Max Verstappen secures his second-straight F1 championship with a win in the Japanese Grand Prix

A chaotic first lap set the tone for a decisive Japanese Grand Prix, and in the end Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won not just the race, but his second-straight Formula 1 world title.

It took a little longer than the race itself, however, for that to be official.

Returning to Suzaka for the first time since COVID, the Japanese Grand Prix began under wet and rainy conditions, with Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc — Verstappen’s main competition for the championship — dueling off the start for the lead. Leclerc appeared to have the better start between the two drivers, but Verstappen was able to maintain his speed on the outside of the turn, solidifying his lead coming out of Turn 2.

Shortly thereafter a pair of incidents illuminated the tricky race conditions. First Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel came into contact with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, forcing Vettel — participating in his final Japanese Grand Prix before his retirement at the end of the season — to make a quick recovery through the gravel before returning to the track.

Then Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz lost control of his car while working through Turn 11, spinning into the barriers and ending his day: “Basically, by the time we started the race we were on inters but the track was nearly into extreme conditions. I had no visibility, so I tried to get out of Checo’s [Sergio Perez’s] slipstream, or Checo’s water curtain, and suddenly I found myself in a puddle and had aquaplaning and lost the car.”

The red flag came out, bringing the race to a halt, as the rain began to intensify and standing water began to pool at various spots along the track. The drivers pulled into pit lane and exited their race cars, finding shelter under umbrellas as they — like the thousands of fans in the stands — waited for the weather to clear and did their best to stay dry.

The delay appeared to be short-lived, as race officials soon gave a ten-minute warning to the drives and teams that they would return to racing. But the restart was suspended before it began:

In the interim, the fans at Suzaka did their best to stay dry:

While the drivers, like McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, did their best to stay in the zone:

Eventually, the race resumed under a rolling start, with all teams relying on their grooved, wet tires. Now time was a factor. When the Japanese Grand Prix restarted, it was 4:15 local time, over three hours after the race began, and under F1 timing regulations there would be just around 40 minutes of race time.

Verstappen quickly built a lead over Leclerc as the race resumed, and then as the track started to dry out, all the teams made the call to come into the pits and change from the full wet tires to their intermediate tires. After making the switch, Verstappen’s dominance was on full display, as the Red Bull driver built a lead of around 20 seconds, pulling away from the field.

Down the stretch, the main drama played out behind him. With a win and the fastest lap, Verstappen would secure his second-straight F1 world championship regardless of where Leclerc placed in Japan. But with other drivers having posted faster lap times, despite Verstappen’s lead in the race, the Red Bull driver needed Leclerc to finish no better than third to secure the title.

In his rear-view mirror, a battle was playing out between Leclerc and Sergio Pérez, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, for second place. A battle that would not be decided until after the race:

Leclerc would reach the finish line ahead of Pérez, but after the race the Ferrari driver was handed a five-point penalty for cutting off the track. The penalty dropped him into third place, clinching the championship for Verstappen.

The announcement of the penalty touched off the celebration down on pit lane:

The world champion took to social media shortly after the celebrations to thank his fans, referencing the slow start to the season:

The F1 schedule has four events remaining, and with Verstappen clinching the title at this point in the season, he ties Michael Schumacher and Vettel for the third-fastest championship in F1 history. Schumacher clinched two of his titles with four races remaining, first back in 2001 and then again in 2004. Vettel secured the title with four races remaining during the 2011 season, which was the second of his four-straight championships.

Nigel Mansell has the second-fastest title in F1 history, set back in 1992 when he clinched the championship with five races remaining. Schumacher himself has the fastest title in F1 history, when he won the championship in 2002 with six races remaining.

Perhaps Verstappen will set his sights on that record during the 2023 season.