After a three-year break caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Formula 1 was finally back at Suzuka, Japan.
Grid girls pose for photographs during the qualifying of F1 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit on October 19, 1990 in Suzuka, Mie, Japan. Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images.
12 October 1997: Formula One glamour girls at the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit in Suzuka, Japan. Credit: Clive Mason / Allsport.
11 times the Japanese GP has seen the drivers' world championship to be secured and tomorrow's GP may well be the 12th time in F1's history.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, rides a bicycle on track during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 06, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images.
Max Verstappen will secure his second title in any case, if he wins the race and takes the fastest lap time under his belt.
Carlos Sainz at Suzuka in 2022. Photo by Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc during free practice at Suzuka in 2022. Photo by Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc during free practice at Suzuka in 2022. Photo by Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz during free practice at Suzuka in 2022. Photo by Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz during free practice at Suzuka in 2022. Photo by Ferrari.
Valtteri Bottas driving the (77) Alfa Romeo F1 C42 Ferrari on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 07, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Clive Rose / Getty Images.
On Friday it was pouring with rain in both free practice sessions, so teams didn't have very much data when heading to the qualifying, which took place in dry conditions.
Carlos Sainz with a fan. Photo by Ferrari.
The Red Bulls and the Ferraris were very evenly matched in terms of pace, whilst especially AlphaTauri were in big trouble. Gasly was knocked out in Q1 already, the Frenchman having suffered with glazing brakes. Home hero Tsunoda managed to make it through to Q2, but similar brake issues ended his qualifying in the second segment. The most positive surprise in Q2 was Aston Martin's Vettel, who made it among the top ten.
Photo by Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc during the qualifying. Photo by Ferrari.
The first runs in Q3 saw Verstappen jumping on the top by a two-tenth gap to Charles. Only a moment later there was a dangerous situation, where McLaren's Norris almost hit Verstappen, who did a bizarre sudden move to the left, which forced Lando to go on the grass to avoid hitting the Red Bull pilot. The stewards took this situation into investigation. It was a pleasure to see Vettel 6th after his first run. Unfortunately the German had no fresh tyres left for the second run but anyway, this was the best qualifying for the four-time world champion in ages.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz after the qualifying. Photo by Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz pose for a photo after qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 08, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Mario Renzi / Formula 1 via Getty Images.
Charles put all in for his last attempt, but it didn't prove quite enough to rob Verstappen of pole position. It was extremely tight however, as Charles was a hundredth of a second shy of Verstappen's lap time, and Carlos in third was 57 thousandths down on the pole-setter. Verstappen ended up wide on his final flyer, and a small piece of carbon fibre came off from the rear of his RB18, so no improvement for the reigning world champion in the end. Perez qualified fourth in the sister Red Bull, and Alpine's Ocon claimed 5th place, with Hamilton 6th and Alonso 7th in the sister Alpine. Russell was 8th, Vettel finally 9th and Norris 10th.
A drummer performs prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Clive Mason / Getty Images.
Fernando Alonso of Spain and Alpine F1 and Carlos Sainz of Spain and Ferrari look on from the drivers’ parade prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Clive Rose / Getty Images.
A Ferrari fan shows his support prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images.
Heavy rain had started an hour before the start. In spite of increasing amount of water on track, the race was started according to the planned timetable. All teams opted for the intermediates, as they were faster and longer lasting than the full wets.
The starting of the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB18 and Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari F1-75 battle for track position on lap one during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Clive Rose / Getty Images.
Sergio Perez of Mexico driving the (11) Red Bull Racing RB18 chases Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Ferrari F1-75 and Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Red Bull Racing RB18 on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images.
The opening lap was a chaos. Charles in P2 got a better acceleration than Verstappen on pole, but in spite of tricky conditions Max left the braking into Turn 1 as late as he dared and took the lead. Teammate Perez took an impressive start from P4 and made his way past Carlos, claiming P3.
Behind the top five there were a lot of things happening. Aston Martin's Vettel took a superb start, and the German was challenging Alonso when accelerating into Turn 1. However, in the water spray caused by the cars, Vettel made contact with Alonso, which caused the German to spin. Vettel lost 7 positions right away, dropping from P9 down to frustrating P16.
Carlos Sainz. Photo by Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz. Photo by Ferrari.
Visibility was extremely poor, and to see something Carlos turned his car away from the water spray raised by Perez's RB18. To the Spaniard's unfortune, there happened to be a paddle, which made Carlos aquaplaning. Carlos span and ended up into the wall with both rear and front wing wrecked. Safety car was deployed, and only a moment later the race was red-flagged.
