THE BIG PICTURE: This is the type of season, no matter what happens in the finale, that can't properly be analyzed until years later when all the behind the scenes stories come out. In the meantime, enjoy the wrap up. It's been quite a ride.

EVENT: There were a lot of crowd shots. Outside of luxury boxes, did you notice any locals in those crowd shots? Yeah, we didn't either.

TRACK: This track has become essentially a no passing zone track.

SPRINT SHOOTOUT: Perhaps the big news is Tsunoda outqualifies Verstappen. But the real news is Piastri is back on pole and he has a Russell buffer over Norris.

SPRINT: More tire management than sprint. Not much -- well, nothing -- happened.

SPRINT START: Tentative going into Turn 1, Piastri is clean away, Tsunoda is quick off the line and gets a bit fiesty, but ultimately yields to Verstappen.

QUALIFYING: Piastri maintains his historical superiority at Lusoil over Norris to grab pole, the three championship contenders are in the top three, Mercedes is strong again, and Gasly absolutely shines again.

RACE: If it wasn't for the idiocy of McLaren, the talking points would be the same as the sprint -- tire management, nothing happening, and fixed strategies.

START: Norris plays it safe on the dirty side as Verstappen gets by him, Piastri sails away, Russell gets a poor start as did Hadjar, and Sainz looks good.

VERSTAPPEN: Max to McLaren, you guys are the gift that keeps on giving.

PIASTRI: Patooied by his own team. This feels as bad as when Red Bull lost Daniel Ricciardo a sure win at Monaco.

NORRIS: First a DQ at Las Vegas, then a strategy cockup at Qatar. This is worse than Lucy pulling the football out from Charlie Brown.

MCLAREN: Dumbest team in F1. And that’s saying a lot considering Ferrari is on that grid.

BROWN: Zak wins the Mr. Obvious award, "We made the wrong decision."

TSUNODA: A fleeting moment on Saturday, then back to form on Sunday.

SAINZ: Carlos now has two podiums (in a Williams!) while the seat he was kicked out of (Hamilton in a Ferrari!) has zero podiums.

ALBON: The guy just can't buy a break.

WILLIAMS: Clinched fifth place in the constructors standings. This team does seem to have the feel of McLaren a few years ago. Now, with new regulations coming ... just saying...

ANTONELLI: He did not let Norris by. For Red Bull to insinuate that is unsporting. For the social media outrage and the threats thrown at him is disgusting. Kimi simply made a boo, boo.

RUSSELL: A bad start spoiled the rest of his race.

ALONSO: With all the strategy talk, lost was Fernando's excellent performance.

HAMILTON: So, we're now just going to consider Lewis not getting out of Q1 a normal thing?

FERRARI: That so called pep talk sure worked wonders. NOT!

BORTOLETO: Well, he didn't crash. Now, Gabriel needs to finish the last race strong.

F2: Italian Leonardo Fornaroli finished second in the feature race, clinching the championship. Frenchman Victor Martins won the race from the reverse grid pole. Dutchman Richard Verschoor took the sprint race, tying the single season win mark at eight.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Doink.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 16 -- The number of points that separates the top three drivers with one race to go. If you suggested that during the summer -- heck, just last week -- they would have locked you up.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: People have often compared this year to the 2007 season. Kimi Räikkönen entered the final race in third place, seven points behind (and 17 points behind with two races to go), and overtook the two McLaren drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso, who were so busy taking points from each other all year, to win the title by a single point over both.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND: @redbullracing put it as succinctly as you can:

We've got ourselves a TITLE DECIDER!

#F1 || #QatarGP

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Oscar Piastri was quite curt with his team on the cool down lap, "Speechless. I do not have any words."

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: After Zak Brown compared him to the bad guy who "keeps coming back," Verstappen said, "You can call me Chucky."

SCHEDULE: So, here we are. How we got here is no longer the issue. We are here. Last race. Three drivers. One championship.

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