Verstappen, F1 world champion in Japan

There was a lot of confusion. Max Verstappen conceded that he did not win the 2022 F1 title at the end of the race and left it as a pending task for the next appointment in the United States. “It would have been nice to win the championship here but we have a good chance in the next race,” taught A penalty was announced for Leclerc, who crossed the finish line in second position, and is now 3rd behind ‘Checo’ Pérez. And when Johnny Herbert, who yesterday was in charge of doing the interviews at the foot of the track, left Max behind and interviewed ‘Checo’ Pérez, he got the Dutchman’s attention again. “I think there was a 5-second penalty on Charles. So… Max, maybe things have changed for you. With the penalty you are world champion,” he said to the Dutchman. He laughed in disbelief. “I do not know what to say”… pointed out something cold, before everyone’s confusion. And after a few seconds he woke up and realized what he had done. He hugged his team. He is the new 2022 F1 world champion.

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F1 2022 JAPANESE GP RESULTS

In principle, the numbers do not seem to indicate that Max Verstappen is still the champion. After completing more than 50% of the planned rounds, but not reaching 75%, the rules state that the points awarded to the winner are 19 instead of the usual 25. Max defeated Pérez, who came second after the last 5″ penalty to Charles, who was 3rd. Everyone did the same calculation: 19 points for Max, 16 for Pérez and 12 for Charles. Max had to get 8 points from Monegasque and 6 to Pérez to be champion at Suzuka, so it seems the title has been postponed for Austin. However, that regulation only works for races that do not reach the end, which are suspended without restarts. In this case, it doesn’t matter how many turns they made. What matters is reaching the final goal, which is marked by the 3-hour race limit. That is considered the end of the race, so the points distributed are the average ones. With Max first and Leclerc third, Verstappen is the new F1 champion.

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The way Max is told in his title is surreal and unexpected. Everyone was surprised, even Max. But it’s fair. It doesn’t matter if they give him the scepter in Suzuka or Austin, because the crown is his for the long haul. It’s just a matter of waiting. Finally, it fell to Japan, something very important for Red Bull, to honor its partner Honda. 12 wins in 17 races. The numbers say it all, as does the superiority with which Max prevailed in the wet at Suzuka.

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Rough start and Sainz left

The start of the race was very controversial. The drivers decided to start with the intermediate tire, but on an increasingly wet track, that was an overly optimistic decision due to the high probability of aquaplaning. In the first meter almost everything happened. Alonso and Vettel touched, Stroll made a great comeback from 5th place and into the lead and Verstappen defended his first position as champion against Leclerc in the first corner after a better start from Charles.

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Max’s maneuver was to take off his hat: in unknown conditions, the Dutchman did not hesitate for a moment to jump out when everything was lost, letting the car run to regain first place. A masterpiece worthy of the current king of F1.

Later, something comes from Zhou and what everyone fears: an accident. It’s up to Sainz to do the worst part. The Spaniard lost third place at the start to Pérez and, chasing the Mexican, he got up to see something, but that caused him to end up in a bog. Carlos lost the car and leaned against the wall. Race Direction decided to stop the race with a red flag, and a situation arose that did not need to happen.

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F1 did not learn from the Jules Bianchi tragedy

The red flag had just been shown, on lap 3 of the race, the drivers could not believe what they were seeing while riding behind the ‘Safety Car’: on a track with no visibility, they could not believe when they realized they were. is passing by a crane. In 2014, on this same track, Jules Bianchi had an accident when he collided with a tractor pulling a car on gravel. It was his life. 8 years later, the drivers were outraged to find that gross negligence had been done in allowing a crane to access the track to remove Carlos’ car while cars were still running on it. A tragedy may have occurred. First, because a marshal was seen “putting his life in serious danger by climbing onto the asphalt with a car tied to a crane, having to jump off when he saw a car passing by. And secondly, because Pierre Gasly, who came in to put on rain tires, was driving too fast (the FIA ​​says 250 km/h) to keep up with the safety car. He got a terrible fright when he saw the crane and many complained about it: “I could kill myself!”. But he was also to blame: the red flag was revealed and he couldn’t walk that fast.

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That dangerous situation focused the debate in the paddock and in the pit lane during the almost two hours that had to wait for the return of the race. It competed again in a re-launched post ‘Safety Car’ with the clock ticking 40 minutes for the three-hour race limit.

Max Recital

Emotions are maximum. Verstappen and Leclerc could duel in the rain. But there, Max and Red Bull made a difference again. Verstappen was unrivaled and crushed his opponent, making it clear why he will soon be champion. The Dutchman strolled through the rain with great superiority against a Charles who lasted a few laps before melting so fast that he ran out of tires. Even in wet conditions, the Ferrari undercuts the intermediate tires more. Leclerc was fortunate to cross the finish line in second position, 31 seconds behind the winner, as ‘Checo’ Pérez squeezed him from behind with a forceful final attack.

Leclerc last error

The Monegasque defended himself as best he could against Pérez’s harassment, in a leathery despite having no rubber bands. Checo tried everything. And the match ended badly for Ferrari. He has closed every possible door, but the last one is missing. At the final chicane, Charles made it past the final corner and crossed the finish line second. Quickly, Race Direction allowed him a 5″ penalty, relegating him to third place and leaving Pérez in second position. That gave Max the title that in April he thought was impossible after suffering two retirements in the first three races. due to reliability failures against a Ferrari that was superior at the time. Red Bull reacted, solved their problems, executed the rest of the course perfectly and improved their car even more. They took advantage of it by Max to win his second crown.

Alonso, 7th, angered his team

Fernando Alonso finished 7th. The Spaniards could not spring a surprise in the wet conditions. The man from Oviedo bet to take a risk if it rains this Sunday, but Alpine is not ready for work and he condemns him. Vettel, who restarted the race last, with nothing to lose, quickly stopped to put on intermediate tires at the start of the race and was ahead of him, in 6th position thanks to said strategy. Alpine chose the opposite of Fernando. The Spaniard stayed on track and Ocon, who was 5th, came in to place the intermediates on the lap where most did. Alonso couldn’t stop the moment because he would have wasted time waiting for his teammate’s tires to be changed. He remained one more lap on the asphalt, leading the test. So, he stopped a lap later than he should have and returned to the track in 7th place.

He eventually put in a set of new intermissions with just a few laps to go, after radioing for him to stop early to gain more ground in a final attack. But his team did not listen to him. He returned to the track 10th and returned to the 7th final position. He has no more time.

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