Why make it simple when you can make it complicated? Formula 1 rules once again turned against her when Max Verstappen crowned world champion for the second time in a row at Suzuka.
For several minutes, the Dutchman himself was not sure: “Am I champion or not?” He asked again after being titled thanks to the deus ex machina of the sanction imposed on his rival Charles Leclerc (Ferrari).
This is the second time that Verstappen has had an incredible coronation, after the controversial one in 2021.
– The scale of discord –
The confusion was born this time from a perversity of the regulations concerning the points system in the event of a suspended race.
This rule was changed after the 2021 Belgian GP farce. Half points had been awarded to Verstappen for this “race” when only two laps had been completed behind the safety car, in the deluge.
It now takes at least two laps without a safety car to award points. Then, the longer the distance covered, the more the scale of points increases: with thresholds of 25%, 50% and 75% of the distance initially planned (as soon as this last threshold is crossed, the normal scale applies).
On Sunday, only 28 of 53 laps, or almost 53% of the planned distance, were completed. All the points rewarding the winner were however awarded, which allowed Verstappen to be titled.
Why? Because the regulations speak of a “suspended” race which “cannot be resumed”, but the Japanese race was able to resume… The devil is in the details.
“The plan was to win, but once I crossed the line, I didn’t know if it was full points, half points or 75% points or whatever,” said swept Verstappen who found the situation “funny”.
The teams themselves believed that the applicable scale would be that of 50% of the race which offered 19 points to the winner and not 25, which would have delayed the coronation of Verstappen.
Mattia Binotto, Ferrari team principal, said he was “baffled”. Same thing with his Red Bull counterpart, Christian Horner, even if he was “wonderfully surprised”.
Horner himself admitted it: the way the rule was changed after Spa is “a mistake” because “the problem has not been solved”. The FIA and F1 will still have to get back to it.
– “Differences in behavior” –
Not to mention the fact that the pilots did not know whether or not it was the last lap on the track – the race must end a maximum of three hours after the first start, so the time was decisive and no longer the number of laps. . Another point of confusion concerned the sanction imposed on Leclerc…
The Monegasque was penalized five seconds for cutting a corner and ‘gaining an advantage’ against Sergio Perez, who was chasing him. The Ferrari driver lost his 2nd place and his demotion to 3rd crowned Verstappen.
Binotto said he was “very surprised” and “very disappointed” by the penalty and the way it was announced, just minutes after the race.
“Seven days after Singapore, when there it took so many laps to decide (on a sanction against Perez, editor’s note), and even after the race they listened to the drivers to make a decision, whereas today (Sunday) they took it in seconds,” he said. “I’m surprised that we had such a difference in behavior.”
The whole circus of Suzuka is of course reminiscent of that of Abu Dhabi 2021.
After an intense season-long duel between Verstappen and Hamilton, the title was decided on the very last lap after, again, an intervention by the race director.
Without applying the regulations to the letter this time, the race director at the time Michael Masi, since dismissed by the FIA, had restarted the race then neutralized behind the safety car. Hamilton, in the lead, had not changed his tires. Verstappen yes, and had doubled it to finally be crowned.
