber drivers, Nico and Gabriel and Sugar Free RB's Isack! SQ3: 8 minutes. No incidents, so our pole position goes to.....Oscar of McLaren, 2nd is Georgie- Mercedes, 3rd is Lando- McLaren, 4th is Alonso- Aston-Martin (!!!), 5th is Yuki of Red Bull (!!!), 6th is T-Max of Red Bull (!!!), 7th is Kimi of Mercedes, 8th is Carlos- Williams Racing,, 9th is Charles of Ferrari, and 10th is Alex- Williams Racing. It should be noted that Alex held up Lando, or Lando might've finished higher.

When you have survived the humidity that is the Singapore GP, breakfast in bed seems right! And A/C!

Qatar Sprint Race: 19 Laps. It's 77 degrees at dusk, and high humidity. As a reminder, top eight get points, 1st place =8 points, 1 point for 8th place. And with that covered, it's LETS GO, Oscar jumps out to the lead, with Georgie behind, Lando holds off both Red Bulls, Yuki (!!!) and T-Max, while Charles Ferrari drops for spots...woe is Ferrari this season. Other than a couple of 5 second PENALTIES for exceeding track limits (all four wheels go over the racing line) by Yuki and Kimi, Oscar wins the Qatar Sprint! Georgie in 2nd, Lando in 3rd, T-Max in 4th, Yuki in 5th, Kimi in 6th, Isack in 7th and getting the last point was Carlos! Pretty much a neat and tidy race, as my Brit friends would say!

Carlos grooming for his new sponsor, Loreal products! Little did he know what a good day he was going to have.

Onto GP Qualifying!

Q1: 18 minutes. Low 70s and cooler, humidity still high with the bright lights shining on the track for racing at night. All drivers on Soft tyres. Lap times being deleted due to track limit violations. No incidents, so bottom five on the grid are: Esteban- Haas, Yuki-Red Bull, Franco-Alpine, Lance- Aston/Martin, and for the second race in a row, Lewis and his Ferrari fail to make it out of Q1. Q2: 15 minutes. No incidents, so the next bottom five are: Alex- Williams Racing, both Sauber drivers, Nico and Gabriel, Bearman-Haas, and Liam- Sugar-Free RB.

Q3: 12 minutes. Other than a triple pirouette from Charles, and Ferrari sending out Carlos with one tyre wrapped in plastic advert sticker (it eventually came off) both causing a RED FLAG to clear the plastic and the gravel Charles kicked up, no further incidents. And your Qatar Pole position leader goes to Oscar-McLaren, Lando-2nd-McLaren, T-Max-3rd-Red Bull, Georgie-4th-Mercedes, Kimi-5th-Mercedes, Isack-6th-Sugar-Free RB, Carlos-7th- Williams Racing, Fernando-8th-Aston/Martin, Pierre-9th- Alpine and rounding out the top ten, Charles- Ferrari!

My gut feeling this may be the last race for Yuki at Red Bull, so go ahead and get steamy, Yuki!

Qatar GP: 57 laps. 17 turns. Reminder that Gabi/Sauber drops 5 places back due to the penalty he got for crashing Lance off the track in Vegas. Recall that this race, it's a mandatory 2 pit-stop race, as drivers cannot go more than 25 laps on a set of tyres. Almost everyone is on new Mediums, with Nico Lewis on Softs, and Alex on Hards; pit stop strategy will be critical in this race (foreshadowing?). Weather is clear skies, and in the 70's , light winds.

And with that, its LIGHTS OUT, and Oscar gets off a brilliants breakaway heading into the first turn, while T-Max overtakes Oscar to slide into 2nd, whiles Carlos jumps up two spots into 5th! Lap 7 finds Nico off into the gravel on turn 2, as Pierre's tyre clips Nico's, and Nico is done for the day. That brings out the Safety Car, which then creates a pit-lanepolloza as every driver except for Oscar and Lando of McLaren, and Esteban's Haas car remain in track (Estie has been hit with a 5 second PENALTY for a false start- Haas does bring him in on this pit stop "freebie" to serve that penalty). So with 50 laps to go, its now an even 25/25 pit stop requirement. This key moment requires a Prof. Colby explanation: On a Safety Car pit stop, that is an average of 16 seconds, a regular pit stop is 25 seconds, so while McLaren KNOWS that everyone else will pit at Lap 32 to change tyres, the McLaren drivers are at about a 25 second disadvantage of covering that "in between" time. Lando did make note of this on team radio, but was told we (McLaren), have the advantage because we can choose to pit away from the other drivers, i.e. pick which lap (25) to make their first pit stop). Slight spoiler here ( my headline didn't give it away?) that this was a critical moment/decision for the Papaya drivers and the McLaren pit wall!

