After securing his third F1 title on Saturday, Oracle Red Bull Racing driver celebrates with a 14th win of 2023.
Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen wrapped up his Formula One world title-winning weekend at the Qatar Grand Prix with a dominant drive around the Losail Circuit to comfortably lead home McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris and record his 14th victory of the 2023 season.
The Dutch driver secured his third consecutive Drivers’ Championship title by finishing second in Saturday’s sprint race behind Piastri and joined a select group of drivers that includes Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet on three F1 world titles.
Victory in the sprint also allowed Verstappen to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of winning the F1 crown with six races still to be completed.
Verstappen and the Oracle Red Bull Racing team couldn’t celebrate too hard with Sunday’s main race still to run and they carried on where they left off at the previous race in Japan with a dominant victory from pole position.
Despite the complications of a mandatory 18-lap tyre use limit being placed on teams due to degradation concerns on the new Losail Circuit surface, Verstappen controlled the race masterfully to secure victory over sprint winner Piastri by 4.833s, with Norris 5.969s behind Verstappen in third.
Victory in Qatar marked Verstappen’s 14th race win from the 17 races so far in 2023. Oracle Red Bull Racing, already the Constructors’ Championship winners this year, have also won all but one Grands Prix to date, the Singapore Grand Prix. The team has now won the Drivers’ and Constructors’ double for the sixth time.
“We had a really good race today,” said Verstapen post race. “I think what really made it for me was the first stint, where we were strong and good on the tires. I had a slow stop at the end, so the McLarens were quite close at the checkered flag, but they have been quick all weekend. Of course, with the mandatory three stops, we weren’t able to get the best out of our car as we are good on tires, but we won and that’s the main thing. My hunger for winning hasn’t stopped since winning the championship, I want to keep going and maximizing the performance of the car each weekend.”
“For Max it was an incredible win,” added Christian Horner, CEO and Team Principal. “It’s been a very tough race, both physically and mentally, for all the drivers. In a race that was very prescriptive and sub optimal to the fastest race, Max drove well and very controlled, trying to manage the tires. Having an enforced three stop was not the fastest way to run that race, so it was a case of making sure we covered off the Safety Car possibilities and managed the deg, but the strategy team did their work, got their sums right and helped deliver the victory.”
While the focus was on another victory for the three time champion Verstappen, there was no drama to his win as he cruised to another wire to wire perfect weekend: pole, fastest lap and win.
The race chaos was elsewhere on the track and began in turn one on the opening lap when Lewis Hamilton and George Russell went wheel-to-wheel moments after the lights went out at the Lusail International Circuit, the seven-time world champion attempting to go around the outside of his team mate through Turn 1, only for the duo to dramatically make contact in the bottleneck and spin each other out of the race.
With Hamilton out of the race on the spot, and Russell forced to pit for a new front wing at the end of the opening lap, two of Verstappen’s main rivals had already fallen by the wayside. With those two cars our of the way, only one Ferrari in the race from the start, the only other competition would have come from McLaren, however they were no match for Verstappen.
While the two McLaren drivers did not challenge for the top of the podium, they backed up an impressive Sprint race display as Piastri and Norris came home second and third respectively for another double podium finish, rising from their P6 and P10 grid slots after losing lap times over track limits violations in qualifying.