Verstappen Wins Qatar Grand Prix, But McLaren Stole The Show

If you were wondering whether Max Verstappen was going to take his foot off the throttle afterwinning his third world championship on Saturday, the answer is no. Verstappen made it clear to the rest of the field that they would have to battle even harder if they want to claim one of the five remaining Grands Prix. Verstappen dominated the Qatar Grand Prix with another clean sweep, taking pole, first place, and setting the fastest lap in a grueling race that saw Logan Sargeant retire due to dehydration and Esteban Ocon throw up in his helmet due to the conditions.

Most of the action was behind Verstappen, but he still managed some impressive feats. He has now led the most laps during a season (739) with five remaining races. He also now has the second-longest points-scoring streak in the history of F1 (36), with Hamilton leading this stat with 48. Most impressive of all is Verstappen's points margin. He's currently leading by more than 200 points, easily beating the 155-point record set by Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

With Verstappen's achievements out of the way, we can focus on all of the glorious stuff that went on behind the champion. Even though Red Bull is already the 2023 car-building champion, McLaren was arguably a better team on the day. It set a new record for the fastest pit stop ever recorded at 1.8 seconds when Lando Norris went in for a tire swap.

Aside from that impressive feat, both McLaren drivers were on fire. Hamilton took himself out of the race after a rather rookie-like accident with his teammate, opening the door for McLaren to score maximum points. It took some work, however. Oscar Piastri qualified in sixth, and Lando Norris was way down in tenth. Piastri battled himself up to second for the first time, while Norris finished third.

We also have to applaud George Russell. After the severe contact with his teammate going into the first corner, he had to pit on the second lap, dropping him down to 18th. He battled through the field to fourth, scoring some much-needed points for Mercedes-AMG.