Lewis Hamilton admits he “had no idea” Max Verstappen won the Qatar GP, reacting live to the title twist

The seven-time Formula 1 champion endured a challenging weekend at the Losail circuit, where he was consistently vocal about issues with his Ferrari machinery before ultimately finishing outside the points in Sunday’s grand prix. However, when he was prompted about the tight title fight heading into the final race of the season, his focus immediately turned to the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Upon being informed that the title fight was now a tense three-way battle—with McLaren’s Lando Norris only 12 points ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and Oscar Piastri just four points behind Norris—Hamilton was stunned to realize the Australian driver (Piastri) had not won the race as he had assumed.

“How’s Max 12 behind now?” he asked when the drivers’ standings were mentioned. The moment of shock followed: “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.”

He then double-checked the specifics of Norris’s performance. “Oh, really?” he asked upon learning the Briton finished fourth. “Lando was fourth? Where’s Piastri?” Only when he was definitively told that Piastri finished second, followed by Williams’ Carlos Sainz, did the dramatic result truly sink in.

“So Oscar’s third now?” he continued. “Goes right to the wire!” Despite their intense rivalry during the 2021 season, Hamilton immediately offered high praise for Verstappen’s 2025 campaign.

Despite their intense 2021 rivalry, Lewis Hamilton was highly complimentary of the race victor, Max Verstappen, and the entire Red Bull operation in 2025.

Hamilton openly stated: “Well, we all know Max does a great job.” He went on to acknowledge the essential role of the team supporting the Dutch driver: “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.”

The former Mercedes driver also took the opportunity to voice his previous complaints regarding the lack of strategic variety he observed during the race, attributing the issue to the tyre limits and the circuit’s layout. However, he looked ahead with optimism. Hamilton expressed his anticipation that the substantial changes to the regulations in 2026 would ultimately lead to better racing.

He predicted: “I mean, our cars will be a lot different. There should be more variation between teams. Possibly. Possibly a lot different. Maybe there’ll be more overtaking because of the, yeah… we’ll see.”