Suzuka, Japan – When the Japanese Grand Prix returns to Suzuka this weekend after a three-year absence due to Covid, Red Bull’s Dutch ace Max Verstappen will have another opportunity to earn his second consecutive world title.
The runaway leader was unable to capture the championship at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix due to rain, but he will do so in Japan if he wins and Charles Leclerc finishes lower than second.
After Sunday’s race, Verstappen must expand his lead to 112 points over the rest of the field in order to win the title. He now leads by 104 points.
If Verstappen gains eight points on Leclerc and six on teammate Sergio Perez, who won in Singapore, he will be the third driver after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel to win the championship with four races remaining.
Twelve Formula One world champions have been crowned at the Japanese Grand Prix, so history appears to be on the side of the 25-year-old.
“This is not where we want to be, but we go on to Japan,” Verstappen said after his five-race winning streak came to an end with a seventh-place result in a wet-dry race in Singapore.
Verstappen has never won in Japan and will need to rebound from a disappointing night race in Singapore, in which he finished seventh after starting ninth on the grid.
A qualifying fueling error left him fuming and gave him too much work to do on the tight Marina Bay street circuit, where passing was exceedingly difficult.
This will be less of an issue at Suzuka, which features sweeping curves and dramatic elevation changes.
After a severe rainstorm delayed the start of the Singapore Grand Prix by more than an hour, the race could be another wet one, according to weather forecasts.
Due to the epidemic, the Japanese Grand Prix has not been contested since 2019, when Valtteri Bottas triumphed in a Mercedes. It will certainly take more than rain to dampen the enthusiasm of spectators and drivers.
– Budget brouhaha –
The governing body FIA’s probe into 2021 team expenditures will cast a shadow over the event in Japan.
At the Singapore Grand Prix, other teams claimed that Red Bull and Aston Martin had spent more beyond the $145 million cost cap that was set to make racing more competitive last season.
Christian Horner, the chief executive officer of Red Bull, denounced the allegations as “false” and threatened legal action, while the FIA stated that they were “unsubstantiated” because they had yet to complete their investigation.
Wednesday evening, the FIA will announce their findings in a report.
Should a team exceed the cost cap, a variety of punishments are available, ranging from fines for “small” breaches to points reductions and elimination from the tournament for “major” violations.
If Red Bull is judged to have violated the rules, it will cast a further shade over Verstappen’s maiden world championship, which he won in dubious circumstances at the last race of 2021 in Abu Dhabi.
It is a matter of when, not if, the dominant Dutchman, who has won 11 of 17 races this year, will be crowned champion once more.
If Verstappen wins in Japan and earns the extra point for the fastest lap, he will secure the title regardless of where Leclerc finishes.
Even if he does not win Sunday’s race, he can still win the championship. However, if he finishes outside the top six, the race will continue to the United States Grand Prix in Austin in two weeks.
AFP