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Verstappen snatches the second title aboard Red Bull. Frenchman's anger at risks posed by recovery aids, eight years after Jules Bianchi tragedy.
On October 9, at the 36th Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, Max Verstappen won his second consecutive world title aboard Red Bull. Returning to give these emotions to the Japanese circuit, whose main sponsor is Honda, which however is no longer the official supplier of Chris Horner's single-seater cars.
A World Championship will be entered as the second in the Palmares of the young Dutchman if the federation does not accept the protests related to exceeding the budget limit and does not cancel the championship won in 2021. The classification of the race speaks of the bracket of Red Bull, with a very Leclerc, I fought despite the fact that the car was not up to the task, ex officio relegated to third place after deserving second until the last kilometer.
Leclerc's missed opportunity
But a mistake in his "cutting" of the chicane in the final stage, in full view of everyone, with no possibility of appeal, put all his strength into the ether. Perhaps it was a matter of pride, perhaps a matter of mathematics. Even a little bit for sponsors, for the morale of the team, and for the television audience.
But to resist a mathematically almost inevitable victory would have been good for Leclerc: in short, he had the opportunity to postpone the Dutch party until next week. But no: everything went well for Verstappen, and this confirms the statistics that many Honda workers trusts, soon to be updated. In their country, in fact, 13 Formula 1 World Championships have been hosted until today, of which 11 are in Suzuka and 2 in Fuji. Thus the Dutchman was able to put his name on the list of some of the giants of all time who won their title in Japan: before him Hunt, Piquet, Prost, Senna, Hill, Schumacher and Vettel. We hope that everyone had time to place a bet with the Single Bet Strategy.
Speaking of the German, both share another statistical coincidence: both managed to win a second seal at this circuit, and, as you know, in both cases aboard a Red Bull. On Friday, he arrived in the pits with a hachimaki bandana in perfect samurai style. style. And on that occasion, he said that in the future he would consider a "one-off" return to racing, in Japan only, if offered a seat. On the other hand, few have had as much fun as he has on this track: Vettel in Suzuka actually got five pole positions and four victories. Better than he is only Hamilton on five and Schumacher on six. And there is a huge void behind: few others, only Alonso among the active drivers, actually achieved two.
A love that was born over a long time, not only for the results but also for how iconic it is in the sport: he fell in love with the design of the curves, especially the first sector of the electroplating and the figure eight that allows you to alternate the distance from clockwise to counterclockwise. But also for the galvanic atmosphere, which is comparable to a few other historic plants.
Vettel's intuition and Perez's prudence
And then: in the race, Vettel was able to finish in sixth place after an intellectual game, with a particular stroke of genius. His intuition in the early stages of eliminating full wet runs allowed him to gain an early advantage over many rivals and exploit it, which made him finish the short but difficult race with honor. With 29 laps interrupted by a very long break, primarily due to Carlos Sainz's crash in the early stages, there was still a race with improving weather that rewarded the two Red Bulls who were able to get a good start and cope with the shortened day without much worry.
Perez earned a loaf very well without taking any risks: returning to the lucky penalty of Leclerc, who was demoted after arriving in third place not without a few crooked mouths, it was his real luck. Because, in retrospect, he never made a convincing or dangerous attack on his opponent until the last lap. One of his mistakes, which ultimately led to the crash, would have compromised his most important personal goal: to take second place not only in the finish but also in the world ranking for the rival of the year in the red. Thus, Perez, trailing the new world champion by 113 points, now found himself with a point in front of Leclerc in the standings.
At the same time, due to the zero points of the Iberian Ferrari, the eighth place of Russell's Mercedes was enough to move ahead of Sainz in fourth place with a gap of five points. In short, a "double slap in the face" for Ferrari, which, in general, it could not have been hoped for, given how long Leclerc was at the mercy of worn tires. Towards the end, he was also seen to be wasting time and ground in search of the wetter sections of the straight. So, if, tired, exhausted, he had carved out an escape space and re-entered without damage, he could also be forgiven: of course, in a normal turn, it would have taken him longer to get back on track and thus he would have lost his position naturally, without sanction.
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Gasly's anger at tractors on the track
The direction of the race is still questionable. There is an episode not particularly uplifted by the international direction that deserves reconstruction and analysis. Heavy rain caused several crashes on Suzuka's first lap, including Carlos Sainz's crash at the hairpin exit. Before the long break, Gasly was the last rider to return to red flag mode and was seen arguing with his teammate in the garage about it, and then he also spoke into the microphones after the race. The AlphaTauri footage shows Gasly driving past a tractor to pick up Sainz's car.
Gasly was late to the pits despite the red flag. But this is no excuse: if there were still cars on the track, this should have been taken into account before sending the recovery vehicles. As a French colleague, he could not help but be outraged by the unnecessary risk and shouted on the radio that "this is unacceptable. We must remember what happened". Moreover, if Jules eight years ago crashed into a crane that was going to take Sutil's car off the track, this time Gasly found himself in a heavy car right on the asphalt strip. Despite the fact that he was moving slower than usual, the situation was actually quite paradoxical from a safety point of view.
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