There was a lot of confusion. Max Verstappen took it for granted that at the end of the race he had failed to win his F1 title for 2022, leaving it as a pending task for his next US appointment. “It would have been great to win the championship here, but we have a great chance at the next race.” It pointed out. A penalty was announced for Leclerc, who crossed the finish line in second place, leaving him third behind ‘Czech’ Perez. And when Johnny Herbert, the interviewer at the foot of the track yesterday, let Max go and was interviewing “Czech” Perez, he caught the Dutchman’s attention again. “I think Charles was given a five-second penalty. So… Max, maybe things have changed for you. With the penalty you are the world champion,” he told the Dutchman. “I don’t know what to say” He pointed at something cold before everyone got confused. And a few seconds later he woke up and he realized what he had achieved. He hugged his team. He was the new F1 World Champion for 2022.

F1 2022 Japanese GP result

In principle, the numbers don’t seem to indicate that Max Verstappen is still champion. Completed just over 50% of his scheduled spins, but not reaching 75%. The rules state that the winner is awarded 19 points instead of the usual 25. Max beat second-placed Perez after giving Charles, who was third, his five-inch penalty at the end. Everyone did the same math: Max 19 points, Perez 16 points, Charles 12 points. With Max needing eight points from Monaco and Perez taking the championship in sixth place at Suzuka, Austin’s title seemed to be postponed. However, that regulation is only valid for races that are interrupted without reaching the end and restarting. In this case it didn’t matter how many turns. Importantly, the final goal marked by the 3-hour race limit has been achieved. This is considered to be the finish, so the allocation of points was as usual. With Max in 1st and Leclerc in 3rd, Verstappen is the new F1 champion.

The way Max was told his title was surreal and unexpected.Even Max surprised everyone. But it was fair. The crown had been his for a long time, so it didn’t matter if they gave him the scepter, whether they were at Suzuka or Austin. All we had to do was wait. Finally, it fell to Japan, which is very important for Red Bull, to honor our partner Honda. 12 wins from 17 races. The numbers say it all, as does Max’s dominance in the wet at Suzuka.

Rough start and Sainz sent off

The start of the race was highly controversial. The driver decided to start on his intermediate tyres, which was an overly optimistic decision given the increasingly wet track and high potential for aquaplaning. Almost everything happened in the first few meters. Alonso and Vettel made contact and Stroll pulled him back from five places to take the lead. Verstappen defended his first position as champion against Leclerc at the first corner thanks to Charles’ good start.

Max’s tactic was to take his hat off. In an unknown situation, the Dutchman, who had lost everything, did not hesitate to jump to the outside and drive to regain his first place. A masterpiece worthy of the current F1 champion.

Then there was a spin from the lap, and what everyone feared was an accident. It was Sainz who caused the worst. The Spaniard lost third place to Pérez at the start and chased the Mexican, woke up and saw something but stepped into a puddle. Carlos lost his car and hit the wall.

F1 didn’t learn from Jules Bianchi tragedy

The red flag had just been brought up and on the third lap of the race the drivers couldn’t believe what they saw while behind the ‘safety car’. I was passing by the crane. In 2014, on this same track, Jules Bianchi had an accident on a gravel road after colliding with the tractor that was pulling his car. it cost him his life. Eight years later, the driver is furious to learn that gross negligence was made by allowing a crane to gain access to the tracks to remove Carlos’ car while the car was still rolling over. Tragedy could have happened. First, because the Marshal was seen “risking his life by being on the asphalt with the car on the crane, and having to jump off when he saw the car pass by.” And the second is that Pierre Gasly, who came to put on rain tires just before, was running at high speed (250km / h according to the FIA) to line up with the safety car. When he saw the crane, he was terribly frightened and complained a lot, “I wish I could have killed myself!” But he was also to blame. A red flag was announced and he could not run as fast.

The dangerous situation centered discussions in the paddock and pit lane during the roughly two hours we had to wait for the race to restart. It was restarted after a ‘safety car’ and the race was on again.

max recital

The excitement was at its peak. Verstappen and Leclerc could duel in the rain. But there Max and Red Bull made the difference again. Verstappen had no rivals, he dominated his opponents and made it clear why he would soon become champion. The Dutchman walked in the rain and was very good whereas Charles lasted a few laps before disbanding at a speed where he ran out of tyres. Even in the wet, Ferrari degraded the middle tire even more. Leclerc was lucky enough to cross his line where he finished second, 31 seconds behind the winner.

Leclerc’s final error

Monegasque, in a leathery way, did all he could against Perez’s harassment, even though he didn’t have a rubber band with him. Czech tried everything. And the battle ended in the worst possible way for Ferrari. He closed every possible door, but was missing the last one. At the final chicane, Charles missed the final corner and crossed the finish line second. Immediately, Race Direction gave him his five-inch penalty, demoting him to his third place, with Perez on his second. This gave Max a title he thought was impossible after experiencing his two retirements in his first three races in April. It was caused by a reliability failure. Red Bull responded, fixed their problems, ran the rest of the course perfectly and developed the car better.

Alonso, 7th, upset with team

Fernando Alonso finishes 7thThe Spaniard failed to surprise in wet conditions. The man from Oviedo had bet on taking risks if it rained on Sunday, but Alpine wasn’t up to the job, which blamed him. Vettel, who was last at the race restart, stopped immediately at the race restart to put on his intermediate tires, a strategy that saw him finish sixth. Alpine made the opposite choice to Fernando. The Spanish driver stayed on the track and Ocon, who was in 5th, entered to put the intermediate on the lap. Alonso could not stop at that moment as he wasted his time waiting for his teammate’s tires to be changed. He stayed on the asphalt for one more lap and led the test due to the circumstances. As a result, he stopped one lap behind schedule and returned to the track in 7th place.

Finally, after radioing him to stop earlier to gain more positions in the final attack, he set up a series of new intermissions with a few laps to go. But his team didn’t listen to him. He rejoined the track in 10th and was able to make it all the way back to 7th. He didn’t have time.