Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix had been red flagged for two hours due to heavy rain, but had then resumed before it eventually ran up against the three-hour maximum time limit in which a race can take place. Where is Verstappen's championship trophy?īut on closer inspection of the wording of the sporting regulations, it became clear that the awarding of scaled-down points only comes into play if a shortened race "cannot be resumed" after it has stopped.That would only give him a seven point advantage over nearest his rival Charles Leclerc, who had been demoted to third by a post-race penalty, and he needed eight to make his second title a mathematical certainty. Along with pretty much everyone else, Verstappen believed he would be awarded a reduced points score of 19 for the victory in Suzuka because the race had run to just 28 of the planned 53 laps. Then his own Red Bull engineers, who are among the sharpest minds in the sport, advised him he was still one point short, meaning he'd have to finish tenth or higher at the next round in Austin to clinch it there.īut the initial calculations by Red Bull (and the vast majority of the paddock) had not taken into account the exact wording of Article 6.5 of the FIA Sporting Regulations.
He'd been told he'd won this year's title shortly after getting out of his car and completing his first post-race interview, but he didn't quite believe it. SUZUKA, Japan - It wasn't until Max Verstappen was about to walk onto the podium that he knew for certain he was a double world champion.
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