Max Verstappen is the 2022 F1 world champion. But there are also other things to think about after the race.
To become the world champion in F1 it is not enough to win races. You should also know the entire rulebook. But who does that?
The Japanese Grand Prix was insanely baffling for anyone who follows the sport and after another strange toilet decision, it looked like we only knew one thing.
That Max Verstappen barely won his last WC title.
Chaos, chaos and complete confusion. Few other words could hardly sum up this year’s World Cup winner in Formula 1. Max Verstappen had no idea he would win the World Cup. His team didn’t understand it either, F1 said nothing and millions of fans looked like question marks. It took nearly twenty minutes before former world champion Jenson Button was sent to the podium to announce to Max Verstappen and the entire Formula One world that he had won his second World Championship.
Nobody understands anything. Verstappen least of all as his team was convinced there was a missing point before the title was completed.
Talk about Intellimax.
Max Verstappen is F1 World Champion 2022
The reason for the confusion was twofold. In part, Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez forced Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc into a foul, which resulted in the Ferrari driver receiving a penalty and losing second place. In part, the FIM decided it would award full points even though competitors did not complete 75 percent of the race distance. There seems to be a rule that if a race is restarted after a red flag appears and can be pushed to the end, full points are awarded. This is regardless of the number of laps that have been pushed.
I have no idea about this rule. Not the drivers, nor the teams, nor anyone else.
Looking back at the season, Verstappen and Red Bull are very worthy champions. The team that won the title last year after a controversial decision and a dramatic final have dominated this very difficult season. The change made before the premiere was the biggest in the sport’s history and everyone agreed that some or some teams would make mistakes in their attempts to use the rules in the best possible way.
But no one expected that it would be teams like Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari that would disappear.
Ferrari crashes when Red Bull accelerates
Sure, Ferrari started the season on top, but as each weekend of racing passed, more and more of the concept was lost. If it wasn’t a noisy engine, it was strategic errors, questionable stops, or driver errors. McLaren had been running cautiously since March while Mercedes, who had dominated for eight seasons, had a bouncy car that completely lacked top speed.
But Red Bull, together with star designer Adrian Newey, were able to solve the problems with the car that suffered early last spring. The stable made the right updates at the right time, tactfully trained his driver and made well-thought-out decisions. Starting with the weekend sprint race at Imola, Red Bull has put in a brilliant level almost every weekend. Time and again the team has fitted Verstappen with daring, clever strategies, combined with near-perfect stops, displaying the composure that few 25-year-olds are blessed with.
Since the race weekend at home in Austria on the first weekend in July, Red Bull has won all eight races. Most of the victories are attributed to Verstappen. He won from the first starting line, from places significantly further out on the field and despite penalties.
It felt unbeatable, but its superiority is clear evidence of a stable where every gear operates. Formula 1 is a team effort, with a driver rarely achieving better results than the team behind them.
Tell Max Verstappen: You are the 2022 F1 World Champion
For now, it looks as if a combination of the engine manufacturer and a stable driver has laid the groundwork for Red Bull and Verstappen for another World Cup battle next year. The following year until Max Verstappen’s contract expires in 2028.
But it’s rarely that simple in F1.
Rivals never rest and on Monday a decision from the FIA is expected which could change conditions dramatically. Information is then provided on how the stable handled last year’s budget cap and there are suspicions that Red Bull and Aston Martin were not putting their numbers in order. Whether this is true and what it would mean in such a situation cannot be answered yet.
The size of the penalty is unknown, which means it is only possible to speculate whether it is about points deduction, heavy fines, deductions from the time teams are allowed to spend in the wind tunnel or economically ineligible. Manufacturers Championship.
So the confusion remains. During the day conditions may change again – or not.
The only thing we know now is that it is unlikely that Max Verstappen won his last World Cup title in F1.
short news
Pierre Gasly was penalized with a 20-second time extension and two penalty points on his driver’s license for speeding under a red flag. It is a penalty that drivers do not understand at all. They don’t understand why a vehicle, crane or tractor was on the right track when visibility was very poor and cars were still traveling over 200 km/h.
In 2014, a similar situation occurred, when Jules Bianchi drove very fast under double yellow flags at Suzuka. He slipped into the water and hit a bulldozer. The Frenchman died of his injuries in the summer of 2015.
– It’s been eight years since we had a tragic accident here. Jules died of his injuries. I don’t understand how something like this could happen again, says Sebastian Vettel to Sky.
– The race is obviously neutralized by the safety car or the red flag, but in the conditions that prevailed at the time, a rescue vehicle is not allowed to drive on the track while we are still there. This needs proper analysis. It must not happen again. Today we were just lucky.
💔# F1 # sports #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/xM4dJu4mWw
– Autosport October 9, 2022
There was a lot of confusion after the finish line, look behind the scenes.
“Am I a hero or not?”pic.twitter.com/RD2BQ7XMfg
– effe1 (@istoeffe1) October 9, 2022
Japanese Grand Prix results can be found here.
See you during the week on the blog and on the podcast that comes on Wednesday, just as usual.