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Tyres NorthamptonMax Verstappen is a double Formula One world champion after taking a second successive title in a highly confusing and unorthodox race. A severely disrupted Japanese Grand Prix left many fans who woke up early with a long wait for racing to begin in earnest. The heavy rain at Suzuka meant only a single lap of running greeted those that set a 6AM alarm before a two-hour gap until the race restarted with a wet and wild 40-minute run to the flag.
Similar to the Singapore Grand Prix one week earlier, the rain in Japan had soaked the track before the race start. Unlike Singapore, however, there were no delays before the five lights went out, with the 20 cars utilising Pirelli's Intermediate tyre to tackle the conditions.
Verstappen and Charles Leclerc battled into and around Turn 1 for the lead. Leclerc had the better launch off the line, but Verstappen fought back to regain P1 on the outside of Turn 1 to be the only driver without a visor full of tyre spray throughout Lap 1.
The first lap was full of incidents to trigger a Safety Car for the clean-up operation. First, Sebastian Vettel collided with Fernando Alonso at Turn 1, spinning Vettel to the back. Then, Guanyu Zhou did a 180 at the hairpin to lose ground on his rivals. Carlos Sainz also lost traction a few metres further up the road, but with terminal consequences after crashing into the tyre barrier. Next, Alex Albon joined the Spaniard as a Lap 1 retirement, but with a hydraulics failure. And finally, Pierre Gasly found himself with an advertising board lodged on his front wing, completely obscuring his visibility.
The Safety Car soon became a red flag due to the increased rainfall, and the patient Japanese fans had to endure a lengthy delay before any more action came on track. As a result, the FIA mandated all cars to run Pirelli's Extreme Wet blue-walled tyre when racing resumed. The race director also exercised further caution by electing for a rolling restart rather than lining the cars back up on the grid.
With just 40 minutes to finish the race before the chequered flag, Verstappen led the remaining 18 runners around for what felt like an ad-hoc Sprint. However, race strategy soon became key after Vettel and Nicholas Latifi risked ditching the Wet compound in favour of Pirelli's Intermediate tyres. The gamble paid dividends, as the pair became the fastest drivers on track and jumped from the final places to run in the top 10.
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With the Intermediates being the obvious best compound choice, almost every driver visited the pits to swap tyres. Unfortunately for George Russell, this meant waiting for his Mercedes team to finish switching Lewis Hamilton's Pirellis in a double-stack pit stop. Unfortunately for the young Brit, he lost time and positions in the pits and unhappily rejoined towards the back of the midfield. However, George's misfortune was the viewers' luck as his out-of-place Mercedes provided entertainment by making multiple overtakes to finish P8.
Hamilton hadn't fared overly better than Russell, as he spent every lap after his pit stop in Esteban Ocon's Alpine wheel tracks. Hamilton tried everything to get by, but without DRS due to the wet conditions, there was no easy pass possible as Ocon kept his cool to take P4. Between Hamilton and Russell were world champions Vettel and Alonso, who again found themselves occupying the same area of tarmac after their Lap 1 contact. A second pit stop by Alonso for new Pirellis couldn't quite get him past his long-time German rival, as the two crossed the line just 0.011s apart.
Out front, though, Verstappen had opened a sizeable gap to Leclerc, who instead had to watch his mirrors for the sister Red Bull of Sergio Perez. Leclerc had lost his tyre tread and thus his pace, allowing Perez to close in as the race timer reached zero. At the final chicane on the last lap, Leclerc ran wide, cutting the corner to stay ahead but receiving a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage.
Leclerc's punishment was pivotal, as his demotion from P2 to P3 meant Verstappen's points tally became insurmountable atop the championship. Finally, after several minutes of confusion regarding the updated points distribution in a shortened race after the fiasco at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, the FIA confirmed Verstappen's title. The bizarre ending summed up the oddest F1 Sunday this year, but Verstappen's eventual delight at his second championship win was evident. F1 now heads to the USA over October 21-23 to start 2022's two final double-headers.
