Despite Max Verstappen setting a blistering pace around the Suzuka Circuit, there was more confusion than celebration when the Red Bull driver initially crossed the line. In fact, the title fight was still on when the three podium finishers stepped out of their cars.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing and the Netherlands speeds down the straight in a cloud of spray during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on 9 October 2022. (Photo: Peter Fox / Getty Images)

Coming away from the Singapore Grand Prix last Sunday, Verstappen needed to finish with a lead of 112 points to take the title in Japan. Under normal racing conditions, that amounted to a race win and the fastest lap point.

This is because even if championship rival Charles Leclerc finished second and then won every other race, with an extra point each time for the fastest lap, he would have only been able to tie with Verstappen come the end of the season. As Verstappen has 12 victories to Leclerc’s potential seven, the Red Bull driver would then win the championship even if the fight did go to a final-race shootout in Abu Dhabi.

This, however, went out the window as rain moved over the circuit. Despite lights going out as scheduled, the race was red-flagged when Carlos Sainz crashed out in the wet.

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As the rain poured down, the race eventually got going again more than an hour later, but Leclerc was holding on to second with neither having the point for the fastest lap, so the fight looked set to continue at the next race.

When Verstappen, who was clear of Leclerc by almost half a minute, crossed the line, calculators came out to work out if he had indeed won the championship. He hadn’t — Leclerc, running in second with Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Pérez, hot on his heels, would finish within the margins needed for the fight to continue to the next race.

But then Leclerc made a title-deciding mistake; cutting the final chicane to defend from Pérez and gaining an advantage when he rejoined the track.

Leclerc was awarded a five-second penalty for his blunder, putting him in third, and handing the 2022 driver’s title to Verstappen. It was only when all three podium finishers were giving interviews after the race that F1’s regulatory body confirmed the final result, which made for some anti-climatic, awkward announcements in the parc fermé.

“Are you sure?” Verstappen asked.

“It’s a crazy feeling because I didn’t expect it when I crossed the line,” he said.

Red Bull continues Suzuka traditions

Verstappen’s second title win at the Japanese Grand Prix echoes German driver Sebastian Vettel’s second championship victory in 2011 in Suzuka.

Vettel, also driving for Red Bull at the time, went into the race more than a decade ago knowing that to win the title, either he needed to finish in the points or McLaren’s Jensen Button had to not win the race.

Although Vettel crossed the line in third, behind Button in first, his points from the podium finish saw him crowned as the sport’s youngest double world champion, and before Verstappen, he was the last person to be crowned at Suzuka. Button finished the season in second place, and Red Bull won the constructors’ trophy yet again.

Suzuka is thus undoubtedly a special track for Vettel, who is retiring from the sport at the end of 2022. Despite struggling this year in his Aston Martin, fans were treated to a glimpse of Vettel’s prowess this weekend, with the German coming home in sixth place. At the last race in Japan of his career, Vettel was fittingly named “Driver of the Day” for his efforts.

Drivers remember circuit’s tragic past

Leclerc’s championship-deciding penalty was not the only controversy to come out of this weekend.

As rain poured down on the circuit, the day hearkened back to a tragedy in Formula 1 history, when driver Jules Bianchi crashed into a tractor in wet conditions in Japan in 2014. The accident, which saw Bianchi having to undergo emergency surgery and be placed in an induced coma, ultimately resulted in his death nine months later.

On lap 43 of the race in 2014, Bianchi lost control of his Marussia car in heavy rainfall, colliding with a tractor crane which was removing another car that had spun out of control and crashed in the same place a lap before.

Almost a decade later, drivers came face to face with a similar incident when a tractor was collecting the Ferrari of Sainz from where it had crashed into the barriers. Though the race was behind the safety car, drivers were still on track, and Pierre Gasly rounded the corner at 200 km/h where the vehicle was parked.

“What is this tractor on track? I passed next to it. This is unacceptable. Remember what has happened. Can’t believe this. We don’t want to see ever, a crane on the track,” Gasly raged over the radio.

“If I would have lost the car … I would have died, as simple as that. It’s disrespectful to Jules, disrespectful to his family. All of us are risking our lives out there. We are doing the best job in the world but what we are asking is to at least keep us safe, it’s already dangerous enough,” Gasly told the media after the race.

Other drivers were understandably upset as well, with Lando Norris of McLaren posting on Twitter “Wtf. How’s this happened!? We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risk our lives, especially in conditions like this. We wanna race. But this… Unacceptable.”

Pérez also took to social media about the incident, saying “how can we make it clear that we never want to see a crane on track?  We lost Jules because of that mistake. What happened today is totally unacceptable!!!!! I hope this is the last time ever I see a crane on track!”

Bianchi’s father also weighed in, saying there was “No respect for the life of the driver” and “no respect for Jules’ memory”.

Formula 1 will return to race again at the Circuit of the Americas on 23 October. DM