Due to the massive rain delays the race felt more like a sprint rather than an actual full event, but even though it was short, it was certainly unforgettable. Some if it for the right reasons, other parts of it for the wrong ones. Want to know more? Then certainly check out the report cards for the 18th round of the championship to see who ranked top of the class and who landed themselves on the struggle bus.
Top of the class:
Max Verstappen: Qualifying – 1st | Race: 1st
There might have been some confusion at first (more on that later) but Max Verstappen won his second World Championship in Japan, which is definitely worth the title of top of the class.
In what ended up being a pretty short race, mainly thanks to the weather conditions and the maximum window of three hours in which a race needs to be driven, the Dutchman sealed the deal.
He had a bit of a slow getaway, which allowed for Charles Leclerc to line up beside him – but in a rather ballsy move Verstappen waited with braking for T1 until the very last second, allowing him to regain the lead. From then on, he simply did not look back. Extending his lead to over 27 seconds.
Still, due to the confusion after the race, it was quite a lacklustre celebration of his second WDC; no ecstatic board radio, no exorbitant celebration with his team and no tears of joy being shed on the podium. Perhaps he’ll be able to close out the season that way, with the fireworks eliciting some of those emotions and rituals.
Sebastian Vettel – Qualifying: 9th | Race: 6th
Whilst Seb himself is convinced that nobody will remember him once he’s retired, the Japanese fans were all too keen to show him that he’s most definitely loved and will be missed. He repaid this exuberant display of love with a stellar performance at Suzuka.
Admittedly, after a good qualifying he had a bit of an off start – but the German then settled with his team on an aggressive strategy, being the first to pit for intermediates, which most definitely was the faster tyre to be on. That overspeed pushed him into the points whilst the rest had to pit. From then on, all he had to do was to keep Alonso behind. Only, that sounds easier than it was in actuality, considering Alonso finished only 0.011 seconds behind.
Alpine:
Esteban Ocon – Qualifying: 5th | Race: 4th
Fernando Alonso – Qualifying: 7th | Race: 7th
From the lowest lows to the highest highs. After a double DNF in Singapore, Alpine returned in full force, raking in points on both sides of the garage. Ocon earned the French team’s best result of the season thus far by finishing fourth, and whilst Alonso was most likely a little miffed that he missed out on sixth by only a hair’s breadth, the result is definitely an improvement on getting DNFs in the previous two outings.
Then for honourable mentions…
The first honourable mention of the day goes to Checo. Whilst Max was most definitely going to get the title sooner or later, it was Checo who sped up the process by forcing Leclerc into a mistake in
the closing stages of the race. Add to that a second-place trophy after a somewhat frustrating qualifying, and the Mexican can most definitely be proud of his results this weekend.
The second honourable mention goes to Nicholas Latifi. He was the second one to gamble on the intermediate tyres, pitting the same lap as Vettel did. Considering he had to start 20th (with technically a 5-place penalty as well), he had nothing to lose, and he drove like it as well. Which means Latifi took ninth and earned his first points of the season.
The struggle bus:
This time around, it didn’t feel right to put any drivers or teams on the struggle bus. Not because nobody made mistakes, because mistakes were most definitely made, but mainly because there are things which transpired before, during and after the race which are more deserving of being called out. Too many things went wrong on the organisational side of things this weekend.
Whilst under red flag procedures, multiple drivers came across marshals and vehicles on track, putting both the drivers and the marshals at risk. That this happened is extra painful considering Jules Bianchi lost his life under very similar circumstances at the same track in 2014. A number of drivers were very angry and upset by the matter at hand, and rightfully so. Especially infuriating was that an attempt was made to shift the blame on Pierre. Should he have been speeding under red flag conditions? Most definitely not, but one mistake does not cancel out another, and the recovery vehicles and marshals shouldn’t have been out on track to begin with. Also important to note; it wasn’t just Pierre who was confronted with them.
Then there was the huge delay until the restart. Whilst it most definitely is not desirable to start a race when it’s pouring down, there are wet tyres for a reason. The fact that they could be swapped out so quickly indicates that they could probably have restarted the race a little earlier. Either that, or it’s time for Pirelli to outwardly admit that their wet compound really isn’t up to par. Though it is hard to see how this can be improved when F1 is chasing optimum speed and downforce, which ultimately does have its drawbacks as the wet running highlighted with the spray.
Then last but not least is the way the Championship winner was announced after the race was adjudged full points despite just 28 laps being completed. All the talk of reduced points, brought in after the Spa fiasco in 2021, was redundant as the race clock was completed rather than being called off early.
Unnecessary confusion was created during the interviews and in the cool-down room, and it’s a shame that Max Verstappen didn’t get a chance to celebrate properly. As mentioned earlier; there was no ecstatic board radio, no celebration with his team and no tears of joy being shed on the podium. Which really is a shame for us fans to miss out on. Max will be delighted to win the championship either way, and with how dominant he was thus far it certainly is well-deserved, but especially after the tense ending last year, the Dutchman deserved to celebrate a championship win without concern.
The championship has been decided, but that doesn’t mean that the remaining races of the calendar aren’t worth watching. Especially the United States GP promises to be a spectacle, and with it being one of Daniel’s favourite races his smile will most likely be out full force. Be sure to tune in for the race at the Circuit of the Americas at 8pm on the 23rd of October to catch it!