The odds seemed stacked against Formula One actually completing the full 53-lap Japanese Grand Prix.
Rain created chaotic conditions on the opening lap as Carlos Sainz aquaplaned into a barrier, a piece of the advertising board ended up on the front nose of Pierre Gasly’s car and Alex Albon came to a stop on the track. Zhou Guanyu and Sebastian Vettel both had separate spins, the Alfa Romeo at the hairpin and the Aston Martin claiming Fernando Alonso hit him.
The red flag suspended the race, pausing the two-hour race clock but the three-hour timer of when the grand prix needed to end continued to tick. Lewis Hamilton said over the radio to engineer Peter Bonnington as he returned to the pits: “Do you think this is going to let off at any stage?” Bonnington replied, “The forecast is pretty grim, but let’s see.”
With just over 40 minutes to get racing in, the drivers emerged from the pits behind the safety car and mixed reports emerged in terms of visibility. Despite those farther back on the grid reporting low visibility, the safety car entered the pits and the pack was off with a rolling start.
This gamble of when to resume the race proved to be critical as F1 managed to avoid any other stoppages as the clock wound down. Max Verstappen easily won the race as a battle emerged behind him for second as Charles Leclerc tried to fend off Sergio Pérez and hold onto second.
However, the Ferrari driver left the track on a chicane during the final lap, and the stewards determined after the race Leclerc had left the track and gained an advantage. He was dealt a five-second penalty, which dropped him to third.
Coupled with a points quirk in the regulations that caused confusion for everyone, Verstappen was crowned the 2022 World Champion, his second title in as many years.
“I think the first one is always a little more emotional, but the second one is probably even more beautiful, just [with] the season we’ve had with the wins and the great races and the teamwork, the 1-2s we’ve had,” Verstappen said when comparing his back-to-back world titles. “Of course, also we’re leading the Constructors so we really want to focus on that as well to try and secure that. It’s been a pretty special year, and I think it’s something you really have to remind yourself of because these kind of years you don’t have very often.”
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Here are three takeaways from a wet Suzuka Circuit where a timed race came down to gambles.
How Verstappen won the world championship in Japan
The Dutchman was among those who did not realize he had won this season’s title because of a particular rule in the regulations.
After completing his post-race interview, he was called back by Sky Sports and told the news. Still, it didn’t sink in as he ran to hug his team and partner, Kelly Piquet. Verstappen still questioned it when he got to the driver debriefing room before the podium celebration. Even Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko said, per reporter Philip Duncan, “Our statisticians said we needed one more point.”
Most people did not expect full points would be rewarded at the Japanese Grand Prix after a lengthy red-flag period. The race just barely made it past the 50% completion mark, and after last year’s rain-filled Belgian Grand Prix, the FIA made a revised points structure in the event a race did not fully run. Points were adjusted based on certain distances, such as a winner gaining 13 points if the race was past the 25% completion mark but below the 50%.
With just a tad over 50% of the Japanese Grand Prix completed, many thought Verstappen would be awarded 19 points, Pérez receiving 14 and Leclerc getting 12. The Dutchman would still be one point shy of the title with Leclerc’s penalty in this framing.
However, as noted earlier, the race did not stop again once it resumed on the rolling start. This specific points restructure is for races that are stopped and are unable to restart. Despite the circumstances, Verstappen still won the title in style.
He started the season with two DNFs in three races, but the Dutchman began a commanding streak that saw 12 wins, two other podium finishes and two seventh place endings. He’s put on a masterclass throughout the season, conducting overtakes at a rapid speed from any place on the grid.
Heading into the Japanese Grand Prix, he finished seventh in Singapore just a week prior. Verstappen had a slow start that dropped him out of point contention, and as he tried to recover, another mistake occurred as he ended up on the escape road after failing to pass Lando Norris. And Suzuka seemed to threaten to not be as pivotal as it ended up being.
Verstappen may have had pole, but he wasn’t thrilled with his practice start ahead of Sunday’s grand prix. Leclerc, then, had a stronger start than him, but Verstappen managed to hang on before the opening lap mayhem. The visibility, even behind the safety car, was practically nonexistent before the race was red flagged, but the Dutchman remained calm.
The cool yet confident attitude coupled with his aggressive driving style came in full force when the race resumed, edging more than seven seconds over Leclerc with just under 25 minutes to go. By the time the race had settled, the Dutchman had a 27.066-second lead over Pérez
“It’s crazy. [I’ve got] very mixed emotions. What a year we’ve had so far—it’s been incredible. It’s something I could never have imagined happening after last year already, fighting to the end and having such a good car again this year,” Verstappen said after the race. “I’m so thankful to everyone who has been contributing to the success. The whole team here [at the track] but also back at the factory constantly working flat out and never missing any motivation to make the car faster.”
Team boss Christian Horner said to Sky Sports F1, “It’s beyond all our dreams. Max has been truly, truly dominant [this season]. We came back from some difficulties in the first couple of races, but honestly, he and the team have just raised it to another level. I’m incredibly proud of everything he’s done, everything the team [has done] – all the men and women back in Milton Keynes have gone way and beyond under massive pressure. To achieve this championship is truly special.”
The case of the gambles and an outgoing champion
When it comes to anything in life, one must take risks, knowing that sometimes it may not pan out.
