It was a weekend to remember in Japan at Suzuka International Racing Circuit. Formula One returned for its first race at the track since 2019 and it will go down in history. Going into this race, Red Bull Racing’s driver Max Verstappen had the chance to bring home his second world championship. The circumstances had to be perfect: the most guaranteed path to victory was winning the race and scoring an extra point for having the fastest lap of the race.
Most of the weekend was filled with rain as Japan receives a lot of showers and storms this time of year. The chance of rain didn’t stop a large turnout of dedicated fans here to watch 20 F1 cars race around the circuit and it didn’t stop the drivers from putting on a show. In Saturday’s qualifying, Sebastian Vettel pushed his Aston Martin into Q3 to earn a Top 10 grid place for what will be his last race in Suzuka because he is set to retire at the end of the season. Alpine landed two places in the Top 10 ahead of their biggest championship rival McLaren who finished qualifying in tenth and eleventh. All eyes were on Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc as the two raced for the pole. Verstappen took the position by being a thousandth of a second quicker than Leclerc.
As race time approached on Sunday afternoon in Japan (which was at 1 a.m. for those of us watching in the US), it became clear that there could be a rain delay at some point during the race. As the drivers were getting in their cars for the start of the race, the rain began to fall. The race was still able to start but only for two laps before the officials decided to put out the red flag and pause the race. During the first lap of racing, however, two cars were already out of the race. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz lost control on the wet track and slid into the barriers and Williams’ Alex Albon experienced an engine failure taking him out as well. At some point during the lap, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was hit by a piece of a billboard that fell. He had to push the billboard back into the pits so his crew could repair the damage on the front of the car.
Pierre Gasly was involved in another incident while heading back to the pits. Before the red flag, the race was proceeding under a safety car while the two cars that were out of the race were removed from the track. Gasly had come out of the pit lane due to the previous incident and was attempting to catch up to the cars following the safety car. In the low visibility conditions of the race, Gasly came within two meters of colliding with the recovery vehicle that was on the track. This collision would have been fatal at the speed Gasly was traveling. Officials summoned Gasly to discuss the incident because they believed he was traveling too fast under red-flag conditions. This incident was similar to one in 2014 when Jules Bianchi received injuries that later led to his death. Fans and drivers alike were all understandably upset at the handling of the situation because this was a moment where a driver’s life was in serious danger.
After the race was stopped for over an hour due to the rain, the restart was finally underway. Many rules were coming into play during the restart because F1 is a sport filled with very specific guidelines concerning race time. Racing can take place for two hours and there is a three-hour maximum. This means that the race takes place for two consecutive hours, but it can’t exceed three hours if there are red flags forcing the race to stop. Many of the teams were also trying to determine how many points would be awarded at the conclusion of the race because this race could be a championship decider. It was determined that full points would be awarded because the race fully resumed following the restart.
There were only 28 laps of racing, and it came down to the last few laps for many of the drivers, but one battle determined the championship. Max Verstappen held the lead of the race until the checkered flag but winning the championship depended on the results of the two drivers right behind him. His teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fought until the last turn for second place. Leclerc finished in second meaning that Verstappen wouldn’t win the championship this weekend. After the race, officials reviewed an incident during the last lap, where Leclerc left the track to stay ahead of Perez. This resulted in a time penalty and Leclerc finishing third. With Perez in second, Max Verstappen was now far enough ahead of Leclerc in the points that the championship was his. Verstappen had already given his post-race interview before he found out he won the title. In the moments following, Verstappen was in disbelief that the championship was his and there were teams rereading the rules to make sure the ruling was correct. After the controversial ending to last season, everyone wanted to be sure the rules were followed, and they were. Max Verstappen was the 2022 World Champion. The 25-year-old driver joined the ranks of many drivers who won the Drivers’ World Championship in Japan.
There are still four races left in the season with the next one taking place here in the US. Teams are traveling to Austin, Texas to race at Circuit of the Americas on October 23. Race time is set for 3 p.m. eastern time and coverage starts at 1:30 p.m. on ABC.
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