Doha, October 07 (QNA) - Max Verstappen secured the Formula 1 title for the third straight year on Saturday in a season of near-total domination for the Red Bull driver after finished second in the sprint race in Qatar as part of the Formula 1 Qatar Airways Grand Prix - Qatar 2023, the seventeenth round of the largest and most famous global car racing championship hosted by Doha at the Losail International Circuit under floodlights over three days.

Mexican Sergio Perez, the only driver who could catch him in the standings, crashed out after being struck by Esteban Ocon's Alpine.

Rookie Oscar Piastri won the sprint for McLaren and his teammate Lando Norris was third.

The title race was all but over long before Verstappen made sure of it Saturday. His run of 10 straight wins an all-time F1 record from May to September left him far ahead in the standings.

In taking the title in the sprint Verstappen is the first driver to do so in one of the short format races and the first to secure it on a Saturday since Piquet did so at the South African Grand Prix in 1983.

The Brazilian was preceded in clinching the world championship title on Saturday evening by 4 other drivers: Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio (1955), Australian Jack Brabham (1959), Briton Graham Hill (1962) and Finnish Keke Rosberg (1982). (QNA)