Max Verstappen beats Lewis Hamilton and chooses new main F1 rival after Qatar Grand Prix.

The Qatar Grand Prix provided even more convincing evidence that Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are no longer the biggest threat to Max Verstappen and Red Bull this year.

Max Verstappen has bypassed Mercedes as he identifies McLaren as the main threat to his dominance in Formula 1.

Actually, this year no one can compare to the Dutch player. This is why he can claim a third consecutive drivers’ title after Saturday’s Qatar Sprint Grand Prix, with six full races and two more sprint races to come in 2023. Mercedes finished second in the constructors’ championship, closely followed by Ferrari. And Lewis Hamilton is third behind both Red Bull drivers in the drivers’ standings, followed by Sergio Perez in second.

But the Qatar race provided further evidence that Hamilton and his Mercedes team are no longer a threat to Verstappen. Nor his teammate George Russell, one of Ferrari’s drivers, or Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin.

Another double podium for McLaren saw Oscar Piastri finish second behind Verstappen, while Lando Norris crossed the line third. It was the day after Piastri won the Sprint race from pole that the rookie held off Verstappen for maximum points in an F1 race for the first time.

Speaking after the race, the Dutch driver said he could not ignore the fact that McLaren’s great progress over the season had made them Red Bull’s main rivals. “I think as a team they were probably the most consistent team compared to the other teams behind us,” he said.
And I think they have the best team. They are doing very well and it will be interesting until the end of the year, but I am also looking at the beginning of next year to see where everyone is.”

McLaren remain fifth among the constructors, but another strong result means they are trailing those above. Not only is Aston Martin in their sights, but the gap with Ferrari has now shrunk to 79 points and Norris is not ruling out the chance of overtaking the Italian before the end of the season.

It can be done. I think so,” he said of hope. “A few races ago, Aston had 70. Fernando said we were too confident too! I think we’re doing a good job. Not only in terms of speed, but today we had a 1.8 second pit stop which is quite impressive for the boys, they worked extremely hard, so the reward for the whole team is huge. big. time. weekend.

They like the taste of success. It’s the first time they’ve done it consistently and I think it’s made them want to do it more and more every weekend, which we’ve been doing, so the guys are doing really well. I think we both did a good job. So we’ll continue like this.”