Max Verstappen has been crowned as the Formula 1 World Champion for a third season in a row.

Verstappen won the title on Saturday already during the sprint race of the Qatar Grand Prix after his Red Bull teammate only remaining title challenger, Sergio Perez, crashed in the race.

Perez had to finish in the top-three of the sprint race to hold Verstappen off from claiming the title for at least one more day.

Meanwhile, during last night’s Grand Prix which saw Lewis Hamilton crash out at turn one, Verstappen took the honours to put the cherry on the cake.

Hamilton turned into his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, from the outside on turn one, which forced him to leave the track and lose a tyre in the process.

The McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took second and third respectively.

Speaking after his win Verstappen said this title feels like it is his best of the three, and while he managed to retain the championship, there are no thoughts of taking the foot off the gas.

“I think what made the race was my first stint. After that I could just manage my pace, making sure that my tyres were always in a good window. But the McLarens were quick again today, I had to push for it, so it was definitely a tough race out there.”

“I’m incredibly proud of everyone involved in this project. I was also very happy that there were a lot of important people to me here, my close family, important members of the team, they were here to quickly celebrate, and that was very nice.

“All my titles feel very different, and I think that’s very beautiful. The first one is very emotional, I think this one has been the best one in terms of performance and dominance as a team, so a lot of different feelings from all three of them.

“I think no one expected within the team that we would have a season like this with the [number] of wins. Of course, we are very proud of our achievements and I’m very proud to sit here talking about the championship.”

There are still six more races to go this season with the next stop being the Indonesian Grand Prix at the Mandalika International Street Circuit in 15 October.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport