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Verstappen win, Ferrari crash penalty
The Formula 1 Grand Prix of Japan awards the decisive world title victory to Red Bull driver Max Verstappen. But the race was characterized by significant controversy and for Ferrari it was not a memorable positive milestone.
Five races from the end of the 2022 Formula 1 Grand Prix, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is collecting his ‘bis’ success after winning the 2022 Drivers’ World Championship. To conclude.
A season destined for Ferrari and the pilots of the Maranello team, who have shown great courage and determination since the first round of the GP. But who, nevertheless, had to face various clashes over multiple races.
The controversy at the Suzuka Formula 1 GP
The Suzuka Formula 1 Grand Prix was heavily affected by the rain. During the race also a red flag which forced the cars to a double start. First at the stop then behind the safety car. Unfavorable and particular conditions which led the Japanese Grand Prix to stop at 29 laps out of the 53 expected. Measure adopted because the three hours authorized for a race had been exceeded. This would have resulted in the awarding of points to the top ten in the standings, but according to a pre-established pattern based on the percentage of the race run (in this case more than 50%, but less than 75%). In theory therefore, Max Verstappen could not have obtained the points necessary to clinch the title of World Champion with five races to go. However, the FIA decided to award full points to the top 10, handing the title to the Red Bull driver.
If Verstappen had obtained the 19 points planned for the interrupted race, he would have been 7 points behind Charles Leclerc (second in the Drivers’ World Championship). But with the 25 points granted he reached +10 on the Monegasque, officially winning the title. A decision which surprised everyone, including the winner, and which did not exempt the rise from controversy. In any case, the FIA would have justified the decision by presenting the bases present in the regulations. That is to say, if the race must end because the three hours of the maximum authorized duration have elapsed, the full points will still be awarded to the pilots. A decision, that of the FIA, which did not change the cards on the table (8 points behind Verstappen would have been enough to win the title), but which could stir the spirits in the teams.
Bad luck for the Ferraris
The Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix, which saw Max Verstappen triumph, was a difficult stage for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. The first hit by a penalty, the second involved in an accident a few bends from the start. It was not an easy race for anyone. The rain, in fact, created serious visibility and safety problems, leading to important consequences such as the accident of Carlos Sainz just moments from the start. As the Gazzetta dello Sport reports, the Spanish Ferrari driver would have lived the moments after aquaplaning with fear. “These things happen in these conditions, the truth is that I did not see anything. I did aquaplaning and spinning, I was stopped in the middle of the track and I knew that they did not hadn’t seen. I was in the hands of God”.
Conditions which forced the Ferrari driver to retire and which, in any case, compromised the race for all the other drivers in the race. No less complicated to accept the result for Charles Leclerc who accelerated the award of the world title to Max Verstappen due to a penalty. The Ferrari driver, in fact, would have cut a chicane and this would have caused him a 5 second penalty and a relegation from second to third place behind Perez. In short, it will certainly not be a day of celebration, but it must be admitted that Ferrari drivers have always honored all competitions, giving the best of themselves on the track. Then bad luck, sometimes, also plays its cards. But for Maranello, it’s certainly not about surrender.