Japanese GP: Verstappen secures championship in soaked Suzuka
9th October 2022Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen secured his second world championship in a soaked Japanese Grand Prix after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty.
How the race unfolded…
It was a great start from Leclerc who went side-by-side with Verstappen. By the first corner, in the damp conditions, the Dutchman broke later and found himself back into the race lead by the second corner.
However, after the hairpin, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz aquaplaned off the circuit and smashed into the barrier on the outside line of turn 12, on the opening lap. Fortunately, all of the following drivers were able to pass the stranded Ferrari without incident.
The safety car was soon brought out, due to Sainz’s stranded Ferrari.
However, Alpha Tauri’s outbound driver, Pierre Gasly was forced to pit from the opening lap after the Frenchman picked up an advertising board which flew onto the circuit after Sainz’s incident.
At the same time, Williams’ Alexander Albon was the second driver to retire from the race after the London-born driver had a mechanical failure.
Due to the poor conditions, the race was red flagged.
After a failed attempt to get the race restarted, race control finally got the race going after nearly two hours of waiting. When the pack finally returned to the soaked circuit, the FIA opted for a rolling start after a handful of laps behind the safety car.
With 40 minutes left on the clock, the safety car lights turned out and Verstappen controlled the pace of the field before he bolted off the exit of the final chicane. As Verstappen bolted down the main straight, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi pulled into the pit lane to discard their wet weather tyres for the green-walled intermediate tyres.
With 36 minutes on the clock, Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez, Ocon and Lewis Hamilton pitted for the intemediate tyres. This allowed Alpine’s Fernando Alonso to lead the race for a lap before the Spaniard peeled into the pit lane himself.
As the session crawled towards its final 30 minutes, Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou and Haas’ Mick Schumacher were the only drivers to be left out on the full wet tyres. By the 30 minute mark, Zhou joined the rest of the field as he swapped his wets for the inters – this left Schumacher as the only driver out on the blue-ringed tyres.
It wasn’t long before Schumacher finally peeled into the pit lane to be the final driver to get rid of his intermediate tyres. As a result of the inaction from Haas, when Schumacher returned to the circuit the German found himself plum last.
In the last 15 minutes, Verstappen had established a very comfortable ahead of Leclerc – 16 seconds separated the two drivers.
As the race entered its dying embers, two titanic battles ensued while Verstappen cruised out in front. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez caught up to, but remained behind, Leclerc in a battle for second place, while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton found himself stuck behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in their fight for P4.
While the battle remained for P4, with no changes by the chequered flag, the stewards are set to investigate an incident between Leclerc and Perez. The Monegasque outbroke himself into the final chicane, on the final lap, and cut the chicane before he forced the Mexican Red Bull to the edge of the circuit, on the run to the chequered flag.
The incident was soon resolved, as the drivers stood in Parc Ferme, and the stewards handed Leclerc a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. This, in turn, handed second place to Perez and the world championship to Verstappen.
Top three:
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing (2022 F1 World Champion)
- Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (+5 second penalty)
That’s it for the article; Japanese GP: Verstappen secures championship in soaked Suzuka! What was your favourite moment from Max Verstappen’s championship-winning season? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Japanese GP: Verstappen on pole pending investigation for Norris incident
- Japanese GP: Verstappen fastest in final practice after first dry outing
- Nyck de Vries set to join Alpha Tauri for 2023
- Pierre Gasly set to join Alpine for 2023
- Japanese GP: Russell takes top honours in damp conditions
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
