Max Verstappen won his third F1 title in a row after Sergio Perez’s crash in the sprint race secured him the championship in Qatar, but fans labelled it an ‘underwhelming’ end to a ‘boring’ season

Max Verstappen celebrated his third F1 World Championship victory (Image: AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

Motorsport fans branded Max Verstappen’s third F1 World Championship victory as ‘the new definition of boring.’

The Dutchman secured his third title in a row by finishing second in the sprint race at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar. However, the crown was already on his head before he even finished, as Sergio Perez crashed on the eleventh lap.

Perez needed to finish in the top three to keep the championship alive, going into the main race. But after the Mexican veered into the gravel, race fans were left underwhelmed by the ending.

The race for the championship was ended after Esteban Ocon tried to motor away from both Nico Hulkenberg and Perez on the inside. As he made his move at turn two, the Alpine driver clipped Hulkenberg’s wheel and then touched Perez, resulting in the Haas and Red Bull ace veering into the gravel.

All jeopardy was removed for the Dutchman who could have began his celebrations at the wheel. However, instead of putting the Champagne on ice, his mechanics urged Verstappen on getting through the race, as the tyres on the car were struggling.

Sergio Perez goes OFF! 😲❌

So that means… pic.twitter.com/H7b1q4TSus

— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 7, 2023

Perez looked gutted when he got out of his car (Image: Sky Sports)

He went on to find another gear and overtake Lando Norris to secure an impressive second placed finish, behind Alpine driver Oscar Piastri, who managed to secure his first ever F1 victory. Nevertheless, F1 fans were less than satisfied with the ending.

“‘And Checo hands the championship to Verstappen by crashing…’ replace “boring” in the dictionary with “2023 f1 season,” one unhappy F1 fan wrote. “Verstappen effectively becoming World Champion due to a collision between two other cars (including his teammate) should be a great indicator of why F1 Sprint race is the most underwhelming bulls***,” a second added.

Perez’s car veered off into the tarmac to hand the victory to Verstappen (Image: AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

“Another unenthusiastic boring world championship win for Max Verstappen,” a third frustrated motorsport fan wrote, before a fourth tweeted: “Third consecutive World Championship for Max Verstappen. Such a boring season.” Meanwhile, a fifth concluded: “Verstappen is about to complete the holy trinity of underwhelming ways to win a championship…”

Verstappen is now only four world championship victories away from Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.