Verstappen joins triple champs, with more to come

Having sewn up his third successive world title with six rounds to go, the general opinion on the paddock and among pundits is that Max Verstappen will get only better from here on.
While the Red Bull driver’s hapless rivals would not be happy with that view, it is certain Verstappen will not stop at winning three titles, especially having the fastest car at his disposal.
The Dutchman’s dominance has been such that he has put seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, not long ago his fierce rival, chasing shadows on his underperforming Mercedes car.
While Verstappen’s first title came under acrimonious circumstances on the last lap of the 2021 season on a wild night in Abu Dhabi, his next two have been smooth sailing. The 26-year-old won his second title last year in Japan with four races to spare, and this time he has gone one better.
He has already won 13 races out of 16 this season and will start as outright favourite for today’s Qatar Grand Prix at the Lusail International Circuit, where he is in pole position.
With five races to go after Qatar, Verstappen is on course to break his own record for most races won (15) in a single season, which he achieved in 2022. Such has been his domination, he went on a record 10 successive victories in a single season between Miami in May to Monza in September.
After his second place finish in the sprint race on Saturday took Verstappen to his third title, he joined an elite club of Formula 1 drivers, namely Sir Jack Brabham, Sir Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
Asked, meanwhile, whether he was already eyeing up future titles, Verstappen replied on Saturday: “We’ll just see what happens. I’m enjoying the moment and hopefully of course we can keep this momentum going for a while.”
As he soaked in all the emotions, Verstappen later went on to admit that his latest title is the “best” of the lot. “This one is the best one,” Verstappen told the post-sprint press conference.
“I think the first one was the most emotional one because that’s when your dreams are fulfilled in F1, but this one definitely has been my best year [with] consecutive wins and stuff like that. The car itself has probably been in the best shape as well, so for me this one is probably [what] I’m the most proud of in a way, because of consistency,” he added.
His boss at the Red Bull, Christian Horner, has no doubt his star driver – dubbed as “Super Max” – will dominate F1 in the years to come. “He’s the most competitive driver that I’ve ever met,” Horner said on Saturday.
“I think the determination that he drives with, the passion, the heart, the commitment and of course there’s the abundance of skill that he has. He’s up there with the very best, some of the greatest the sport has seen. This season has just surpassed anything we’ve ever seen,” the Red Bull team principal added.
Horner singled out Verstappen’s self-confidence to win from any position as his greatest attribute. “I just think the self-belief, there’s the self-confidence he has in himself, to go out and nail it, to go out and deliver,” the Brit said when asked about Verstappen’s best trait. “He’s only 26, I think he’s still going to get better, he’s still going to evolve and I think he’s still going to grow as a driver.”
The son of Jos, a former journeyman Formula One driver, and Belgian world-class kart racer Sophie, Verstappen sped to multiple titles as a boy and almost won the F3 title at his first attempt aged 15. Verstappen graduated to the F1 fast lane in 2015 with Red Bull’s junior team, then known as Toro Rosso.
Aged just 17 years and 166 days, he was the youngest ever F1 driver in the sport at a time when he still had not passed his regular driving test. Eight years later and at the age of just 26, Verstappen is on course to be counted among greats.