Max Verstappen sealed his third consecutive Formula One drivers' title in his Red Bull in Qatar on Saturday, when his teammate Sergio Perez — who needed a win to keep the race alive — was embroiled in an accident.

Verstappen was already on course to seal the title, with Perez behind him on the track, when the accident took place and made what was already absurdly improbable entirely impossible. 

In somewhat characteristic style, though, as the team radioed in to tell Verstappen that the title was assured and he should focus on bringing the car home in third, Verstappen was asking how much ground he'd have to make up to catch Saturday's race-leader Oscar Piastri. 

In the end he could not catch the McLaren of Piastri and had to settle for second place on the day. 

"Max, you are a three-time world champion. That's unbelievable mate, absolutely unbelievable," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Verstappen during the cooldown lap over team radio. 

"Yeah, unbelievable guys. I don't know what to say. But, incredible year, let me thank you for providing me with such a car — it's been a pleasure so far this year," Verstappen responded, expressing more thanks to the team and engineers. 

After a season of almost unprecedented domination, including the longest race-winning streak in the sport's history, the only question for months had been precisely when and how Verstappen would seal the championship, not if. 

Verstappen untouchable in 2023

Verstappen's Red Bull car has been the class of the field this season, and his teammate Perez has consistently struggled to extract as much performance from it as the 26-year-old Belgian-born Dutchman. 

Of the main feature races on Sundays, Verstappen has won 13 out of 16, finishing second twice and fifth once. He's also yet to retire from or crash out of a race this season. 

This included a record-breaking run of 10 consecutive wins starting in Miami and ending in Monza in Italy — eclipsing the prior record of 9 consecutive wins set by German champion Sebastian Vettel, in the dominant Red Bull of the 2013 season.

Verstappen, who recently turned 26, has now won the last three F1 drivers' titles, with his margin of victory growing each year — having begun with the dramatic and contentious last-race decider against Lewis Hamilton in 2021. 

The title is another feather in the cap of Red Bull's top design and engineering official, Adrian Newey. He has designed or helped design championship winning cars across three decades, from the early 1990s to now, providing the necessary machinery to an array of drivers including Verstappen, Vettel, Mika Hakkinen, Alain Prost, Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell.

msh/lo (Reuters, AFP, dpa)