Max Verstappen wins F1 title with 4 races to spare

Max Verstappen capped a elegant System One season with the same efficiency on the Japanese Grand Prix to clinch his second straight championship.

Verstappen’s win gave him a spot within the report books as securing one among F1’s most dominant championship wins.

Solely Michael Schumacher (2001 and 2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2011) have received a championship with 4 races nonetheless left to run.

Verstappen led the Suzuka race from begin to end however didn’t assume he had received the championship after taking the checkered flag.

There was confusion on the finish of the race as Verstappen didn’t assume he had received the championship.

“Yeah, it is actually a loopy feeling after all as a result of I did not count on after I crossed the road,” Verstappen stated after the race.

“You could possibly see it slowly occurring. It is unbelievable that we did win it right here.”

The confusion stemmed from what number of factors could be awarded in a race which didn’t full full distance.

F1’s guidelines state restricted factors are awarded when a race is red-flagged and can’t proceed — though the Suzuka race was red-flagged, it continued to a conclusion on monitor, which means full factors have been awarded.

Within the ultimate laps Verstappen was on his race radio asking Crimson Bull if he ought to put for brand new tyres to go for the additional level obtainable for quickest lap.

“I did not know, like, was it going to be half factors? I did not know what number of factors I used to be going to get. The hole simply wasn’t protected sufficient for an additional cease.”

Whereas Verstappen’s first title was shrouded in controversy after the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his second has seemed like an inevitability for a number of months.

Verstappen’s win was his twelfth of the season — Schumacher and Vettel maintain the joint report for many wins in a season at 13.

F1’s season concludes with races within the U.S., Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi, which means the Dutch driver has the possibility to interrupt the report.