Max Verstappen Wins the 2023 World Championship & Creates History at the Qatar Sprint Race

“Max Verstappen is a three-time Champion of the World!” Who saw that coming? Or better yet, who didn’t see that coming from a mile away? Max Verstappen has been absolutely invincible this season. No matter the situation, he has delivered at every time of asking. When he’s had the opportunity to be the fastest driver on the grid, he’s taken it without needing a second invitation. This season was his and his only, and it was only a matter of time before he got his first chance to seal the deal. It came during the Sprint at the Qatar GP, and the Dutchman is no longer just a two-time world champion!

In the build-up to the Qatar GP, someone asked F1 journalist Will Buxton if he thinks the championship should be decided in the Sprint. Buxton couldn’t have put it across any better. He said, “It’s not going to be decided in the Sprint race. It was decided six months ago.” That was when Verstappen stepped into the RB19 for the first time in pre-season testing. He was dialed in for the 2023 season, and—in tennis star Ben Shelton fashion—he hung up on every other driver at the Qatar GP.

Max Verstappen is on top of the world!

Isn’t it funny how all three of Verstappen’s championships have come in very unconventional ways? In 2021, it came down to that (controversial) last lap in Abu Dhabi. The FIA made a decision, and it played right into Verstappen’s hands. He came out on top after that one-lap shootout and clinched his first championship. In 2022, he won the Japanese GP quite comfortably. But a post-race penalty handed to Charles Leclerc in P2 dropped the Monegasque to P3, making Max the official champion. What’s better than a second consecutive title? A third consecutive title and Verstappen sealed it in style & in a unique fashion that created history in F1!

On media day, Verstappen said, “It’ll be amazing to win it here. For me, if it’s Saturday or Sunday, I don’t think it matters a lot. I think it’s always nice at the first possible opportunity to win it.” Coming into the weekend, he had a 177-point lead in the championship. Considering he needed just three points to be crowned champion, anything better than a P7 in the Sprint would’ve made it official. The historical uniqueness was going to be Verstappen becoming the first driver to win the championship in a Sprint race!

As much as the Dutchman would’ve liked to continue his qualifying form from Friday into Saturday, the McLarens proved too strong for him (a statement that would’ve sounded absolutely absurd at the start of 2023). Oscar Piastri snatched the Sprint pole from him and ensured Verstappen worked for his title. Well, he didn’t really need to do much since Sergio Perez decided it for him.

In the 19-lap race, the Dutchman has an uncharacteristically slow start, dropping down to P5 from P3. While he was fighting through the field, Perez collided with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg. That sealed it. With Perez stuck in the gravel and Verstappen still running, the Dutchman officially became the 2023 champion! He also emulated his future father-in-law 3-time champion Nelson Piquet’s feat of winning a title on a Saturday with this triumph.

Max Verstappen proved just how much he deserved this championship. From the get-go, he’s been on top of his form. While that non-win at the Singapore GP might’ve seemed like a blip in form, it wasn’t. If that proved anything, it was that the only thing that beat Verstappen this season was his car (and, on the rare occasion, his teammate). Apart from winning his third title, the other good thing is that he didn’t “play with the championship.”

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Max Verstappen followed some sound advice

Verstappen has had an impeccable season. On his way to his third title, he toppled records one after the other and rewrote history. One of the most significant ones was his 10-race winning streak, surpassing Sebastian Vettel’s 9. But after everything he’s achieved, it’s almost anticlimactic that he sealed the championship in a Sprint. Why? Because it’s a format he’s detested since its introduction in 2021. “When we’re going to do all that stuff, the weekend becomes even more intense, and we’re already doing so many races. It’s not worth it for me. I’m not a fan of it at all,” is what Verstappen has to say. Well, he had to set aside his dislike for the format and listen to what an F1 veteran had to say.

F1 journalist Peter Windsor addressed this on his YouTube channel. Would Verstappen sit out the Sprint and go for the title on Sunday, asked a viewer. Windsor replied, “If I was Max, I’d say, ‘Bring back the garlands. I’ll try and win it in the Sprint race.’ You want to have that whole thing. I don’t think he’ll play around with it. You don’t play around with the championship. If you’ve got a chance to win the championship in the Sprint race, you go for it. And I’m sure that’s the way Max and his team would be thinking.” 

That’s exactly what Max Verstappen and Red Bull thought, and that’s exactly what they did. The 2023 championship is finally decided. Max Verstappen is a three-time Champion of the World!

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