For Haas and Mick Schumacher, they gambled by not pitting along with the rest of the grid to intermediates after the race resumed. He briefly ran in the top three and managed to lead the grand prix, even if it was just a passing moment before Verstappen overtook him.
But for Nicholas Latifi and Sebastian Vettel, the decision to be the first two to pit after the race resumed had the risk of being disastrous. Latifi was Williams’s only driver left in the grand prix, and so far this season, the Canadian had not scored any points. That is until Suzuka.
By switching from wets to intermediates so early, Latifi and Vettel did need to fight through the pack. What played in their favor is that a majority of the grid eventually followed their lead. With warm tires, the two were able to hold on within points contention, the Williams driver scoring two points with a P9 finish and the Aston Martin star taking home eight after a sixth-place finish.
“When the race finally restarted, Nicky did an excellent job in tricky conditions. He was part of the decision to make the early switch to intermediates and this paid handsomely as he soon got into a potential points scoring position,” Dave Robson, Williams’s Head of Vehicle Performance, said in the team’s post-race recap. “Although [George] Russell was able to overtake, Nicky had the measure of the McLarens and managed his car really well to collect his first points of the season.”
This weekend was a particularly emotional one for Vettel, who announced before the Hungarian Grand Prix that he would retire from F1 at the end of the season. The Aston Martin driver managed to reach Q3 for the first time since Baku this weekend and qualified ninth for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
But, it was bittersweet for him.
“Laps like this make me—not regret [my retirement], because I look forward to what’s coming, but a bit sad about the fact that it’s the last time,” Vettel said after qualifying, per formula1.com. “Saturday here is different to Sunday, because Sunday you have more fuel in the car, it’s more managing, different discipline in a way. Saturday is when you’re flying. We are far away from P1 but the feeling in the car is something special when the fuel is light and the tire is fresh.”
Sunday, though, started as a struggle after he collided with Fernando Alonso on the opening lap. Vettel said in the team’s post-race recap: “I really could not see anything—I am not sure, maybe I aquaplaned or I made a mistake—but I lost all the positions I had gained and ended up last.”
But, boxing early allowed him to undercut a majority of the field as he pushed his Aston Martin.
“From an Aston Martin point of view, we scored our second consecutive sixth place, thanks to a fine drive by Sebastian,” team boss Mike Krack said in the post-race recap, “facilitated by a good strategy call to fit Inters so soon after the restart and a superb pit stop that enabled him to exit the pit lane ahead of [Nicholas] Latifi.”
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The significance of the recovery vehicle being on track.
Eight years ago, Jules Bianchi crashed and hit a recovery vehicle during the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. Months later, he died from his head injuries.
Fast forward to Suzuka 2022, Gasly passed a recovery vehicle, which had been deployed for Sainz’s wrecked car, on track when returning to the pits and was furious. His visibility was severely limited considering the wet conditions. The Frenchman had pitted after the first lap and was catching up to the rest of the pack, who were behind the safety car when the crane was on track.
Based on the onboard video, the light panel started to flash red, meaning the race was suspended, just before Gasly passed it and before he passed the recovery vehicle. The FIA released the following statement about the incident: “In relation to the recovery of the incident on Lap 3, the safety car had been deployed and the race neutralized. Car 10, which had collected damage and pitted behind the Safety Car, was then driving at high speed to catch up to the field. As conditions were deteriorating, the Red Flag was shown before Car 10 passed the location of the incident where it had been damaged the previous lap.”
Gasly was not the only individual in the paddock concerned by the incident. Lando Norris tweeted: “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.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports that it was “unacceptable,” later adding, “it is extremely dangerous. We’ve got lucky so far.” He also said “there needs to be a full investigation into why there was a full recovery vehicle on the track.”
Red Bull’s Pérez also tweeted, “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!”
Vettel said over radio after passing the recovery vehicle: “Next time, they should inform us if there’s a frickin tractor on the road. I know we’re under Safety Car, but in turn 12, there’s this…”
Albon revealed to Sky Sports that the topic of recovery vehicles on track arose during Friday’s driver meeting with the FIA race director. Sainz said to Sky in a separate interview: “I still don’t know why in these conditions we keep risking having a tractor on-track, because it’s just worthless. If you’re going to red flag it anyway, why risk it?”
Even Bianchi’s father, Philippe, weighed in on the matter.
The FIA is investigating Gasly for allegedly “speeding under red flag conditions.” According to the summons, “Car 10 reached speeds of up to 250 km/h when completing the lap under the red flag after passing the scene of the incident.” He was dealt a drive through penalty that added 20 seconds to his race time and two penalty points.
“The driver conceded that he now understood that there could have been marshals or obstacles on the track, and admitted that he was too fast,” the FIA decision document reads. “However, in mitigation of penalty, we take into account that although the speed could not by any measure be regarded as ‘slow’ as required in the regulations, it was slower that the maximum speed that could be achieved under these conditions. We also take into account the shock the driver experienced on seeing a truck on the racing line in the corner of the incident.”
Regardless of if the AlphaTauri driver was speeding, the FIA is likely going to face safety questions regarding this situation.
Bonus takeaway: Social media roundup of red flag tweets during the rain.
