Was he or wasn’t he a world champion? That question captivated sports fans on Sunday morning. Almost all observers (and the protagonist Max Verstappen) were convinced not. Until Formula 1 pulled out a sentence from the Great Rulebook.
“Strange, though, that there was no communication from above about the number of points they were competing for,” said Sammy Neyrinck. “Consequently, it took too long for the world title to become clear.”
And that’s not good for the F1 product, our commentator judges. “More than ever, it will be a sport for true connoisseurs, while the interest has never been so great and global.”
“It’s not good if you want to attract more fans. Provides anti-advertising for F1 and motorsport. “What a nuisance was that again?” People will say. And it’s a shame ”.
Neyrinck doesn’t think all this hype detracts from Max Verstappen’s second world title.
“In 10 years no one will know what exactly happened, this will vanish. But everyone will remember how Verstappen led to the second world title ”.
It would have been different if a tractor on the Suzuka track had been two meters away. Neyrinck saw how a new drama was avoided there. It was, after the uncertainty about the result, a second negative note.
Pierre Gasly is shocked. 7 years ago, Gasly’s compatriot Jules Bianchi was killed in a collision with a similar car, also on Suzuka.
“How lucky that nothing happened there. It remains difficult for F1 to regularize and control some things. That’s a lot of money going to the right things, sometimes I wonder.
