Yahoo Autos In a class of his own – three races that define Verstappen’s third title
In a season of utter dominance, there aren’t always major highlights or crucial moments that stand out on reflection. But for Max Verstappen in his latest title-winning campaign, three races in particular tell the story of his 2023 and how he became one of just 11 drivers in history to be able to call themselves a three-time world champion.
Miami
Arriving in Florida for round five of the championship, there were the early shots of a proper battle between Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez. Sure, Red Bull was clearly going to win both championships this season, but Perez had beaten Verstappen more times than he’d lost in a race situation, securing wins in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, as well as in the Sprint in Baku that ensured he headed to Miami off the back of a double success.
Verstappen still held the championship lead but inevitably — in the face of a car with a clear advantage over the rest — questions were being asked of whether Perez could actually sustain a title tilt or if he would fade from contention once the calendar moved onto more traditional circuits from the street tracks he was excelling on.
Qualifying in Miami duly increased the intrigue on that front, as Verstappen made a very rare error and backed out of his first timed attempt in Q3, only to then see Charles Leclerc crash and prevent any final runs being completed. With Perez on pole, Verstappen would start 10th and, as Jeddah had shown, the Mexican had so far been able to deliver performances good enough to withstand a fightback from a lowly grid spot.
Not this time, though. Verstappen absolutely carved through the field to run second to his teammate before lap 15 was complete — and at that stage Perez’s lead hadn’t even reached 4s. While different strategies prolonged the final overtake until much later, from that point, there was only going to be one winner.
Lap after lap, reeling in Perez and attacking to reassert the No. 1 on his nose — Verstappen employing lessons from Perez himself. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
A day that started with Perez looking set to take the championship lead and further boost his confidence ended with Verstappen extending his own advantage and delivering a massive blow to Perez’s hopes.
Verstappen would later reveal he had learned from Perez’s performance in Baku to understand how to get more out of this year’s car, and he put it into practice to devastating effect in Miami with a drive that proved the starting point for the a record-breaking run of consecutive victories.
Zandvoort
That record was matched in the Netherlands, but just seeing another win next to Verstappen’s name in the history books doesn’t tell the whole story of his home race weekend.
Expectations are always high at Zandvoort, where Verstappen remains unbeaten in front of his adoring crowd. But it is a sign of the Dutchman’s approach that it never seems to have any kind of negative impact on him.
The latest visit had been going extremely smoothly until lights out, when the field entered the final sector on slick tires to find heavy rain falling. Those that gambled on an immediate pit stop — such as Perez — made significant ground, while others who stopped a lap or more later lost out. Verstappen was in the latter camp, completing a second lap before making his stop and emerging 15s off the lead in fourth once the pit stops had shaken out.
It was a curveball that could well have tripped him and Red Bull up, especially with the challenging conditions and then the need to fight through the field on a track that will punish errors, but once he had carefully picked his way past rival teams he then proceeded to take a massive 4s out of Perez on one lap in almost dismissive fashion.
Mother Nature never shies away from a little drama, yet the Red Bull Racing pitwall called shots to perfection to keep Verstappen unbeaten on home soil. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images
That alone would have been impressive enough, but the weather wanted to bookend the race with serious challenges and a late downpour led to tough pit stop decisions and eventually a red flag. Admittedly, some credit must go to Red Bull for helping keep Verstappen in the lead throughout the chaos, but it still set up a short sprint to the finish with Fernando Alonso starting from second.
Desperate to end Red Bull’s perfect season and take the 33rd win of his career, Alonso was clearly going to take any opportunity possible to overtake Verstappen. The Spaniard admitted he took risks on the restart to try and get close out of the final corner and have a chance of a move, but Verstappen was faultless and never even hinted at giving up an opportunity.
Singapore
Yup, you read that right — I’m also putting the one race that Verstappen hasn’t won in the past 12 races in this list.
It’s all well and good highlighting performances when the car and driver are working in perfect harmony — and those are immensely impressive — but when things aren’t going well and the car is a handful is another challenge altogether.
In Singapore, Red Bull was a long way off over one lap and it showed, with both drivers failing to reach Q3. Verstappen was lucky to escape penalties, too, for slowing in the pit lane and blocking Yuki Tsunoda on a qualifying lap, but the end result was an 11th-place grid position.
Once again mired deep in the field with poor qualifying pace, the eventual recovery to salvage crucial points was one for the ages under the lights in Singapore. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images
On a track that is tough to overtake on, he was strong even on the hard compound tire early on and climbed into the points quickly, before seeing progress slowed. Then a poorly-timed safety car from Red Bull’s point of view negated the strategic advantage it had been looking for, and Verstappen was left with a tough spell on old, cold tires following the restart.
Even being passed with ease on both sides, he ensured he didn’t lose too much time with a focus on the quickest way to the end of the race. Once on medium tires for a long final stint, he quickly worked his way into the top six and started rapidly reeling in the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
In the final five laps he took 18s out of Leclerc and crossed the line right on his gearbox, rescuing fifth place as George Russell’s final-lap crash promoted those from fourth downwards.
There were no toys getting thrown out of the pram, no overdriving in a tough car or mistakes in the race. It was an extremely mature drive in a car that was much more competitive in race trim but still far from its sweet spot. The strategy had been designed with a helpful safety car in mind, but without any safety car at all there’s every chance Verstappen would have been close to the lead battle by the end, in a car that — for once — didn’t really deserve to be.
