Verstappen to continue Red Bull's title celebrations

It would be the surprise of the season if Max Verstappen fails to secure his third Formula One world championship in Qatar this weekend.

The dominant Red Bull driver, who turned 26 last weekend, has two chances to wrap things up on a sprint weekend with points to be scored in races on both the Saturday and Sunday at the Lusail circuit.

Verstappen needs only three points, regardless of the results his team mate and sole title rival Sergio Perez achieves.

That means a sixth place in the 100km sprint would make him the first champion to secure the title on a Saturday since Brazilian Nelson Piquet in the 1980s.

It will also add another footnote for the sport's statisticians to argue over since he would have won the title with six grands prix to spare but with five full weekends remaining.

The chances of Verstappen not scoring three points look, on paper, about as slim as the race being rained off.

Verstappen is chasing his 14th victory in 17 races this year, after dominating the previous round in Japan and winning a record 10 in a row up to Singapore, and has won two of the three sprints so far.

The Dutch driver has yet to finish lower than fourth in a sprint race since the format was introduced in 2021 and this season has so far amassed 400 points - more even than second placed Mercedes with two drivers.

The last time he came away from a grand prix weekend with less than three points was in Australia in April 2022 when he retired due to a fuel leak - a run of 35 races in the points.

In fact Verstappen may not even need to score if Perez, who has not beaten Verstappen in any race since Baku in April, fails to take enough points to stay mathematically in contention.

The Mexican is 177 points adrift with 180 still available.

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