Verstappen second world title after superior victory in rainy Japanese Grand Prix

After one lap, red flags were waved as it was too dangerous to drive. Verstappen, starting from pole position, is then the first, because he narrowly resisted Leclerc’s Ferrari in the first corners. Then several pilots slid off the track. For Carlos Sainz, who ended up in the tire pile, it was the end of the race.

Meanwhile, it started to rain harder and harder and the game was suspended for two hours. As a race must be reported no later than three hours after the start, it was still possible to drive for forty minutes. Verstappen didn’t run into any problems on the rolling restart and quickly ran out of Leclerc. The defending champion took a beat a lap over the rest in difficult circumstances. Behind him, his teammate Sergio Pérez rolled up to Leclerc and found himself in front of him after a penalty for the Monegasque. As a result, the Mexican now also replaces Leclerc in second place in the World Cup standings.

With the world title in his pocket, Verstappen still has four matches to play, namely the United States (October 23), followed by Brazil, Mexico and Abu Dhabi.