The sun does not set on the reign of Max Verstappen III, not even in the Qatari night. The Flying Dutchman, sitting in his faithful Red Bull, had to wait until the 13th lap of the sprint race – won by the talented McLaren driver Oscar Piastri – to have the mathematical certainty of remaining world champion, for the third consecutive year. He needed three points, his teammate Sergio Perez took away the thought of chasing them, ending up in the gravel in a pile-up with Nico Huelkenberg’s Haas and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine. Champion all the way, ‘Mad-Max’ however was not satisfied, he fought to get on the podium, until settling on the second step, but only due to a lack of kilometres. Otherwise it is likely that the insatiable Max would have gone chasing victory. Third was another McLaren, the one driven by Lando Norris. At 26, Verstappen succeeds himself with six races to spare, as only Schumacher managed in 2002. Always very fast, master of a Red Bull as docile with him as it often proved grumpy with Perez, he occupied the lead of the world championship in all the 2023 GPs: it hasn’t happened since 2015, when Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes dominated. A record of his among many? At the beginning of September he dominated the Italian GP, the tenth in a row, overtaking Sebastian Vettel who in 2013 had stopped at nine. “It’s a fantastic feeling. We’ve had an incredible season. I’m proud to be part of this team – Max III’s first words – Today was fun, even with so many safety cars. Being three-time world champion is simply incredible. Piastri? He had a great race. I thought I would go and get him, but I couldn’t. More titles? Now I’m enjoying the moment. Obviously I hope I can maintain this momentum for a while.” It was truly a Saturday worth remembering for the Australian Piastri who, at the age of 22, won his first race in Formula 1, albeit over a short distance. “I’m very happy but it was a stressful race – he commented -. We did an excellent job”. Nineteen hard laps, interspersed with three safety cars. And experienced in anonymity by the Ferraris, sixth and seventh at the finish line with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque was then penalized 5″ for four violations of the track limit, dropping to 13th place. A bad sign in view of tomorrow and above all in terms of constructors’ standings, with Mercedes taking an advantage over the Maranello team. More generally , on the slippery asphalt of Losail, it was a difficult mini-race for all those drivers who, like the two Ferrari drivers, had chosen to start on the soft tyres. It is no coincidence that the first three had mounted medium compound tyres. stop and go forced by the exits of the track first by Lawson (AlphaTauri), then by Sargeant (Williams) and finally by Perez and his companions, the soft tires quickly lost effectiveness. George Russell, for example, paid the price, who savored first place, only to be overtaken by Piastri in the 11th lap, but managed to finish fourth ahead of Hamilton.
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2023-10-07 19:54:00
#Verstappen #Sprint #champion #Qatar #ANSA #Agency
