Japanese GP review: Verstappen secures title and Gasly escapes near-miss

Max Verstappen put in a dominant performance on the – very wet – Japanese Suzuka Circuit to secure the title while Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly escaped a near-miss with a recovery vehicle.

The defending world champion will have the ability to defend his title next season too as Leclerc’s late penalty handed the 2022 crown to Verstappen – albeit with some confusion.

Fans, journalists, pundits, drivers (former and current) have hit out at the FIA after Gasly had a near-miss moment with a recovery vehicle out on track.

Pirelli have a tyre dilemma on their hands as teams will often opt for the green-walled intermediate tyres even when conditions do not call for them as a result of a performance advantage.

Pirelli’s tyre dilemma

At the current moment, the blue-walled extreme wet tyres are becoming more redundant than attaching a rear-view mirror to the halo. No one, teams or drivers, want to use them – ever, unless they are forced to.

The conditions, ahead of the Japanese GP, looked to be better suited for the full-wet tyres due to the rivers of water which lay in different sections of the circuit. Teams and drivers opting for the inters, over the wets, may be one of the main factors why Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz aquaplaned off the circuit and into the barrier at turn 12.

This would be down to the amount of water the two different compounds displaces; the intermediates clear around 30 litres of water – per tyre – at 300kph while the full extreme wets clear around 85 litres of water per second, at the same speed.

However, the dilemma comes down to the performance advantage of the inters over the wets. The intermediates are much quicker, the teams/drivers would rather opt for the green-walled tyres over the extremes.

During his interview with Sky Sports F1, Red Bull Racing’s Team Principle, Christian Horner, stated:

“The problem with the wet tyre, the full wet tyre, is it’s sort of a survival tyre but there’s no performance in it.

“So, it’s pushing the team’s and the drivers as quickly as they can to get onto the inters.

“Which will be possibility four seconds, a lap, quicker around here.

“But then it’s a matter of being able to survive those rivers, those aquaplaning moments.

“Between the performance of the extreme tyre and the inter is just too great.”

As such Pirelli, potentially need to create a hybrid between the two wet compounds to work well in conditions that don’t require full wets, while in circumstances where it’s also unsuitable for the intermediate tyres.

Gasly’s near miss

The FIA found themselves in the firing line in the early stages of the Japanese Grand Prix after a recovery vehicle was found on the circuit, in treacherous conditions. Following Sainz’s crash, the recovery vehicle was out to extract the stranded Ferrari.

However, in conditions where visibility was extremely poor: the call could have been horrific.

Many people, fans, pundits, journalists and drivers voiced their anger of the situation, reminding people of what happened to Jules Bianchi in 2014 – at the very same circuit. Where the French racing driver collided with a recovery vehicle and tragically died.

One of those who were angered by the incident was Bianchi’s father, Philippe Bianchi who posted on Instagram:

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A post shared by Philippe Bianchi (@philippe_bianchi17)

Despite handing Gasly with a 20-second penalty (a post-race drive through), the Governing body is set to put the incident under ‘review’ in a bid to improve processes and procedures.

In a statement, the FIA said:

“While it is normal practice to recover cars under Safety Car and Red Flag conditions, due to the particular circumstances and also taking into account feedback from a number of drivers, the FIA has launched a thorough review of the events involving the deployment of recovery vehicles during the Japanese Grand Prix.

“This is part of the common practice of analysis of all race incidents to ensure continual improvements of processes and procedures.”

Verstappen handed the crown – confusingly

That’s it. The championship is over as Verstappen claimed the 2022 title in confusing circumstances, as many people – including the Red Bull pit wall – thought full points weren’t going to be awarded at the end of the race.

When the defending world champion crossed the line, he – and his team – weren’t sure if the Dutchman had done enough to secure the world title in Japan. It wasn’t until the top three drivers were parked up in Parc Ferme that the news was broken to the leading Red Bull.

This came after Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was handed a five-second time penalty, for cutting the last chicane on the final lap, and maintaining his track position – just ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez – across the finish line.

This penalty promoted Perez up to P2, Leclerc down to P3, and the handed Verstappen the crown.

After the events of the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, where half points were awarded after two laps behind the safety car, the FIA set out a new set of regulations which outlined the number of points to be awarded if the race doesn’t go the full distance.

Despite the confusion, the FIA quickly clarified that full points would be awarded as the race ended under green-flag conditions as the governing body stated:

“The reduced points allocation (article 6.5) apply in the event of race suspension that cannot be resumed, and therefore full points are awarded and Max Verstappen is world champion.”

Clarification that fans, the media, the drivers and their respective teams would have preferred to have prior to the chequered flag falling.

That’s it for the article; Japanese GP review: Verstappen secures title as Gasly escapes near-miss! What did you think of the Japanese GP? Let us know in the comments!

Read more Formula 1 here:

• People hit out at FIA after Gasly’s near miss
• Japanese GP: Verstappen secures second championship in soaked Suzuka
• 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

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