Accidents, rain, incomprehensible decisions, a flagrant failure of race direction, two hours of waiting, a frenetic half hour of competition in Suzuka and a brand new two-time world champion. The strangest grand prix in recent times was resolved with a 40-minute sprint on a wet asphalt and won the best, Verstappen, 26 seconds ahead! over Leclerc and Pérez in 29 laps… The absolute display of the driver of the moment received an extra prize at the horn: he is already two-time world champion because as Leclerc went straight through the chicane on the last lap, he was penalized with five seconds and finished third. In that There was a fight, there was tension between the Ferrari and the second Red Bull, they crossed the grass and gravel at the chicane simulating those scenes of Senna and Prost not so long ago. But the only one that actually simulates the feats of the multi-champions now is ‘Super Max’.
It is worth recapitulating. From the beginning. The start was given at 14:00 (local time) from the grid, as planned, but in the rain. In a very short time almost everything happened: Leclerc started wonderfully, Verstappen returned it to him on the outside at turn two with a movie maneuver. Behind, Sainz suffered a very dangerous accident at the exit of the hairpin that left him sold in the middle of the track and miraculously safe; Stroll passed eight cars in one lap; Gasly skewered a Rolex ad on his Alpha Tauri; Albon retired due to breakdown; Zhou spun… the safety car came out and then the red flag.
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In that period It was appreciated how a crane went out to recover Carlos’ Ferrari, operators included, with the cars still on the track. Very dangerous moment that recalled the tragic accident of Jules Bianchi in 2014. Someone will have to thoroughly investigate the matter. It rained throughout, with brief appearances by the medical car to check the condition of the track, and the drivers waited patiently. There was a failed exit attempt. Everything looked too much like Spa 2021, the outcome seemed identical, but surprisingly someone decided to try going out behind the safety car to see if the conditions weren’t so bad and… surprise! You can race these F1s in the wet. It was only necessary to clean the water from the track with the passing of the single-seaters, for a few laps, so that visibility ceased to be a problem.
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The final highlight was given for 40 minutes (because they were approaching the full three hours). Verstappen left from the start without opposition. They all started with extreme rain tires, they soon changed to intermediate tires because these F1s expel water at full speed. There were no major changes in position, if anything some confusion when Alonso or Mick Schumacher delayed their lap one stop and led the pack for a few moments. But everything returned to normal. Alonso he made one more stop at the end, he was seventh behind Ocon, Hamilton (great defense of the Frenchman over Lewis) and Vettel and bet everything on a comeback in five minutes. He executed it almost perfectly: he passed Norris, Latifi and Russell and planted himself in the wake of ‘Seb’ just a few meters from the end. He crossed under the checkered flag at 11 thousandths of the German. In the end, the crazy strategy was useless because it was late. But he put on a show.
Leclerc was soon a world. Pérez, from behind, ended up pressing him until he was exhausted and made a mistake… which came. He arrived at the last chicane, both on gravel or grass. And surprisingly, that maneuver gave Verstappen the title ahead of schedule: as the race was not suspended, the total points (25 to Max) were awarded. And as Leclerc lost second place due to a five-second penalty, the Dutchman mathematically secured the championship. The initial bewilderment was logical: everyone pulled from the points count that the FIA foresaw after Belgium 2021, for races in which 75% of the distance is not completed. But the test was not suspended. And Max is already a two-time champion.
