Mad Max on the wheel: Verstappen completes hat-trick of Formula One titles

The manner in which Verstappen clinched it was anti-climatic and, at the same time, almost perfectly encapsulated how the 2023 Formula One season has unfolded.

Stuff of legends: Max became the fifth driver to win three consecutive titles, joining Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Winning one world championship is challenging in itself. To do it three times on the bounce is one of the rarest feats in Formula One, considering only four drivers have done this until 2022.

On Saturday evening, during the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint race, Max Verstappen entered the elite club of three-time champions and completed a hat-trick of titles.

However, the manner in which he clinched it was anti-climatic and, at the same time, almost perfectly encapsulated how the 2023 Formula One season has unfolded.

Verstappen did not have to break a sweat this season to walk away with the crown. Ever since it became evident that Red Bull Racing had enough of a cushion over its rivals in the pre-season test, the 26-year-old was odds-on favourite to win the title.

It was also clear that the opposition to Red Bull was splintered with teams like Aston Martin, Mercedes, Ferrari and off-late McLaren being competitive on one weekend and off-the-pace in another. This meant that only Perez in the second Red Bull could have infused some excitement into this year’s title race.

Unfortunately for F1 fans, when the moment came, the Mexican driver crumbled under pressure and underperformed the machinery big time despite having the fastest car on the grid by a mile.

Coming into the weekend, Verstappen led his teammate Sergio Perez by 177 points with just 180 points left on the table over the six weekends, including Qatar and needed to score three points to seal his third driver’s title.

Unstoppable: Verstappen celebrates with his trophy after the Qatar Grand Prix. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

On Saturday, Perez — as has been the case this season — made a mess by qualifying eighth while his teammate started third in the Sprint Shootout and was trundling along in the mid-field during the race. Then, on lap 11, he became collateral damage when he got taken out by Esteban Ocon. Ocon was battling Nico Hulkenberg when Perez tried to pass the duo, only to see the Alpine of Ocon veer into him, forcing all three drivers to retire.

With Perez once again coming up with an insipid performance, Verstappen was crowned champion midway through a Sprint Race on a Saturday and became the fifth driver to win three consecutive titles, joining Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

Ever since his F1 debut at 17, Verstappen was destined to be the next big thing and was seen as a once-in-a-generation driver with his pure raw pace.

Though it took some time to sharpen the rough edges, with the exuberance of youth often making him go over the edge of what is acceptable in racing, the Dutchman has mellowed and matured to become one of the most consistent drivers on the grid.

Since 2021, when Red Bull first had a car to challenge for the title after a long time, Verstappen has always maximised the opportunity and been relentless. The consistency he has displayed recently has very few parallels in F1 history, the closest being Michael Schumacher’s dream run in the early 2000s with Ferrari.

Over the last three years, the number of times he finished out of the podium will be few and far between. On a few occasions when he was not in the top three, more often than not, it was because of gremlins with the cars and not for lack of performance from his end.

His detractors claim that Red Bull has built a car suited to only Verstappen, but that is only one half of the story.

The Red Bull-RB 19 has a sharp front end, which offers a lot of grip when the driver first steers into the corner, even if the rear is unstable. Perez struggles with the rear instability, but Verstappen can live with it. This trait of the car under the hands of extraordinary drivers has a higher ceiling in terms of raw pace, and the team generally gravitates towards the driver who can extract it.

Apart from his sheer natural speed and talent, Verstappen’s tyre management skill often goes under the radar, which allows him to produce some searing pace over a stint consistently on race day. The fact that he often produces the fastest lap of the race late into a stint underscores how well he can keep the tyres alive.

Also, with a car underneath him that is the fastest, even if he is starting from the middle or the lower end of the grid, Verstappen has come through the field quite easily, showing brilliant car positioning and race craft like he did in Miami when he won the race despite starting ninth.

Look at him go: Verstappen leads Lando Norris of McLaren during the Sprint ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

In contrast, his teammate started from pole position, finished second, and never recovered from the beating. From then on, Verstappen just marched on to his third world title, with his crowning moment coming at the Losail International Circuit on Saturday, during which he won ten consecutive races, a record.

While he finished second in the Sprint, he restored regular order on Sunday by winning the main Grand Prix — his 14 ^th this year — to celebrate the triumph in style.