Red Bull have produced a car that is the class of the Formula 1 grid this season. And Max Verstappen has wrung every ounce of performance from it. He has left his teammate, Sergio Perez in the dust. He is so far ahead that he is already looking to seal the championship at the next round, the Qatar GP. The kicker? He could win it on a Saturday.
A Tale of Two Halves in Japan
Max Verstappen dominated the weekend in Japan. He was fastest in all the practice sessions, got pole position, won the race, and got the fastest lap. His haul of 26 points meant that Red Bull sealed their 6th Formula 1 Constructors’ Title.
Meanwhile, Sergio Perez was busy having his worst race for Red Bull. He had a bad first lap, a messy safety car period, an incident during a VSC, an unnecessary divebomb on Kevin Magnussen, and an early retirement. All while Max Verstappen won by almost 20 seconds.
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How can Max Win the Title at the Qatar GP?
After the Japanese GP, Max Verstappen has a lead of 177 points over teammate Sergio Perez. There are 6 rounds left in the 2023 Formula 1 season, with 3 of them being sprint weekends. Therefore, a total of 180 points are available.
If Max Verstappen finishes sixth or above in the sprint, he will win his third Formula 1 title on Saturday. Sergio Perez needs to finish at least third and hope Max doesn’t score to take the title to the main Qatar GP.
Even then, Max Verstappen would just need to finish just 8th to secure his title. If Sergio Perez wants to take it beyond the Qatar GP, he would have to get the points gap down to 145. This is because if the Red Bull pair are tied on 146 points, Max will win the championship on countback.
Also Read: McLaren & Aston Martin’s battle heats up for 4th in the 2023 Formula 1 standings
Even if Sergio Perez pulls a miracle in his Red Bull, he will only be delaying the inevitable as Max Verstappen has been ominous throughout the 2023 Formula 1 season.
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