Max Verstappen clinches 3rd straight Formula 1 title in Qatar Grand Prix sprint race
Max Verstappen is the 2023 Formula 1 champion.
That was something known to F1 fans for months given Verstappen’s dominance so far this season. But it became official on Saturday after his teammate Sergio Perez crashed out of the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race.
Verstappen clinched the title with six Grand Prix races to go. Perez could only keep Verstappen from clinching the title by winning the sprint and Verstappen finishing seventh or worse. But he was caught up in a wreck with Nico Hülkenberg and Esteban Ocon as they went three-wide.
Perez would not have prevented Verstappen from clinching even if he hadn't crashed. Verstappen was running third at the time and Perez was outside the top eight.
Oscar Piastri won the sprint race from the pole while Verstappen ended up second and scored seven points. He entered the sprint 177 points ahead of Perez and is now 184 points up on second place.
The three-time champion is putting together what could be the most dominant season in F1 history. Verstappen has won 13 of 16 Grand Prix races so far this season and has led 712 of a possible 962 laps completed.
He’s the overwhelming favorite to get his 14th win of the season on Sunday as he starts from the pole.
Verstappen entered the 2023 season on the heels of an epic 2022 that looked nearly impossible to duplicate. He set an F1 record with 15 wins in 22 races and had an average finish of 3.5. After mechanical issues took him out of two of the first three races a season ago, Verstappen reeled off five wins in the next six and never finished lower than seventh the rest of the season.
The 26-year-old has been even better in 2023. Verstappen has an average finish of 1.4 and his worst finishes of the season were two second-places until he was fifth in Singapore. If Verstappen wins three of the remaining six races, he’ll break Michael Schumacher’s 2004 record for the best winning percentage in a single season. Schumacher won 72% of the races that season as he scored 13 victories in 18 starts.
Verstappen joins F1 legends
While Verstappen has a ways to go to challenge Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher’s record of seven F1 titles, he’s in legendary company with his third championship. Only five F1 drivers have won more titles and Verstappen now has as many titles as Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Jackie Stewart.
He’s also just the fifth driver to win three consecutive titles. Only Hamilton, Schumacher, Juan Manuel Fangio and Sebastian Vettel have won at least four titles in a row.
Barring a shift in the F1 power dynamic, Verstappen will enter the 2024 season as a big favorite to score his fourth title in a row. A fourth title will tie him with Vettel and Alain Prost for the third-most championships ever.
Verstappen maximizes Red Bull’s car
Success in F1 is largely determined by your equipment. A driver can only do so much with a slow car. And it’s no secret that Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing team has the fastest cars in 2023.
But Verstappen’s success in 2023 isn’t just because he has a great car. Just look at his teammate Perez. Verstappen has overwhelmingly been faster than Perez throughout the entirety of the season. While Perez has struggled to put qualifying sessions together, Verstappen has been nearly flawless in qualifying. As Red Bull set an F1 record with 15 consecutive wins dating back to the 2022 season finale, Verstappen scored 13 of those wins.
Verstappen and Red Bull have been so good this season that it was an open question for much of the summer if the team was going to sweep the season in what would have been an unprecedented achievement. The answer to that finally became “no” at the Singapore Grand Prix as Red Bull struggled for the first time all season and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won from the pole.
Sainz led all 62 laps in that race and has led 77 laps all season. Verstappen and Perez have combined to lead 850 laps while everyone else in F1 has combined to lead 35 laps.
