Verstappen Secures Third World Drivers' Championship In Exciting Qatar Sprint

On Saturday night at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix, Red Bull's Max Verstappen had a chance to rewrite F1 history once again, and he did.

As floodlights shone brightly on the Lusail International Circuit, all was set for the Sprint Race, and the Sprint Shootout made sure that the action would be exciting with McLaren's drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris starting from the front row.

The start was very chaotic, with some drivers profiting massively, while others dropping through the field. Norris, who was unlucky during the weekend, dropped to the sixth place, while Piastri managed to stay first, and both Ferrari's of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc made up a couple of places, with Verstappen dropping to sixth.

However, who lost out the most was AlphaTauri's Liam Lawson, who ended up in the gravel and was forced to retire from the Sprint Race already in the first lap, as the Safety Car was deployed, but came in already at the start of the third lap.

On Lap 3, Mercedes' George Russell managed to overtake Piastri for the race lead, but another Safety Car had to be deployed after Logan Sargeant couldn't handle his Williams and was another driver who ended in the gravel.

Read also

Verstappen Snaps Back At His Race Engineer During Pre-Sprint Shootout Warm-Up

Ahead of the second Safety Car restart, Verstappen was in fifth place, while his teammate, Sergio Perez, was only tenth, meaning that the Dutch driver would secure the title if the Sprint Race ended on Lap 6.

After the restart on Lap 7, the field neutralized with not many overtakes and everybody holding onto their positions. As drivers on soft tires started losing pace, those with mediums started gaining positions, and one of them was Verstappen, who overtook Ferrari drivers and was up to third place.

On Lap 10, Piastri, who was also one of the drivers on medium tires, caught up to the race leader Russell, and returned to the lead of the race as the drivers entered Lap 11. At the start of the same lap, Perez collided with Haas' Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine's Esteban Ocon, and the title race was decided, regardless of Verstappen's result.

After the collision, yet another Safety Car was deployed, giving Russell on softs hopes to remain on the podium, but Piastri, who was leading, and third Verstappen, certainly knew that they had the biggest chances to win the Sprint Race.

On Lap 15, the Sprint Race was restarted once again and as the drivers entered Lap 16, Verstappen overtook Russell to climb up to the second place, with 2.5-second gap to leading Piastri with four laps to go.

Yet, the Dutch driver couldn't catch up to the Australian driver, who won his first Sprint Race, as Verstappen secured the World Drivers' Championship, finishing second, and Lando Norris completed the podium, finishing third.

Read also

Russell Defends Verstappen Over Heated 'D**khead' Remark

2023 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint Race Results: