Dutchman’s dominance has not made for an enthralling season but he deserves a better setting than Lusail for his coronation
is now all but flawless. On Saturday he will almost certainly seal his third successive Formula One world championship after a season where he has seldom put a foot wrong and the opposition have been distant peripherals to one of the most authoritative title bids the sport has seen since Michael Schumacher had similarly dominant control.
With the opposition Mercedes, Ferrari, latterly McLaren and Aston Martin barely in the fight from the off, Verstappen has very much been in a class of one and is now joining a truly distinguished group of drivers. A third title will match, among others, Ayrton Senna and Sir Jackie Stewart. “I do hope at some stage we can fight them and have them defending but they should enjoy the moment because they have worked for it.”
Doubtless on Saturday there will be fireworks aplenty at the Lusail circuit, their gaudy flashes a distraction, as surely as the event itself is sportswashing, an attempt to create atmosphere where there is none after a “race” that does not even enter F1’s grand prix statistics as such.This was always a risk when F1 introduced the sprint race concept but one exponentially increased when they loaded the back end of the season with sprint weekends.
In testing conditions, as the track was rubbering in, the last laps were vital and Verstappen’s first hot run in Q3 was a commanding drive. With a time of 1min 23.778sec it was enough to seal the place and his tenth pole of the season. Qualifying for the sprint race takes place on Saturday.
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