F1 Takeaways: Verstappen in a league of legends with third title

Max Verstappen turned in another top performance to take the checkered flag Sunday at the Qatar Grand Prix.

After clinching his third straight world championship during Saturday's sprint, Verstappen didn't ease off of the pedal on race day, earning his 14th victory of the season.

It was another double podium finish for McLaren, although this time the roles were reversed with Oscar Piastri finishing second ahead of teammate Lando Norris in third.

Here's what you need to know from the Qatar Grand Prix.

VERSTAPPEN IN A LEAGUE OF LEGENDS

As we've seen all too often this season, Verstappen pulled away from pole position for another uncontested victory. It looked a little dicey at the start with the Mercedes-on-Mercedes collision, however, Verstappen escaped unscathed.

Verstappen held a roughly five-second advantage over Piastri when he crossed the finish line, although it felt like it was greater given the two were never fighting for the lead.

His 14 wins on the 2023 campaign now place him one back of the single-season record he set a year ago, and with five more races to go, even if you're not a betting person, you surely like the odds that it'll be broken.

Verstappen's 49th career win also inches him closer to Alain Prost (51) and Sebastian Vettel (53) on the all-time list.

Although Verstappen will have to wait until the FIA Prize Gala at the end of the year to receive the trophy, he actually clinched his (seemingly inevitable) third consecutive world championship Saturday during the sprint.

Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was the only other driver remaining in contention, and Verstappen just needed to finish sixth or higher to secure the title. Verstappen came in second although it was really locked up midway through the sprint when Perez collided with Alpine driver Esteban Ocon and was forced to retire.

Verstappen joined the likes of Jack Brabham, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna as three-time world champions.

Since Verstappen locked up the championship during the sprint, he also tied an interesting record set by Michael Schumacher in 2002: most races remaining on the schedule when clinching the title.

Coincidentally, both were the driver's third consecutive world championship.

So, how does Verstappen's 2023 season stack up to Schumacher's in 2002? It's tricky to compare the two as the points structure was vastly different 21 years ago (10 points for a win and only drivers in the top six earned points), there were five fewer races (the season would already be over by now), sprint races didn't even exist nor were there any bonus points for setting the fastest lap.

But if you thought Verstappen was dominating right now, check this out: Schumacher finished on the podium in every race during the 2002 season. In fact, he finished first or second in all but one race — that being Malaysia where he was "only" third.

Verstappen has also finished in either first or second in all but one race so far this season, although his blip was a fifth-place result in Singapore (as much as you can call a top-five finish a blip). We'll let the rest of the season play out and see where it goes, but Verstappen is clearly in a league of legends.

BANNER WEEKEND FOR PIASTRI

It was a weekend to remember for Piastri after picking up his first sprint win followed by a new career-high finish with P2 in the race.

Piastri, who started sixth, avoided the opening lap incident and swooped into second place.

The 22-year-old rookie managed to hold off his 23-year-old veteran teammate at the line by just 1.136 seconds. McLaren was firing on all cylinders in the pits as well with a blazing two-second stop for Piastri on Lap 44 followed by an equally impressive 2.1-second stop almost immediately after for Norris.

The second consecutive double podium finish for McLaren now has them 11 points back of Aston Martin for fourth place in the Constructors' Championship and we could see them swap places as soon as the United States Grand Prix in two weeks.

YOU WERE ALMOST A GEORGE SANDWICH

We've mentioned the Mercedes crash twice already, so let's not delay it any further.

Lewis Hamilton sustained his first DNF in over a year when he collided with teammate George Russell on the opening lap.

Both drivers got off to a blazing start going side-by-side-by-side with Verstappen down the long straight until they reached the first turn. Russell was sandwiched in the middle and had nowhere to go while Hamilton was the only one with any wiggle room on the outside. The two Mercedes (Mercedi?) touched, sending Hamilton off the track and into the gravel.

Hamilton blamed Russell on the radio but later posted on social media: "I’ve watched the replay and it was 100 per cent my fault and I take full responsibility. Apologies to my team and to George."

Russell also went for a spin and fell to the back of the pack, however, he managed to avoid terminal damage and still had almost the entire race to regroup and recover. He picked through the field to miraculously salvage a fourth-place finish.

Still, what could have been?

The only driver who had a more miserable Sunday than Hamilton was Carlos Sainz, who never even made it out of the garage due to a fuel system issue with his Ferrari.

POOR SHOWING FOR PEREZ

Perez could have made up for crashing out of the sprint with a fine performance during the race — but that wasn't the case.

Although Perez started from the pit lane due to new parts on his car, as we saw with Russell — and considering he's driving a Red Bull rocketship — that shouldn't have been too much of a problem.

You probably know where this is going. Perez struggled to keep all four wheels on the course resulting in three penalties for exceeding track limits. He crossed the finish line 11th and would have ended up outside of the points except Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll, who came in 10th, also ran into track limit trouble and the two switched final classification spots.

Perez is also lucky Hamilton was unable to cut into the deficit for second place in the championship — 30 points now separate the pair — but it feels like a missed opportunity overall as he's gone from trading wins with Verstappen to ... whatever you want to call this.

FIA SHOULD FEEL THE HEAT

Fernando Alonso was literally on the hot seat asking his pit crew if they could "throw me water or something" to help cool things down. Alonso wasn't the only driver feeling the extreme Qatari heat during the race. Stroll looked like he was going to pass out as he got out of his car and was checked by the medical team after the race along with Williams driver Alex Albon. Ocon said he threw up in his helmet. Logan Sargeant of Williams retired on Lap 41 as he didn't feel well at all.

The health and safety of the drivers should be of the utmost importance and something the FIA should be concerned about if they wish to hold future races at the track.