Lewis Hamilton’s priceless response to Max Verstappen’s Qatar F1 win

Lewis Hamilton revealed his shock at how Max Verstappen has flipped the F1 title battle with victory at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s Verstappen capitalised on a McLaren strategy blunder to claim his seventh win of the season and cut Lando Norris’s championship lead down to 12 points, while leapfrogging Oscar Piastri to second place in the drivers’ standings.

The result has set up a tantalising three-way championship showdown heading into next weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Verstappen right in the mix to secure what would be an unprecedented fifth consecutive world title.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton endured another miserable race for Ferrari, finishing a lowly 12th. Afterwards, he admitted he had no idea who had won, and assumed Piastri had.

“How's Max 12 behind now?” Hamilton asked upon being told the championship picture. “Max won? Oh, shoot, I didn't know, I had no idea. Wow, holy sh*t. No, no, I thought Piastri won, I don't know.”

When informed that Norris had only finished fourth, Hamilton responded: “Oh, really? Lando was fourth? Where’s Piastri?”

Hamilton was then informed that Piastri finished second ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Williams.

"So Oscar's third now [in the championship]?” Hamilton added. “Well that’s exciting! Goes right to the wire!”

Hamilton praises Verstappen

Hamilton missed out on a record-breaking eighth world championship in 2021 when going head-to-head with Verstappen for that year’s world title.

Verstappen claimed his maiden world title - and first of four consecutive championships - by snatching victory from the then Mercedes driver on the last lap of a hugely controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 40-year-old Briton has not been in contention for a world championship since.

Hamilton praised the job Verstappen has done this year to remain in the hunt, having remarkably reduced what was a 104-point deficit after the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August.

“Well, we all know Max does a great job,” Hamilton said.

“I think he's got a phenomenal team behind him, which there's no denying they've had the best car over the last four years. And maybe less so at the beginning of this year, but they somehow came back.

“He's obviously got a great car, but he does an amazing job with it, so I can't fault him.”