Max Verstappen is officially the world champion 2023! On the weekend of the Qatar GP, the sixth to last event of the season, the Dutchman arithmetically achieved the certainty of his third consecutive world championship seal thanks to the second place achieved in the Sprint on Saturday.
Verstappen catches up Senna, Piquet, Lauda, Stewart and Brabham with 3 world titles and does so by becoming the second youngest driver to reach this milestone (only Vettel, when he won his third title in 2012, was a year younger than him).
So let's retrace his season, so far one of the most dominant (if not the most dominant) in history. From the start in Bahrain to today's mathematical certainty.
The first races: internal fight for the title?
Verstappen's season starts in the best way, with pole and victory on debut in Bahrain ahead of teammate Perez. Be careful, however curse of the first race: From 2017 to today, the winner of the inaugural round has never won the title at the end of the year.
The second weekend, a Jeddah, starts off on the wrong foot. A driveshaft problem in Q2 forced him to start 15esimo, while teammate Perez, second in the world championship, took pole position. The Mexican then goes on to win the race, while Verstappen is excellent according to at the finish line (also achieving the fastest lap which allows him to maintain the lead in the standings). The weekend of Red Bull's number 11 was quite convincing and some are starting to predict a two-way fight for the title, comparing Verstappen and Perez to Hamilton and Rosberg in Mercedes.
In AustraliaHowever, the opposite happens. Verstappen returns pole, while an error of Perez condemns him to leave from fondo of the deployment. In a race where everything happens, especially in the closing stages, Verstappen keeps his cool and takes second victory seasonal. Perez finishes fifth and also takes home the point for the fastest lap, but Verstappen can breathe again with a world championship perspective. The points separating the two Red Bull drivers are now 15.
A Baku the first sprint weekend of the season takes place. The new format, characterized by a double qualification (one on Friday for the Sunday race and one on Saturday for the sprint) is inaugurated by a double pole for Leclerc. Verstappen and Perez exchange positions in the top 3: on Friday, the Dutchman precedes the Mexican; on Saturdays the opposite happens.
In sprint, Verstappen comes into contact with Russell on the first lap and, despite a damaged car at the rear, manages to limit the damage and close third, while Perez takes the victory. The Mexican also completed the double in the Sunday race, with Verstappen this time finishing at according to place. The world race has reopened: Verstappen's lead has been reduced to 6 points.
Verstappen takes off: 10 victories in a row
Miami it's a crucial point for the season. In qualifying, Perez wins the pole position, while Leclerc's accident prevents Verstappen from setting the final time: he will start no no. In the race, however, there is none for anyone: Verstappen passes all the opponents in front of him and he's going to win, with Perez finishing second. This is an important mental blow for the Mexican, on a weekend in which he could have taken the lead in the standings.
A Monaco, then, Verstappen wins one pole magical in front of Alonso, with Perez repeating Melbourne's mistake and starting last. The Dutchman closes first even the next day, while the Mexican doesn't go not even in points.
The situation repeats itself a Barcelona. Verstappen takes it pole and victory, while Perez is excluded in Q2 and only reaches the finish line fourth and is now 53 points behind his teammate. In Canada, Verstappen wins another pole and his 41st success in his career, like Ayrton Senna. Perez was eliminated again in Q2 and in the race he only managed to recover to sixth position.
In Austria, second sprint weekend of the year, Verstappen does the full of points. Two pole positions out of two and two victories out of two, with the icing on the cake being the point for the fastest lap. Perez is once again relegated to the last places in Friday's qualifying (he will finish third in the Sunday race), while on Saturday he finishes immediately behind his teammate.
A Silverstone the trend continues: another pole by Verstappen, another elimination by Perez in Q1. Dutch goes to win ahead of a revived Norris and Hamilton, while the Mexican finished sixth. Now the gap between the two is 99 points. In Hungary, Hamilton returns to pole after almost two years of fasting, beating Verstappen by just 3 thousandths. Perez returns to Q3 with a ninth place, but he can't do anything in the race: he finishes third, but his teammate does vince still.
A Spa (another sprint weekend), Verstappen wins both pole positions, but is penalized for the Sunday race having replaced the gearbox. Leclerc thus starts at the post, but can do nothing to stop Verstappen, who wins the sprint and the race. Perez limits the damage, finishing second.
Upon returning from summer holidays, the situation does not change. In his home race, Verstappen takes pole and victory, while Perez is only fourth at the finish line. TO MonzaThen, Sainz deceives the home fans with an extraordinary pole, but the winner on Sunday is the usual Verstappen. Tenth victory in a row and new absolute record. Perez completes another 1-2 Red Bull, but the title is now far away.
The Asian tour: Verstappen is world champion
A Singapore, Red Bull suffers its first setback of the season. Sainz conquest pole and victory, while Verstappen and Perez (both out in Q2) recovered to fifth and eighth place respectively. Hamilton finishes third and overtakes Alonso in the standings, also climbing to third place in the drivers' championship.
In JapanHowever, everything goes back to normal. Verstappen takes it home another pole and another victory, the thirteenth of the season. On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Perez experiences his worst weekend of the season and retires, losing another 26 points to Verstappen.
Closing the circle is the Qatar weekend, in which a Verstappen's second place in the Sprint on Saturday was enough, closing the world championship with six races to spare. Red Bull champion in the constructors' world championship, Verstappen world champion at the end of a season dominated from start to finish.
