The battle for the title is over: Verstappen is F1 World Champion 2023

For those still hoping for an exciting world title, there is bad news: the title race is over. Sergio Perez ruined his last chance to make things difficult for Max Verstappen in Monaco. Only Verstappen can now throw it away, but given the Dutchman's character and the races ahead, that is unlikely.

A world title for Perez

Perez had real hopes of becoming world champion in 2023. The ambition splashed from day one. Although Verstappen dominated in Bahrain, Perez saw what everyone else saw: Red Bull's RB19 cannot be beaten by anyone in 2023. So it was only between Verstappen and Perez for the world title. Perez smelled his chance.

After finishing second in Bahrain, Perez took advantage of Verstappen's problems in qualifying in Saudi Arabia. Due to technical woes, Verstappen started from P15, in a weekend where he had been dominant until those problems. Verstappen worked his way through the field and got behind Perez in the race, but the two-time world champion could not overtake him.

Still, Verstappen was the moral winner, as the point for the fastest lap still put him at the top of the championship, despite his bad luck on Saturday. It frustrated Perez that Verstappen had that point. To the outside world, Perez acted as if his team had disadvantaged him, but Perez and Verstappen were both going for the fastest lap. Max was simply the fastest of the two.

Perez blames Red Bull

With his head still somewhat on that moment in Jeddah, things went wrong in Australia. In practice, Perez struggled with car problems, but they are fixed for qualifying. It is Perez himself who made a mistake in Q1, but to this day, he blames his team for it. Perez made it back to P5 from the pit lane, although this is mainly due to dropouts ahead of him.

In the streets of Baku, the Mexican was strong. Verstappen fails to find an ideal setup with only one free practice, so Perez was better on his tyres in the race. Max was unlucky with the strategy, but he didn't have his teammate's pace throughout the race. Nevertheless, Perez's confidence went through the roof, saying after that he is going for the title. Christian Horner then finely pushes him back to the ground: 'Now he needs to win on a normal circuit,' the Red Bull team boss revealed after that GP.

In Miami, what many were counting on happened after a bad weekend for Max. The Dutchman struck back forcefully. After problems in qualifying, he drove the race of his life and put his teammate to shame. Perez was perplexed after the race, and once again, he let it known. Of course, he could just say: 'Verstappen was better, I was bad', but that is beyond Perez. He must look at it with his team to see what went wrong. In short, he is giving the team another corrective tap.

Mexican media stir

It is in sync with the reports seeping out of Mexico. Several Mexican media outlets are adamant that Verstappen is favoured at Red Bull, which is why Perez is struggling so much. One can hardly help but suspect this is coming from Perez's camp. Maybe not Checo himself, but his father Antonio must have a big finger in the pie.

To uphold his honour as king of the street, it had to happen for Perez in Monaco. He was lucky that Imola was cancelled because, at that circuit, he had no chance against Verstappen. It had to happen in Monaco, but it went wrong as early as Q1. Again he wants too much and wants to imitate Verstappen in the corners, but he is no Verstappen. He forgets to do what he is good at and does things he cannot do. Not for the first time, he ends up in the wall as a result.

On Sunday, we see a frustrated Perez driving around (while there is still a piece at the top of the Mexican newspaper Esto's website with the headline: Verstappen is favoured by Red Bull), who cannot stay out of incidents. He finishes 16th and faces the press with a very sour face. He also knows his title chances have shrunk and needs victories. However, anyone looking at the upcoming races knows that any chance of a win for Perez is minimal.

Not going to beat Verstappen there

Until the summer break, the following six Grand Prix are on the F1 calendar: Spain, Canada, Austria, Britain, Hungary and Belgium. All circuits where the quality of controlling your car, cornering control and managing your tyres are essential. This is precisely where Verstappen makes the difference.

Verstappen won four of these six races in 2022. Indeed, if you include the Netherlands and Italy (the races just after the summer break), Verstappen won six of the eight upcoming races last year. Only in Britain (7th) and Austria (2nd) did Verstappen not win. At Silverstone, that was due to a piece of carbon that got stuck in his car when he was leading and in Austria, the setup went wrong on the sprint weekend, causing his tyres to degrade quicker than the Ferrari cars.

Perez did not manage to win when Verstappen didn't. Perez finished second in Spain, retired with technical problems in Canada, crashed in Austria and was beaten in Hungary (5th) and Belgium (2nd) by his teammate, who started the race from much further down the grid. So no hopeful statistics for Perez.

Given the races ahead, Perez should have been ahead of Verstappen to stand a chance in the title race. With Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and Monaco, three of the six Grands Prix were on his territory. In two of them, he was successful. In one, he failed. Perez wants too much, overdrives and therefore makes too many mistakes. If you compete with Verstappen, you cannot make them. In fact, Verstappen always finishes second if he does not win.

As a result, the gap has grown to 39 points, and, given the upcoming races, that gap will only widen. Not until Singapore, race 15 of the F1 season, do we have another race that suits Perez's driving style more. By then, he will be so far behind that Verstappen may already have the title mathematically. Perez was still softly expressing his hopes for a title on Sunday, but I dare him: Verstappen is F1 World Champion 2023. Congratulations in advance.