Papaya fools! McLaren have scared themselves into setting up a Max Verstappen title win

What on earth are McLaren playing at? After lining up one-two on the grid at the Qatar Grand Prix, they were on course for a straight forward one-two finish... only to then turn it into a mediocre two-four.

First though I'll defend the Woking outfit. Once Max Verstappen pitted on lap eight for Red Bull after the safety car was brought out, McLaren were left in a conundrum - and the one-two finish was a little trickier to pull off.

For any normal team, the decision would highly likely have been split the strategy. One comes in, one stays out.

But that's enough defending now. McLaren have backed themselves in a corner. A season of clumsy team orders with accusations (even if all of them have been ludicrous) of favouritism in their driver line-up means that a split of strategy for any of their drivers means they couldn't win.

No matter if Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri ended up with the better outcome in split strategies, the accusations of bias would have been hurtling towards them faster than Max Verstappen is in the title race.

So McLaren decided to trash both of their drivers' race win hopes, leaving them both out and in the process giving the entire grid a free pit-stop on them. Fantastic.

They tried to act smart, pretending that the decision allowed them flexibility with pit stops in a mandatory two-stop race. But no one was buying, not even Norris nor Piastri judging by their passive aggressive comms over team radio.

They were though given a huge let-off from the most unlikeliest of sources. Wise old fox Fernando Alonso, managing his Aston Martin tyres, was backing up the entire field with conservative pace.

The result meant that Piastri and Norris (just about) managed to build a big enough gap to clear the two-time world champion to gain fourth and fifth once they pitted 25 laps in. Verstappen still had race advantage but crucially both drivers were still on course to bag big points on the podium.

How can Max Verstappen win the F1 title?

Still, on a night where McLaren were set to dump Max Verstappen out of the F1 championship (something that should have happened long ago given the superiority of the McLaren) they now head to Abu Dhabi staring at the frightening prospect of the Dutchman, somehow, claiming a fifth world championship.

In fact, the Qatar result of a Verstappen win gives him an excellent chance of claiming the championship. If he wins at the Yas Marina Circuit, he will be champion if Norris finishes as low as fourth... where he ended up in Qatar.

And as Verstappen prepares to take what would be an extraordinary title, it could all be of McLaren's own making.

Their decision to not act because of probably the reaction from keyboard warriors on the internet could end up costing them the world championship... and probably fuel new conspiracies how they wanted Verstappen to win all along. Honestly, don't rule it out.

READ MORE: F1 world champions: Full list from Farina to four-time King Verstappen

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