Relentless Max Verstappen can clinch his 3rd F1 title as early as the sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix

Max Verstappen can win his third straight Formula One title at the Qatar Grand Prix. And he can do it on Saturday.

Verstappen will secure the title if he finishes sixth or higher in the sprint race Saturday, which could leave Sunday’s main Grand Prix race as something of an afterthought.

Winning the title in a sprint — a 19-lap contest that F1 refuses to call a “race” — could be a little awkward for the series and for Verstappen. He has previously argued the format should be scrapped.

“It’s not proper racing, it’s more like gambling,” he said after the season’s first sprint in Azerbaijan in April. “I think I will have more success in Vegas if I go to the casino. I like racing, I’m a pure racer and I think this is more for the show.”

It’s been a relentlessly dominant season from the Dutch driver, who has had the fastest car with Red Bull but has also left his teammate Sergio Perez far behind in the standings.

Perez is the last driver with a mathematical chance of catching Verstappen in the six remaining rounds of the championship, but even if Verstappen crashes out of the sprint race, Perez will need to place in the top three to keep the contest alive.

Verstappen hasn’t just been fast, he’s been consistent. When he won his 10th F1 race in a row at the Italian Grand Prix last month, it set a new F1 record. Red Bull has won 16 of the last 17 races going back to the end of last year.

Verstappen told a Red Bull podcast released this week that “you cannot really have off days or off weekends” in F1 and said his entire career since his debut for Toro Rosso in 2015 at the age of 17 has been a process of ironing out mistakes.

“I was very young when I joined Formula One, so naturally you’re lacking a lot of experience. And because of this lack of…