SUPER MAX SEALS SECOND TITLE AT SOAKED SUZUKA

Japanese Grand Prix Recap

Returning to the calendar after three years away, the soaked Japanese Grand Prix provided a race filled with chaos and controversy, seeing Max Verstappen crowned a two-time World Champion on Honda’s home soil.

Starting on pole position, Verstappen had an ordinary getaway. The Dutchman suffered from wheelspin in the wet, allowing Charles Leclerc to momentarily capitalise.

Nearly clinching the lead into Turn 1, Leclerc then lost out to Verstappen’s grip advantage on the outside line.

Sebastian Vettel had a disappointing start, spinning after spatial misjudgment led to contact with Fernando Alonso.

The fan favourite found himself in 20th place after Turn 1.

The Lap 1 action was far from over, seeing Zhou Guanyu spin and Alex Albon forced to retire after side-on contact caused damage to his Williams’ engine.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel flies through the gravel after a chaotic start in Suzuka. Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)

To complete the opening chaos, Carlos Sainz’s race ended in the wall after aquaplaning on his intermediate tyres, causing a red flag.

Having started in the pits, Pierre Gasly had a dangerously close encounter with the recovery vehicle that was collecting Sainz’s stricken Ferrari when he attempted to rejoin the train behind the safety car.

The delay was shrouded with discussion on the presence of the vehicle on track while cars were passing, bringing up comparisons to the unfortunate 2014 incident which claimed the life of Jules Bianchi.

The incident visibly angered many drivers, calling for a response from the FIA.

The race resumed two hours and 15 minutes after its scheduled starting time behind the safety car, with only 45 minutes of racing remaining on the clock.

All cars began racing on the wet tyres, but as conditions eased up Vettel and Nicholas Latifi were the first drivers to pit for intermediates, the clear faster tyre choice.

Initially, Leclerc maintained a steady distance from the race leader, managing to stay within 5 seconds for the opening stint, however, as his tyre performance faded, the gap rapidly grew as his focus shifted from fighting for first to defending second place.

Kevin Magnussen made many impressive overtakes on the likes of Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas, while his Haas teammate’s strategic call to remain on the wets with the hopes for a Safety Car fell through and left him in P18.

The Mercedes duo found their lack of straight-line speed a big hindrance in their on-track battles.

Lewis Hamilton fought with Esteban Ocon for the majority of the restarted race, failing to stick the overtake and finishing in P5.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon fended off Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to score a brilliant P4 result at Japan. Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)

His teammate, George Russell, was forced to take extra measures when making moves on Yuki Tsunoda and Latifi, which both were done at Turn 6.

On the final corner of the final lap, Leclerc out-braked himself, running off-track and rejoining still ahead of Perez. Leclerc crossed the line ahead of the Red Bull driver to finish in second place, however, after an investigation by the stewards, he was handed a 5-second time penalty, relegating him to P3.

Max Verstappen dominated the Japanese Grand Prix, finishing ahead of his closest rivals by 27 seconds to claim P1, and with the aid of Leclerc’s penalty, won his second World Championship title in what has been a commanding season from Verstappen and his team.

Despite some confusion, the field was awarded full points as the race did not end under the red flag.

It was resumed and reached the 3-hour limit. Had any points less than the full amount been awarded, the championship fight would have carried on to Austin, Texas.

The next round of racing will take place in the United States in Austin on October 21-23, beginning the North and South American portion of the F1 calendar.

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