Dylan Bettencourt
Max Verstappen was crowned Formula 1 champion after claiming victory at a dramatic Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Dutch driver won his second consecutive world championship after only the race at the Suzuka circuit was reduced to 40 minutes after torrential rain delayed the start.
Verstappen was crowned champion after Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty for track infringements after the race.
Verstappen was no doubt delighted with the result as he didn’t know how the scoring would work because of the shortened race.
“I didn’t know if I was going to get half-points for the win. I was happy with our race,” Verstappen said after the race.
A return to the Japanese Grand Prix was joyous until it was marred by a grisly incident on Sunday which could have cost the life of Pierre Gasly. A maintenance vehicle was on the track while Gasly was finishing a slowdown lap under red flag conditions and could have resulted in disaster.
However, it was under those red flag conditions where a near tragic event took place: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz crashed out and his car needed to be removed from the track.
But in a complete disregard for safety, the tractor tasked with removing the Ferrari car came onto the track while cars were still making their way back to the pits.
With visibility reduced to a matter of metres, drivers could not be blamed for not seeing the vehicle in front of them, let alone an extraction vehicle on the side of the track.
Alpha Tauri driver Gasly was making his way back, faster than he should have been, when he suddenly saw the tractor and came incredibly close to colliding with it.
A visibly angry Gasly marched around his garage trying to get an explanation as to why his life was put in danger.
The tractor would have had more than enough time to remove the Ferrari car once all the drivers were back in the pit lane.
When the race eventually got underway, the fans who spent hours in the torrential rain were treated to 40 minutes of racing.
Image source: @ESPNF1
