Max Verstappen (Red Bull) has taken his second Formula One title with a crushing victory at the Japanese F1 GP 2022. The chaotic race was marked by the rain, the indecision of the FIA and an interruption of more than two hours.
It took a few moments at the end of the race for Verstappen to receive confirmation of his crowning as race authorities deliberated on how to interpret FIA’s somehow confusing regulations regarding the distribution of points.
Érase un hombre que soñó con ser campeón. Con convertirse en leyenda.
Don Max Verstappen 🏆🏆👏👏 pic.twitter.com/28MJeNZZ2h
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) October 9, 2022
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) came second behind the Dutchman but lost that place to a five-second penalty. The young Monegasque skipped the last corner of the final lap in his efforts to fend Checo Perez (Red Bull) off. The ensuing sanction gave second place to the Mexican driver and a new 1-2 to Red Bull.
El momento en el que Verstappen se enteró de que era BICAMPEÓN DEL MUNDO 🙌#JaponDAZNF1 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/c2JxhvA3K3
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) October 9, 2022
This has been a historic day for the Flying Dutchman. His twelfth victory of the season (Saudi Arabia, Emilia-Romagna, Miami, Spain, Azerbaijan, Canada , France, Hungary, Belgium, Holland, Italy & Japan), 32nd in F1, has awarded him the second crown of his career, and to make celebrations even sweeter, this has happened at the home race of Red Bull’s engine supplier and main partner, Honda.
Chaos on opening lap
On the opening lap, a heavy downpour flooded the track and Carlos Sainz in 4th position behind Red Bull´s Max & Checo and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc suffered an accident which resulted in the race being interrupted. Then, in a reckless decision, a tractor was deployed on track to remove Carlos’ vehicle when cars were still circulating and Pierre Gasly‘s car (Alpha Tauri), which had started from the pit lane, nearly crashed into it.
¡ARRANCA UN GRAN PREMIO DE JAPÓN QUE PUEDE SER HISTÓRICO! ¡EMPIEZA EL ESPECTÁCULO! 🔥🔥🔥#JaponDAZNF1 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/NbXducmPxj
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) October 9, 2022
Restart of the race… two hours later
💥 ¡Accidente de @Carlossainz55! 💥
¡Se queda fuera de carrera nada más comenzar! ¡Qué lástima! 😱#JaponDAZNF1 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/ViXdjww5x8
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) October 9, 2022
Verstappen, at the lead, immediately set an unattainable pace for the rest of contenders. Only Leclerc could barely follow in his wake. Perez, for his part, at a certain distance from the leading duo, was concentrating on not losing too much ground.
F1 rules establish that GPs should last no longer than three hours from the original start, and since 140 minutes had already passed, only 40 minutes remained until the end.
Así fue el momento en el que @PierreGASLY se encontró con una grúa al lado de la pista en Suzuka 😱
📻 "Esto es inaceptable. ¿Qué ha pasado?"#JaponDAZNF1 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/Y6IkJ4EPCD
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) October 9, 2022
As the asphalt quickly dried out with the passing of the cars, some brave drivers such as Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin), Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo Racing) or Nicholas Latifi (Williams) changed their extreme rain tyres for intermediate ones. Copying the move, Max, Perez, Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell (Mercedes) followed suit one lap after that.
¡Bandera VERDE y todos a correr! 🔥🔥🔥🔥#JaponDAZNF1 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/nKxAZhrDOI
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) October 9, 2022
Verstappen escaped
Alonso, on the other hand, stayed put at the lead of the Japanese GP with seven seconds over Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), who was also heading to the pits. With 33 minutes to go and on the third lap since the restart, Max regained the lead ahead of Leclerc, five seconds behind. Verstappen had increased his advantage by 1.5 seconds in just one lap.
From that moment on the Dutchman escaped ahead comfortably and Leclerc could do nothing to stop him. In fact, the latter watched with concern as Pérez closed in on him before the end.
https://twitter.com/DAZN_ES/status/1579022646183751680
With seriously degraded tyres, Leclerc suffered a suffocating chase from his Mexican rival over the last laps. In the final meters, Leclerc managed to get ahead after going off track and cutting part of the corner to cross the finish line in second place ahead of Perez.
A subsequent sanction, however, demoted him to third place. Twenty-seven seconds earlier, Verstappen had entered the exclusive club of eleven drivers that have won two consecutive world titles.
Verstappen TRIUNFA en Japón y se queda acariciando el título de campeón 🙌
Otra exhibición de la BESTIA metiendo un mundo a todos sus rivales en condiciones cambiantes#JaponDAZNF1 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/GJGkMaWTCS
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) October 9, 2022
Images of Japanese F1 GP 2022: Red Bull Racing.
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