Max P2 in sprint race and WORLD CHAMPION: 'A fantastic feeling'

Published on 07 October 2023 by Misha van der Kroon

Max Verstappen secured his third world title in a row during the sprint race in Qatar. The reigning World Champion finished the sprint race in P2, putting the competition at an unbridgeable disadvantage. On paper, the competition consisted only of teammate Sergio Perez. Regardless of Perez’s position, Verstappen only needed 3 points to be crowned World Champion at the Losail International Circuit in Doha.

With six races to go, the Dutchman locked up the championship. He joins a list of great names which includes Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna, who all have three championship titles on their name. In his McLaren, Oscar Piastri was able stay ahead of the World Champion and took the win in this sprintrace. Teammate Lando Norris finished third. The Mercedes of George Russell and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz completed the top five. Due to a collision with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg, Max’s teammate Sergio Perez was forced to retire his car.

So far, Max’s season has been a season of unmatched dominance. Initially, Perez was able to follow in the footsteps of the Dutchman, but after the race in Baku there was no stopping Max, and the rest of the grid saw Verstappen and his RB19 disappear on the horizon. With a series of ten consecutive Grand Prix victories (an amazing new record), the entire field is crushed and the fast Dutchman opens an unbridgeable gap to the competition, which ultimately only consists of his teammate Perez. The Mexican was however aware that a second place in the championship is the highest achievable.

After the sprint race, the newly crowned three-time World Champion said: “It’s a fantastic feeling! It’s been an incredible year, lot of great races. Of course I'm super proud of the job of the team. It’s been so enjoyable to be part of that group of people. To be three-time World Champion is just incredible.”

Max continues: “It was an exciting race today. It was a bit of a shame with the safety cars, but overall it was good. I had fun out there, and of course I’m incredibly happy at the moment.”

Today, Max had to settle in P2 behind the fast Oscar Piastri, who started from pole position. The McLaren driver took his first win in the sprint race. The Dutchman praises the Australian: “He drove a great race. I don’t think it was easy, because we were on the medium tyres. And there were some soft-starters who had a bit more grip at the beginning, but he did very well. I tried everything I could to catch up, but we came short in the end”

Looking forward to the rest of the season, and the year to come, Max concludes: “We’ll see what happens. I’m enjoying the moment, and of course we hope to keep the momentum going”

Max starts the sprint race, and the hunt for the world title, in P3, behind the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Verstappen and Norris do not have a great start, and see George Russell, who starts on the soft tyres, pass by them. The Ferraris also have a great start and they fly by Max and Norris before the first corner. In turn two, Liam Lawson looses control of his car and runs off track, which brings out the safety car.

At the restart, Piastri is able to keep the lead, but not for long. Russell overtakes the McLaren, and not long afterwards there is another safety car situation: Logan Sargeant is in the gravel and his Williams has to be towed away. The top five at that time: George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

As soon as the green flag is waved, Russell hits the gas and opens a gap to Piastri, whose restart is not great. The top five remains unchanged for a few laps with Perez in P11. Max passes Leclerc at the start of the ninth lap and heads towards Sainz. A lap later the Spaniard has to make way, and Max climbs to P3. Perez passed Pierre Gasly at that moment and is tenth.

The cars on the soft tyres, including Russell who is still in P1, start to struggle, and Piastri sees an opportunity to pass the Mercedes. A lap later, Max Verstappen secures the championship when Ocon, Hülkenberg and Perez crash into each other and go off into the gravel. Hülkenberg went around the outside of Ocon into turn one, but had a better exit. Perez took advantage of the lower speed during that battle, and went to the right, causing Hülkenberg to end up in a sandwich. The cars go three-wide into the second corner and contact is inevitable. Hülkenberg can continue his way, but drives to the pits and retires the car.

The safety car is out again, and Russell reports to his team that he wants to pit because his tyres are gone. He is however told to stay out by his engineer. Max, who is in P3 at the moment, will benefit from this. With five laps to go, the safety car goes in and the cars are released again.

There are no immediate position changes at the restart. One lap later, Max passes Russell, but looks at a 2.5 second gap to Piastri. With just four laps to go, it looks like a big challenge to close the gap and overtake the young New Zealander.

Piastri manages to stay ahead of Max and wins the sprint race in Qatar, ahead of Verstappen and Norris. With P2 in the sprint race, Max is crowned World Champion and celebrates his victory with the team of Oracle Red Bull Racing.   

Contest GP Qatar: win a canvas 'Austria 2023 by Eric Jan Kremer'

Results sprint race Qatar: