Verstappen joins F1's triple champions, with more to come

DOHA : Max Verstappen added his name to a roll call of Formula One triple champions on Saturday but the Red Bull driver may be only just getting up to speed.

The man who turned 26 a week ago is the second youngest triple champion of all time, after Germany's now-retired four- times titleholder Sebastian Vettel, and has plenty more milestones in him.

He joins Brazilians Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet, Austrian Niki Lauda, Britain's Jackie Stewart and Australian Jack Brabham as winners of three titles.

Only Vettel, Frenchman Alain Prost (four), Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio (five), Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton (seven each) have won more since the championship started in 1950.

Even this season Verstappen can still break his own record for most wins in a year, overtake Prost's career tally of 51 victories and score more points than anyone in one campaign.

Spain's twice world champion Fernando Alonso is still racing at 42 years old and Britain's seven-times champion Lewis Hamilton at 38.

"I think the next few years will be even better for Max, to be honest," Alonso told reporters at Qatar's Lusail circuit where Verstappen clinched the title in a sprint race.

"He will keep adding championships so we will compare him to Michael (Schumacher) even closer in the future."

This year was one of absolute domination and consistency, different to last year and even further from the first won in controversial circumstances in 2021 after a last race showdown with Hamilton.

Verstappen has barely made a mistake in the last two campaigns but this time his car has not let him down like it did at the start of 2022.

As in the past with other shattered team mates, he has pounded Mexican Sergio Perez into submission with performances that have