Max Verstappen Seals Title Race In Japan

Suzuka, Japan.

 

F1 2022 World Champion

A post-race 5 second penalty for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was all Max Verstappen needed to be crowned World Champion after a chaotic, rainy Japanese Grand Prix with 4 races left of the season. 

 

At 366 points, it is without a doubt that whatever all the other drivers do, no one’s catching the Dutch. The 4 remaining races have a maximum of 112 points. With Perez 113 points behind, the title has been decided. Verstappen has 12 wins from 18 races so far this season.

 

Max Verstappen has joined the exclusive ‘back-to-back world champion club’. Other drivers in this elite group include Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Hakkinen, Prost, Fangio, Schumacher, Senna, Brabham and Ascari.

 

 

 

Thanks to the rain, the race took a 2-hour 25-minute break after being red-flagged having gone only 2 laps. Max fought off Leclerc’s perfect finish and retained his pole position, so he started 1st after the restart.

 

Max led the drivers in pitting for the Intermediates and basically led all the way to the chequered flag.

Leclerc, Perez Battle

For a moment, we all thought Perez was going to take 2nd place from Leclerc but the Monégasque wouldn’t have any of that. A five-second time penalty for cutting the final chicane while defending 2nd place gave Red Bull a 1,2 finish.

 

Lewis Hamilton battled Alpine’s Esteban Ocon for P4 but after a couple of laps, the Brit couldn’t get the extra pace from the W13. The 7-time World Champion had to settle for 5th.

 

 

Carlos Sainz’s retirement dealt a massive blow to Ferrari’s Constructor’s Championship hopes as Red bull’s 1,2 meant that Horner’s boys brought home the maximum points. 

 

Alex Albon was the other retiree of the race after contact with Magnussen. His Williams teammate, Nicholas Latifi, had an incredible day in the office finishing in the points.

 

Formula 1 returns on the 21-23rd of October for the United States Grand Prix.

 

 

 

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