🏎️ Max Verstappen wins Qatar Grand Prix & 3rd consecutive World Championship

In this weeks email:

• Qatar Grand Prix Results & Max Verstappen wins 3rd consecutive World Championship 🏆

• Mercedes plans to reveal car upgrades in Austin ⚙️

• Verstappen’s win gaps by Grand Prix this season 📊

• Andretti wins FIA bid to be potential 11th F1 team in 2026 🗳️

Max Verstappen wins Qatar Grand Prix & 3rd consecutive World Championship 🏆

This past weekend we saw Max Verstappen win the Qatar Grand Prix. Clinching his 3rd consecutive world championship. Below are results from the race:

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

3. Lando Norris (McLaren)

4. George Russell (Mercedes)

5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

7. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

8. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)

9. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo)

10. Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)

11. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

12. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

13. Alex Albon (Williams)

14. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

15. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

16. Nico Hülkenberg (Haas)

17. Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri)

Drives that DNF — Logan Sargeant (Williams), Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

Other things to note:

• FIA enforced an 18-lap maximum tire stint length. Forcing at least a three-stop race, which left strategy questions for every team

• After the race, FIA came out with a statement regarding the extreme conditions from this past weekend. Link

• George Russell and teammate Lewis Hamilton tangled at Turn 1. Forcing an early safety car and Hamilton having to retire early from the race.

Mercedes plans to reveal car upgrades in upcoming Austin race ⚙️

Mercedes recently revealed that they plan to introduce upgrades to their W14 engine at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

They are making the upgrades based on next year’s car development direction. Efforts of the car will be led by Mercedes technical director James Allison.

Allison recently stated, “We will have a modified surface, but don’t expect important things. It will give us a bit of lap time, but above all, it will help us understand if we are on the right path.”

It will be interesting to see if the upgrades on the car will help improve Mercedes car times going in the next race on October 22nd.

Max Verstappen’s win gaps by Grand Prix this season:

Below is the win gap for the 13 race wins by Verstappen during his 2023 championship season:

Not only was Verstappen’s win gap impressive. He also over the stretch of two months was the only lap leader (248 laps) during a grand prix race.

FIA approves Andretti Global’s proposal to join F1 grid in 2026 🗳️

Last week, the FIA approved Andretti Global’s proposal to join the F1 grid as the 11th team for the 2026 year.

Andretti Global has been trying to join F1 for number of years. With established racing operations in IndyCar, Formula E, and Supercars.

Some current teams like Williams Racing are against the idea of adding an 11th team. Due to concerns over revenues being diluted by another entity takinga. share of F1’s prize money.

The process could take several months to evaluate a final decision of Andretti Group’s proposal to F1.