As the sun rose over the desert on the day of the Qatar Grand Prix, it looked as if the sun would set on Max Verstappen's title chances at the end of it.
Oscar Piastri had dominated every meaningful session, and the Dutchman had been a fair way behind both the Aussie and Lando Norris in each of them.
McLaren had snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with their double disqualification in Las Vegas, but they surely wouldn't do so again.
And then they did.
McLaren play things nice and pay the price
I ended my column after the Las Vegas Grand Prix by saying that, after favouring fairness over favouritism all season, McLaren now had to put all of their support behind Lando Norris to ensure they win their first Drivers' Championship since 2008. They chose not to do so, and it cost them dearly.
They had a golden opportunity to get Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri without even directly issuing team orders when the Safety Car came on seven laps in. They could have pitted the Brit while keeping the Aussie out, meaning the former would only have to pass the slower car of Verstappen to seal the title. However, they opted not to do so.
Another option was to pit Piastri and seal the race win, ensuring both of their drivers went into the final race with a decent lead over the Red Bull driver in the standings. However, they opted not to do so.
Instead, they chose to hand the victory to Verstappen by leaving both out. After the race, they said they did so as they didn't expect so many others to take what was effectively a free pit-stop, but it's pretty obvious the actual reason was a fear of throwing one of their drivers under the bus.
Pitting just one of them would have hugely disadvantaged the other, and pitting both would have disadvantaged Norris, as he would've lost positions sitting behind Piastri in the pit-lane while the Aussie's stop was carried out.
The only way they could treat both their drivers equally was by screwing them both over equally, so they went with that option.
It was the latest of many occasions this season in which McLaren have refused to favour one of their drivers, but while it was an understandable and even admirable philosophy when their drivers were the only ones in title contention, it's frankly an insane one when you have one of the greatest of all time hunting you down.
Instead of heading to the season finale with one happy driver, one very unhappy driver and a title in the bag, they enter it with two slightly unhappy drivers and a title in the balance.
Verstappen in need of another Abu Dhabi miracle
So, we head to Abu Dhabi with the title fight very much alive for the first time since 2021, and we all know what happened back then...
However, all things considered, prevailing this time will be a much bigger challenge for Verstappen.
Four years ago, he was able to steal the title with a last-lap overtake thanks to the lack of a points deficit heading into the race, the help of teammate Sergio Perez, and race director Michael Masi's decision to throw the rulebook out the window. On Sunday, he won't have any of that.
Instead of entering the season finale level on points with a sole title rival as he did in 2021, he enters it 12 points behind one and just four ahead of the other.
Instead of entering it with a teammate good enough to help him out at the front of the field, he enters it with one who won't be anywhere near him.
Instead of entering it with a race director willing to bend the rules for the sake of entertainment, he enters it with the sport having taken a number of measures to ensure such a philosophy is a thing of the past.
That being said, he has far less daunting opponents this time around.
In Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes, he was up against arguably the best driver the sport has ever seen and statistically the most dominant team that the sport has ever seen, while this time, his challengers are two drivers and a team that have all shown they can crumble under pressure.
One thing is certain: with it guaranteed to crown a new world champion or see the completion of one of F1's most remarkable turnarounds ever, the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is going to be historic.
Check out all the permutations for the three title contenders at the final grand prix now.
