Verstappen crowned champion after cruising to Suzuka win

Max Verstappen coasted to victory in a rain-curtailed 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, while a post-race penalty for Charles Leclerc meant that the Red Bull driver also succeeded in clinching his second consecutive world championship.

Leclerc crossed the line in second under intense pressure from Verstappen's Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez, only to be handed a five second penalty for going for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at the final corner.

The race had initially got underway on time before being stopped following incidents involving Carlos Sainz, Sebastian Vettel, Alex Albon, Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly which forced a safety car and then a lengthy red flag.

An investigation into why a recovery vehicle was on track before the red flag came out will be investigated by the race officials.

• 2022 Japanese Grand Prix - Race results

The big unknown heading into the Japanese Grand Prix had been what the weather would be like. We didn't have to wait long on Sunday before getting an answer, with rain starting to fall just under an hour before the scheduled start of the race. Light at first and not nearly as torrential as last week in Singapore, it was still more than enough to soak the track and leave the teams erecting back garden marquees to provide shelter for the cars once they headed out and took up their positions on the grid. A practice start at the end of pit lane for pole sitter Max Verstappen hadn't gone all that well and showed the stiff challenge that all 20 drivers would face when the lights went out.

Alongside the Red Bull on the front row of the grid was Charles Leclerc, facing possibly his last chance to keep the title championship alive. Carlos Sainz was in the second Ferrari starting from third alongside Sergio Perez, and then it was an alternating Alpine-Mercedes line-up of Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and George Russell. Given the conditions it was no surprise that everyone chose to start on the intermediates tyres. Local hero Yuki Tsunoda lined up in 13th in his first-ever home Grand Prix, while his AlphaTauri team mate Pierre Gasly was starting from pit lane after an overnight rear wing assembly change.

The heavy drizzle was persisting as the cars embarked on their formation lap, throwing up a lot of spray in their wake. It was a standing start despite the conditions, and Verstappen initially struggled to get underway allowing Leclerc to get the jump into the first corner. However the Dutch driver wasn't to be denied, and he held on to the outside line to out-brake and squeeze Leclerc as he forced his way back to the front at turn 2. Perez also managed to get ahead of Sainz, and the Ferrari then got caught out by standing water on the track and went spinning off into the barrier. "Obviously disappointed to crash the car, but the conditions were impossible with visibility and aquaplaning," Sainz told reporters afterwards. "As soon as I pulled out from behind Checo's car, I aquaplaned and was just praying for no one to hit me."

There had also been contact between Alonso and Sebastian Vettel at turn 1 after the Aston Martin dabbed a wheel onto the wet grass; a spin for Zhou Guanyu at the hairpin in the Alfa Romeo; and a hydraulic problem as a result of early contact for Alex Albon which caused the Williams to grind to a halt. With so many incidents going on at the same time, a safety car was inevitable and minutes later the yellow flags turned red as conditions deteriorated further.

The planned order for the restart saw Verstappen and Leclerc at the front followed by Perez, Ocon and Hamilton who had overcome an initial move from Alonso to hold on to fifth. Russell and Daniel Ricciardo were followed by Tsunoda in ninth and Mick Schumacher who was already up to P10. Lance Stroll had vaulted up from the back of the grid to P11 with a brilliant, fearless launch keeping tight against the pit wall. He was followed by Kevin Magnussen, while Lando Norris had dropped three places and was now in 13th followed by Valtteri Bottas and Nicholas Latifi. Vettel had also lost out and dropped to 16th after his clash with Alonso, but was still running as was Zhou.

At the back, Gasly had picked up a substantial piece of advertising hoarding dislodged by Sainz' accident. After pitting under yellow to have it removed from the front of the AT03, he tried to catch up with the rest of the cars only to encounter a recovery vehicle on the track at turn 12 which had been prematurely scrambled. It was a serious safety breach that quite understandably prompted him to yell: "Oh my god what the hell is that?" over the team radio. After the stoppage he wasted no time in taking his complaint to the race officials who 'noted' the incident for investigation after the race. It was especially alarming given that it had happened at Suzuka, the same place that Jules Bianchi had been fatally injured during the 2014 Japanese GP after spinning off and hitting a stationary safety vehicle at the side of the track. Ironically it was Gasly who received a summons to see the stewards after the race, for speeding during the ensuing red flag.

The red flag meant everyone could take a breather and change tyres, much to the annoyance of Gasly who had already pitted under the initial safety car for full wets, and now had any advantage from that gambit neutralised. Once again the awnings were out to cover the cars as they lined up on pit lane, but Hamilton's chief engineer noted that the forecast from this point on was now "pretty grim". If the race didn't resume there would be no points awarded, leaving Verstappen short of the amount needed to clinch the title this week meaning the title battle would go on to the US Grand Prix in a fortnight.

The race was due to get back underway after a 45 minute delay, but the rain picked up forcing the first attempt to be suspended two minutes before the scheduled restart time. Drivers jumped out of their cockpits again and the awnings were back for a further initial ten minute delay that ended up being put on infinite loop. McLaren even started serving up soup to the personnel on the pit wall during the delay, as they gloomily watched the puddles grow on track and veritable rivers starting to run through it. As the rain continued to fall and the clock counted down, there was growing gloom on pit lane amid the growing realisation that the race might not happen after all, Suzuka not offering the luxury of floodlights to allow for evening and night time racing like Singapore last week.

