© Getty ImagesTop Five Moments From SuzukaOur favourite things from Japan (apart from the obvious)!
Well,whatareturntoJapanwewitnessed–itwasfantasticalbeitwithsomedramaandquitealotofrainthrownin.
Here we pick out our favourite moments from what was a welcome return to the Japanese Grand Prix. These are our top picks, not including Max winning his second Drivers’ Championship – they’ll be plenty of time for that in the coming days!
Max’sFifthPolePositionOftheSeason
On the Saturday Max took his fifth pole position of the season and his first in Japan in an exciting Q3. Max went out early and his first flyer on fresh red-rimmed soft tyres set a time of 1:29.304.
It turned out to just be enough for him to take the top spot. He out qualified Charles Leclerc by only 0.01s – the closest qualifying finish of the season – which meant if they were on track together, Max would’ve been just 0.75m in front.
The Most Important Pole Of The Season© Getty Images
MaxHoldingHisNerveAtTheStart
Although race was only two laps old before the red flags were waved causing a halt to the proceedings, but there had been plenty of excitement at the front. At lights out Leclerc got the better start and was ahead of Max, but on the wet track the Dutchman took the outside line – reminiscent of his karting days – Max held his nerve and was able to get his nose ahead of Charles and by the end of turn two was pulling away from the Ferrari driver.
Holding Our Breath Into Turn One© Getty Images
With the race delayed due to torrential rain, there was only 40 minutes left on the clock when the cars left the pitlane for a rolling start to get the Japanese Grand Prix underway. Enough time for just 28 racing laps. Max started in P1, Charles Leclerc in second and Checo in third. Such was Max’s dominance at Suzuka, that in those 28 laps he managed to pull out a huge lead of more than 27 seconds, longer than the length of a pit stop.
Max In A League Of His Own© Getty Images
ChecoIsWorthHisWeightInGold
Checo had a fantastic drive in the wet. After he pitted for intermediates, he was in P3 behind Max and Charles, at one point he was eight seconds behind the Ferrari driver. However, he soon started catching the Monégasque driver and those seconds started to ebbaway. Checo was flying and as Leclerc appeared in front of him he asked his Race Engineer Hugh Bird if he was asleep because he hadn’t heard from him in a while. Hugh replied: “You’re just in the groove, reel him in.” And that’s what Checo did. On the final lap the pressure paid off as Leclerc made a mistake on the final the chicane and went off the track. Race Control deemed that Leclerc had gained an advantage and gave him a five-second penalty.
That saw Checo promoted to second and for the second time in two seasons Checo had played his part to help his teammate clinch the world title!
The King Of Applying Pressure© Getty Images
Oh boy have we missed the Japanese fans. We have the orange army in Zandvoort, the loyal Mexican fans at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and the sea of Red Bull fans at the Red Bull Ring. However, the Japanese fans that turn up at Suzuka are in a class of their own.
It’s a homage to all that’s good at about Formula One and the fans celebrate every driver on the track. Whether it’s the RB18 hat or a huge Max Verstappen head, the crowd is spectacular. To all the fans in Japan, we’ve missed you!
Our Japanese Fans Are So Special© Getty Images
