Success, it appears, has only grown sweeter for Max Verstappen. The Dutchman who has now claimed his third Formula One world championship declared this was his greatest achievement, a moment of perfection.
Verstappen is not prone to hyperbole and having secured the title in the sprint race at this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix meeting, his summation was indeed a fair assessment of what has been an extraordinary year for the 26-year-old.
“I have achieved more than I could ever have dreamed of,” he said. “So I am living the moment, it’s already way more than I thought I could achieve. It’s perfect.”
Verstappen clinched the championship, his third in a row, in the 19-lap dash at the Lusail circuit in Doha. It concludes what has been an utterly dominant season for Verstappen and his Red Bull team, who have taken the drivers’ and constructors’ championship double, the team’s sixth.
There were question marks over his first title in 2021 after the controversy of the season finale in Abu Dhabi and similarly over Red Bull breaking the cost cap for his second in 2022. No such brickbats can be levelled this time. In 2023 he has been completely in control all year and has not allowed so much as glimmer of hope to anyone on the grid, with 13 wins from 16 races, including a 10-race steak of victories. Little wonder then that title number three meant the most. “This one is the best one,” he said. “The first one was the most emotional one, that is when your dreams are fulfilled in F1 but this one has been my best year. The consecutive wins, the car has been in the best shape. This one I’m the most proud of.”
With it Verstappen is now in rare company indeed, matching the tally scored by Ayrton Senna, Jack Brabham, Sir Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet, and he acknowledged it was hard to come to terms with standing alongside some of the greatest names in the sport.
“It’s something I never thought was possible, to be in that list,” he said. “When you see those names it’s incredible what these people have achieved and now you are alongside them, it’s an amazing feeling.”
He has also matched another of the greats, in claiming it before Sunday’s grand prix Verstappen has equalled Michael Schumacher’s benchmark of taking the title with six races remaining.
It had long not been in doubt given the Dutchman’s superiority and with Red Bull’s car the class of the field, which Verstappen has exploited. Among many relentless drives from pole to the flag he has also returned several impressive comeback drives, proving he was all but unbeatable from almost anywhere on the grid.
He has beaten his teammate Sergio Pérez, driving the same car, into a very distant second. The Mexican is now 184 points behind but Pérez has long since been out of the championship, repeatedly unable to match Verstappen in qualifying or race pace.
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The sprint itself was an unusually hectic affair peppered with safety cars, some dramatic passes and clashes, and was deservedly won by Oscar Piastri, the McLaren rookie’s first F1 victory. Yet Verstappen knew what was required and he duly delivered, as he has done repeatedly this season, coming back from fifth after a slow start to claim second. This was more than was ultimately needed after Pérez was taken out of the race in a clash with Esteban Ocon.
Afterwards Verstappen celebrated with deserved abandon, leaping into the arms of his team from his car. He will not care at all that the championship was secured after a sprint race but it was disappointing there was not more to recognise a title after he has driven brilliantly this season. No grand prix win to revel in, not even a celebratory podium ceremony.
Instead he climbed from his car, to be interviewed in parc ferme. As far as anticlimactic conclusions to sealing a championship go this was as forlorn an affair as F1 has seen, a denouement that was always on the cards ever since the sport introduced the sprint format. Verstappen, then, may have to keep his party powder dry until Sunday night but which is a minor quibble in the face of perfection.
Before any running began on Saturday serious concerns were raised over tyre safety. Pirelli had observed significant tyre damage after Friday qualifying, causing the tyre manufacturer and FIA to consider imposing usage limits including a mandatory three-stop race in Sunday’s GP. They will make a decision after examination of the tyres used in the sprint.
Pirelli feared potential tyre failure caused by the extensive use of the 50mm pyramid kerbs at the Lusail circuit over which the cars were riding, causing immense stress on the sidewalls of the tyres.