As the red flags were out already, there was a massively dangerous situation. AlphaTauri's Gasly had pitted for a new nose cone and was massively down on the pack. A crane had been brought on track already to remove Carlos' wrecked Ferrari. The recovery vehicle was very near the racing line, when Gasly passed the crash scene and the Frenchman's visibility was almost zero. Luckily nothing happened, but this situation reminded frighteningly much of the tragic accident of Jules Bianchi at this very same track eight years ago! Gasly was shaken and absolutely furious when he drove back into the pits.
Max Verstappen and Kelly Piquet pose for a photo during a red flag delay during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Peter Fox / Getty Images.
Max Verstappen talks with Kelly Piquet in the garage during a red flag delay during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Mario Renzi / Formula 1 via Getty Images.
At the time of the suspension the top ten were Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez, Ocon, Hamilton, Alonso, Russell, Ricciardo, Tsunoda and Schumacher. After an over two-hour suspension the race was finally resumed behind the safety car. It was still raining, but the intensity of the rain had slightly decreased. All drivers were forced to make the restart on the full-wets.
The rolling start took place with 40 minutes in the clock. Backmarkers Vettel and Latifi reacted immediately and pitted for the intermediates, which turned out a genius move. One by one everyone pitted for the green-walled longer lasting rubber. Vettel was now 7th and Latifi 9th.
Verstappen in the lead was utterly unstoppable, and the flying Dutchman soon disappeared into the horizon.
Charles Leclerc. Photo by Ferrari
Charles, on the other hand, suffered from tyre degradation, which enabled Perez to decrease the gap to the Monegasque. Meanwhile, Hamilton was putting immense pressure on Ocon to challenge the Frenchman for P4, but Ocon made no mistakes.
With three minutes in the clock, Perez was right at Charles' tail, lurking for a chance to overtake. At the last chicane on the final lap Charles made a mistake and cut the chicane. He drove to the chequered flag ahead of Perez, but the stewards took the situation into investigation right away. The verdict was undisputed; Charles had got an advantage when cutting the corner, so the Ferrari ace was given a 5-second time penalty. This dropped him behind Perez in the final results. Ocon did finish 4th ahead of Hamilton, with Vettel stunning 6th and Alonso 7th. Russell, who had offered some showy overtaking moves, finished 8th ahead of Williams' Latifi, who scored his first points of the season.
Charles Leclerc at the end of the race. Photo by Ferrari.
The podium of the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix. Photo by Mark Peterson ATP Images / Getty Images.
Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Peter Fox / Getty Images.
Race winner and 2022 F1 World Drivers Champion Max Verstappen celebrates on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Mario Renzi / Formula 1 via Getty Images.
Race winner and 2022 F1 World Drivers Champion Max Verstappen celebrates on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Clive Mason / Getty Images.
Race winner and 2022 F1 World Drivers Champion Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Red Bull Racing and second placed Sergio Perez of Mexico and Red Bull Racing celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Mark Thompson / Getty Images.
Race winner and 2022 F1 World Drivers Champion Max Verstappen and third placed Charles Leclerc celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Clive Mason / Getty Images.
After the race everyone seemed to be unaware, whether full points had been applied to the race. As soon as full points had been confirmed, Max Verstappen was declared as the 2022 world champion. He has now taken 12 victories under his belt this season, and there are four more races to go. The victory record of 13 victories in a season held by both Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel, might well be broken by Max Verstappen at the end of the season.
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Red Bull Racing RB18 won the title of World Champion at the end of the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Circuit on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by David Mareuil / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.
Max Verstappen 2022 F1 World Champion.
Race winner and 2022 F1 World Drivers Champion Max Verstappen celebrates with his team after the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images.
Max Verstappen celebrates with Kelly Piquet and his trophy after the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Mark Thompson / Getty Images.
Max Verstappen celebrates with Kelly Piquet and his trophy after the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. Photo by Mark Thompson / Getty Images.
Although Verstappen has clinched the world title already, there's still a hot battle for the second place between Charles and Perez. Finishing the runner-up today, Perez moved one point ahead of Charles in the championship standings. Both drivers desperately want to secure the second place, as there's a significant financial advantage for the second place.
Four more races to go! Onwards to the USA in a fortnight! Forza Ferrari!
With passion for racing red,
Iina Huhmarniemi
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