Verstappen 'feeling no emotion' ahead of Qatar title chance

Having helped Red Bull seal the constructors championship in Japan, today's birthday boy Max Verstappen now has a chance to clinch his third consecutive drivers' title in next weekend's race in Qatar.

Verstappen leads his team mate Sergio Perez by 177 points with six races to go, meaning there are a maximum of 180 points on offer before the end of the season.

As next week features a sprint race with eight points on offer, Verstappen could win the title on the Saturday rather than wait until the full Grand Prix on Saturday.

"No emotion," verstappen said when asked about his feelings on the situation. "If it happens on Saturday, Sunday, or the week after, I know that it's coming. But it's not something that I'm thinking about too much.

"Maybe it's a good thing?" he suggested of the notion of sealing the title on Saturday. "A good night out. Might be a bit slower on the reaction time for the lights [on Sunday]! It's just not something that I'm really thinking about.

"We're just experiencing a really amazing year as a team. Also I don't care where I win it," he added. "It's not about, 'You need to win it five races in advance' or at the last one."

• Read also: Verstappen 'proud of everyone' as Red Bull seals title

Perez meanwhile has some work left to do to clinch the runners-up spot in the drivers battle. He's currently 33 points aheads of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton with Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc also in contention.

“He’s got at least a one race weekend's sort of ‘buffer’ to Lewis and greater than that to Fernando behind him,” explained Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

"Japan was frustrating and difficult for him but he’ll bounce back," Horner predicted. "There’s enough races with the six Grands Prix remaining for him still to achieve some great results between now and the end of the season.

“It’s something that we’ve never achieved," Horner pointed out. "We’ve never finished first and second with any of our drivers in the world championship, so it would be a big thing for us to achieve.

"He [Perez] came close last year. It would be his best-ever result, and he’s got the best car that he’s ever had to be able to try and achieve that result.

Last year Verstappen sealed the driver's title in Japan, albeit in confused circumstances. The race was badly affected by heavy rain and it seemed that the shortened duration would mean only half points would be awarded.

That would have left Verstappen just shy of mathematically clinching the title. But the word of the rules ended up with full points being awarded after all.

With Charles Leclerc getting a post-race penalty dropping him to third behind Perez, Verstappen's victory in Suzuka last year was enough to put him over the top after all and clinch the 2022 title.

It meant that the team's co-owner Dieter Mateschitz saw Verstappen claim his crown, but then died before Red Bull took the team title in the United States two weeks later.

But the idea that this year's title might be decided in a sprint support race, rather than in an official Grand Prix, has not gone down well in some quarters.

Horner is also not exactly delighted with three of the final six weekends featuring the sprint format, which he fears might upset the team's run of dominance this season.

"Almost every other race is a sprint race," Horner said. "You get one session to sort your car out, and that can put huge pressure that if you don’t get quite in the right window.

"After that P1, if you have a bit of rain or compromised session, that can make it very tricky. That could be an interesting factor from the next race.”

Red Bull has missed out on victory in just one race this year, in Singapore, which ended their dreams of becoming the first-ever team to go an entire campaign unbeaten.

Meanwhile such concerns are out of Verstappen's mind today as he celebrated turning 26. Sadly, with the date falling on an 'off' weekend on the F1 calendar, there's no opportunity for the team to present him with a novelty cake.

However the chances are that there will be a double celebration of epic proportions next weekend in Qatar, when even Verstappen might succumb to the odd emotion or two.

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