The medical and safety cars continued to make periodic reconnaissance laps as the crowd continued to shelter under umbrellas decked out in ponchos and rain coats. At least the ducks were enjoying themselves in the deep puddles and doing a commendable job of cornering - better the F1 hardware ever could in the conditions. By now the weather looked firmly set, the light levels were dropping and the track still showing only marginal signs of improving.

Just when all appeared lost, the rain eased off and the sky started to lighten up. Word came down that race control had given the go-ahead for a restart after a two hour wait, and the cars rolled off pit lane behind the safety car to allow the now-mandated full wet tyres to disperse as much standing water as possible before the cars were released and allowed to get fully up to speed. "Track's pretty good," reported Hamilton who was even suggesting it wasn't far away from inters, although visibility in the middle of the pack among all that spray remained an issue, and Verstappen pointed out that the rain was picking up again.

The safety car came in at the end of lap 5 and racing finally got back underway. There were no heroics from the leaders into turn 1, while Vettel and Nicholas Latifi chose to make an immediate pit stop for inters and ended up emerging side-by-side, with race stewards worried about a possible unsafe release. Next time by it was Bottas and Norris in for service after Latifi immediately set the fastest time, quickly making it clear that everyone would be switching tyres shortly.

Verstappen and Leclerc had tried to quickly pull away from the field to give themselves enough time to pit without coming back out into the thick of the midfield. When they did pit on lap 8, the rest of the cars piled in behind them; it turned out poorly for Russell who was held up waiting for Hamilton's service, and Russell declared that double-stacking had been "the worst decision we've made" as he resumed in 14th. Alonso stayed out one lap longer to lead the race, but then dropped to P9 when he did come in. Mick Schumacher then briefly took the top spot but verstappen was already flying; he retook the lead on lap 9. Leclerc and Perez were equally swift in dispatching the struggling Haas and Ocon was next to complete the move but Mercedes' straight-line speed deficiency meant Hamilton had more of a struggle before finally pulling off the pass for P5.

Schumacher's handling on the wets had dropped off a cliff and he finally pitted on lap 12 putting him dead last. It meant Vettel was now up to sixth followed by Alonso, Latifi, Norris and Tsunoda, with Russell in 11th followed by Stroll, Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen. But even those on inters were having problems, already complaining about overheating and high degradation on the front tyres within minutes of changing.

Verstappen was flying and soon held an eight second lap over Leclerc at the front, with Perez having dropped a similar distance behind the Ferrari. Ocon and Hamilton were running close together, as were Vettel and Alonso, while Norris was closing up on Latifi. Russell was recovering and picked off Tsunoda through the Esses on lap 15 to break into the top ten, to the dismay of the Japanese fans. "That was a nice move!" the Briton said over the team radio, in case anyone had missed it, before promptly taking care of business with Norris. After that it was time to catch and eventually pass Latifi. Hamilton meanwhile was having a significantly tougher time trying to find a way around a stubborn Ocon for fourth, failing to pull it off despite multiple lunges and near-misses.

Now losing a second a lap to Verstappen, Leclerc was asking the Ferrari pit wall how many positions he would lose if he pitted again. The answer was not good: dropping five places would allow Verstappen to clinch the title. With only 15 minutes remaining on the clock in what was now a two hour time-capped race, everyone was trying to nurse their tyres to the finish. In the end, Zhou took the gamble of pitting on lap 20 for new inters and soon set the fastest lap. While he wouldn't get the bonus point if he finished outside the top ten, it would stop it from going to either Verstappen or Leclerc.

Tsunoda tried a Hail Mary pit stop on lap 22, but for everyone else it seemed like it was now too late - until Alonso gambled at the end of lap 23. It dropped him to tenth but almost immediately he was back round Norris and then Ricciardo and Latifi, the new tyres more than proving their worth as he bore down on Russell for P7.

Verstappen had a 23s lead over Leclerc which was on the cusp of a 'free' pit stop, but Red Bull weren't tempted into a late stop and he stayed out to claim victory. Perez was hot on the tail of the Ferrari but wasn't able to pull off a pass. The pair nearly made touch out of the hairpin on the final lap before Leclerc went off at the final corner. While he rejoined fast enough to hold on to second at the line, the way he did so was inevitably placed under investigation by the race stewards. It resulted in a five second penalty dropping him to third place in the final results.

There was no doubt about the winner, with Verstappen credited with a 27s victory over Perez and Leclerc. There was initially some confusion about whether that had been enough to hand Verstappen the title, but with the race having been deemed a resumption the rules about awarding half points for a shortened race did not apply - meaning that Verstappen had indeed succeeded in taking his second world championship title with four races remaining in the season.

Further back, Ocon held on to fourth ahead of Hamilton with Vettel narrowly ahead of a charging Alonso at the line for sixth. Russell had been demoted to eighth by the Alpine, with Latifi and Norris completing the top ten ahead of Ricciardo, Stroll, Tsunoda and Magnussen. The Alfa Romeos of Bottas and Zhou left Gasly and Schumacher at the back of the field, with just two retirements from the original start of the race for Sainz and Albon.

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