Max Verstappen continues to make Formula 1 history. In dantesque conditions, the Red Bull driver won a crazy Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka circuit on Sunday 9 October. A victory, coupled with the poor performance of Leclerc, who crowned him world champion in significant confusion at the end of the race.
MAX VERSTAPPEN
TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION!!!#2TheMax #F1 pic.twitter.com/eOlI6B6un1
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 9, 2022
Starting from pole position, he, like everyone else, had to wait a long time after the race was interrupted for two hours after only three laps of the track. Leaving while the rain continued to fall, blurring the visibility of the drivers, he finally withstood the attacks of Charles Leclerc and knew how to master the wet track to keep the lead and sign his twelfth victory of the season. With the penalty received by Charles Leclerc at the end of the race, which demotes him to 3rd place, the Dutchman is officially crowned world champion 2022, the second time in a row.
Max Verstappen will long remember this victory in two stages. Firstly for the extraordinary context in which the race took place. But above all because this new victory officially consecrated him as double Formula 1 world champion, in total confusion at the finish. Doubts about the stopping of the clock and the number of laps to be completed, questions about the points distributed… the Dutchman learned his title, quite surprised, at the microphone of the post-race interviews, before asking for confirmation in the rest room . He ended up letting his joy burst on the podium, facing his team and the Japanese fans.
When the lights went out three hours earlier, the title must have been in the back of his mind. Attacked from the start by Charles Leclerc, he barely had time to keep the Monegasque behind him when the race was interrupted due to rain and water on the track. Two hours later, on the second start, he perfectly managed the relaunch of the peloton to keep his advantage. Successfully exiting the pits, he found himself alone far ahead of Leclerc and Pérez, trapped by the mess of multiple stops. With a lead of more than twenty seconds, he quietly rolled towards the finish line, after only forty minutes of racing.
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On a wet track, Leclerc could not fight against the control of the Red Bull driver. After his brilliant start, the Monegasque raced in the leader’s exhausts, before seeing him escape. Put under pressure by Sergio Pérez, who moved up to 3rd after Carlos Sainz went off the track at the very start of the race. On tired tyres, he ended up pulling straight and tamping Pérez back onto the track, in a move that earned him a five-second penalty just after the checkered flag. The Mexican recovers second place, while Charles Leclerc finishes third, and at the same time offers the title to his lifelong rival.
The special conditions also smiled on the Alpine cars. In the battle with McLaren for 4th place in the constructors’ standings, the French team signed a double finish in the points. Fifth, Esteban Ocon resisted to the end the return of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), while Fernando Alonso came back in the last laps after an additional stop in the pits.
Japan had been waiting for three years to return to Formula 1, but the festivities were quickly tempered by the conditions. In pouring rain, the start of the Japanese Grand Prix quickly turned into chaos. Incidents galore enamelled the first corners. On the starting straight, Sebastian Vettel spun after touching Fernando Alonso.
Then Carlos Sainz went off the track in aquaplaning, placing an advertising panel on the track which grazed several drivers before hitting Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman also had a great fright when he came across a tractor present on the track when the drivers had not yet returned to the pits, after a confusion in the instructions of the race direction.
The onboard video of Gasly passing the recovery vehicle is terrifying. Something needs to change. pic.twitter.com/ldwszWgG9K
—ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) October 9, 2022
After a red flag was raised and an interruption of the event, a first abortive resumption of the race after a 40-minute break, the cars ended up reigniting their engines, more than two hours after the start. Compulsory maxi-rain tires on the wheels, the 18 pilots still in the running left on a rolling start, at 9:21 a.m. French time.