Why a Qatar sprint race coronation for Verstappen befits a dull 2023 F1 season

OPINION: Max Verstappen could foreseeably wrap up his third Formula 1 world championship title during the sprint race for this weekend's Qatar Grand Prix. It has been a case of when, not if, given the Dutchman's domination of the 2023 campaign and would, in some ways, be a fitting detail in a season that hasn't been a classic

Updated Oct 3, 2023, 4:03 PM

There’s no need to feel sorry for Max Verstappen. He’s on the cusp of becoming a three-time Formula 1 world champion, after all. But for a driver presently operating at such a consistently high level, perhaps he deserves to wrap up one of his titles in something approaching ‘normal fashion’.

The last-lap farce of Abu Dhabi 2021 was met by Mercedes seeking immediate legal counsel to throw the result into doubt. Few could get their points permutations correct for a rain-shortened Suzuka contest last year that left Verstappen to eventually find out his fate courtesy of a parc ferme chat with the FIA.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.