Max Emilian Verstyappen, at 25, is a two-time world champion!
The Dutchman won the Japanese GP and relied on a mistake by Leclerc in the last corner of the last lap of Suzuka to seal the championship victory.
It was his 32nd F1 win. With that he surpasses Mansell and equals Alonso as the sixth greatest winner in history. It is still his 12th win in 18 GPS this season.
Pérez inherited the second position, Leclerc dropped to third.
With the result, Red Bull also closed the World of Constructors dispute, its first title in nine years.
F1’s long-awaited return to Japan was a 28-lap mini-race, or 52.8% of the original distance, which ended in the time limit.
The start took place on a very wet track, everyone tires intermediaries.
Leclerc drove better, but Verstappen showed why he is a special boy, a genius in the making. In the middle of the title fight, he didn’t lift anything: he pounded hard and, despite the wet asphalt, regained his position on the outside at the first corner.
Further back, a demonstration of errors. Vettel spun after a touch from Alonso, Sainz crashed on his own and smashed the rear of the Ferrari, Albon and Zhou met and Gasly somehow picked up an advertising sign along the way.
“You can’t see anything,” the Frenchman from AlphaTauri told the radio. The safety car was not long in coming out. And a few moments later the red flag arrived. Everything stopped on the second lap.
In the top ten were Verstappen, Leclerc, Pérez, Ocon, Hamilton, Alonso, Russell, Ricciardo, Tsunoda and Schumacher. Two of the injured, Albon and Sainz, were already out of the race.
It was the continuation of a debate initiated in Singapore.
Does F1 no longer run in the rain? What are blue rain tires for? Why didn’t the race direction decree a “wet race”, forcing everyone to wear them at the start? Shouldn’t that safety car that keeps doing thousands of laps on the track before the race give some warning?
In an interview with Band, Mario Isola, Pirelli director, gave some answers: “At the start there were the conditions for the intermediates, but the rain became more intense just before the cars started. The full wet causes three. times more splashes. Imagine what the riders’ visibility would be like? There are rivers on the track, aquaplaning conditions … So the decision to stop was the right one. “
But it wasn’t the worst of it.
While everyone was waiting for the restart, images of a tractor emerged in the middle of the track on the third lap, when the drivers were still there, on their way to the pits. Gasly passed very close and was furious, with good reason. Yes, he himself, Bianchi’s best friend, who died after hitting a tractor in the 2014 Japanese GP, on the same circuit.
Pierre Gasly rides a tractor on the Suzuka track during the red flag at the Japanese GP
Image: reproduction
The FIA? He informed that he will investigate Gasly (!! ??) after the GP, that the red flag had already been raised and that at the time he was traveling at more than 250 km / h. Yes, the same FIA that makes fun of the pierced does not mind a tractor on the track …
Not forgiven. Unjustifiable. Inexplicable. It is something that cannot happen.
“How can this happen? We lost a life in a situation like this years ago. We risked our lives, especially in conditions like this. We want to race but this is unacceptable,” Norris tweeted as he waited in the pits. “How can we make it clear that we never want to see a tractor on the track again?” Wrote Pérez.
After 68 minutes of waiting, the timer has started. The countdown to the end of the race has begun. Two hours and 15 minutes after the first start came another attempt.
The cars finally sprinted behind the safety car and with the mandatory wet tires.
“The track is very good,” Hamilton said briefly. “Visibility has improved,” Ocon said. “It’s not bad,” Leclerc launched. “Visibility remains poor behind other cars,” Bottas said.
Three laps later, the safety car entered the pits. The timer indicated 40 minutes of GP left.
Vettel and Latifi, who had nothing to lose, went to the pits and mounted the intermediate tires. Two laps later, the leading gang decided to do the same thing.
Verstappen, Leclerc, Pérez stopped. Alonso was even leading the GP, Schumacher was a few meters ahead, but order was soon restored.
Max Verstappen on the podium of the Japanese GP in Suzuka, where he seals the conquest of the F1 bi
Image: Mark Thompson / Getty Images
With 30 minutes to go, the rain was already lighter. In the top ten were Verstappen, Leclerc, Pérez, Ocon, Hamilton, Schumacher, Vettel, Alonso, Latifi and Norris.
There were no great emotions until the last lap. Verstappen finished first and Leclerc finished second, a result that would have postponed the title decision at the United States GP.
But Leclerc was wrong. He cuts the last chicane and returns to the track in front of Pérez. He was punished. And this decided the World Cup.