Nico's car removed, Safety car leaves on Lap 11, and its Oscar, Lando, T-Max, Carlos , Kimi, Fernando, Isack, Georgie, Charles and Ollie in the top 10 at the moment. All drivers on new set of Medium tyres. Oscar pits at Lap 24, and comes out on Mediums in 5th. Lando pits on Lap 25 and comes out JUST before Fernando in 5th on Mediums. Lance hit with a 5 second PENALTY for speeding in the pit lane.

Pit 32 sees our second pit-lanepolloza as almost all teams not named McLaren pit to change tyres. Georgie almost crashes into Liam coming out of the pit lane, Ollie has been noted for unsafe release, as his car ran over something as he was leaving his pit stop. Oscar and Lando in the lead, T-Max, Carlos, and Kimi come out on Hard tyres. Ollie hit with a 10 second PENALTY for that stop/go in the pit lane, and Haas decides to retire the car. Oscar makes his 2nd pit stop on Lap 42, (1.8 second pit stop!), on Hard tyres, and comes out in 3rd. Lando pits on Lap 45, on Hard tyres, and comes out in 5th place. Isask has a tyre puncture, and drops out of the top ten. Kimi been holding off Lando for several laps in that 4th place position, until last lap, as Kimi goes wide on a turn, allowing Lando to move up to 4th place.

That was all to be had, as T-Max wins the Qatar GP, with Oscar 2nd and Carlos and his Williams car rounding out the podium! Lando finishes 4th.

Great to see one of the fab female engineers up on the podium with Max!

So with a botched McLaren pit stop strategy, going into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next week, the points are as follows: Lando with 408, T-Max with 396, and Oscar with 392. If Lando had won this race, he would have won the Driver's Cup, instead, T-Max has passed his teammate Oscar, who has been leading for almost the entire season, and Lando now only 12 points ahead of T-Max, who could win his 5th Driver's Cup.

How does Lando with the Driver's Cup in the last race. The most simple route is to be on the podium in Abu-Dhabi. If it's 4th or lower, it gets a bit complicated, but doable. The cool down room, where the top three drivers get a breather before the podium ceremony, was more like a walk-in freezer, as we know Max wanted to yap, Carlos wanted to whoo-hoo, but both were aware of the silently fuming Oscar in the other chair! Post race interviews with the McLaren drivers were decidedly tongues being bitten! What I would give to be a fly on the wall at Monday's McLaren debriefing....f-bombs will surely be dropped, and a decision will need to be made as to how to handle racing priorities at Abu Dhabi.

Well, I was ready to wrap up this blog and prepare for the last race, but HOT TEA was spilled in the paddock when Ass-Hat Darth Helmut Marco, "consultant" for Red Bull, decided to spew more stupidity, by saying that, "It was so obvious that Kimi waved Lando thru for 4th spot!". Sadly, due to this idiot's comments, the hatorade poured out on social media on Kimi, receiving over 1100 "Severe or suspect" comments, including death threats and bodily harm. Kimi's boss, Toto Wolff, fired back, stating that Helmut's comments were "brainless" ( he was too kind, IMHO). Kimi put his Instagram picture on on black due to the vitriol he was receiving. I can report that Kimi supporters, who realize that: a) Kimi is a rookie in a high pressure situation, and b) JUST GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL, came to bat to defend Kimi, who is also a sweet boy, and the message from the F1 fans and the passing F1 fans was loud and clear: DO NOT COME FOR KIMI!

Red Bull PR put out a statement the next day saying it "sincerely regrets" the online abuse Kimi had to endure. MMM-kay.

If only I was able to post the video for this, as Kimi was shocked at how cold this ice bath was!

No more ice.. please! I've cooled down enough!

Last race in Abu-Dhabi, which means its Drivers Pets Pix ! See you next week!