Charles Leclerc crossed the road in second place at Suzuka to increase the Dutchman’s look forward to a second title however a five-second penalty for slicing the chicane in a last-lap battle with Sergio Perez knocked the Ferrari driver into third, confirming Verstappen’s triumph.
Rain started to fall an hour earlier than the race and chronic drizzle set the scene for Verstappen’s second shot at sealing an early world title.
Intermediate tyres have been strapped on because the rain intensified moments earlier than the beginning but an exhilarating battle for first unfolded on the first flip as Charles Leclerc darted forward of Verstappen. Nonetheless, the Dutchman fought again laborious and stored his lead courtesy of a gutsy transfer across the exterior.
The beginning didn’t final lengthy as soon as Carlos Sainz put his Ferrari within the barrier as he spun out on the run into Spoon, which introduced out the pink flag because the downpour worsened.
The Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly was the unlucky recipient of the damaged promoting board that careered throughout the monitor, though he was in a position to make it again to the pits. The Frenchman was livid upon his return to the pits having handed a restoration automobile that had come out on monitor whereas the automobiles have been nonetheless out.
Sebastian Vettel was one other to go off into the gravel on the first flip after bumping into Fernando Alonso on his last race at Suzuka whereas Guanyu Zhou spun on the Hairpin. Alex Albon retired with a mechanical challenge.
A 40-minute wait was prolonged moments earlier than a deliberate restart and the three-hour clock started to tick on. Lastly, some two hours later and with roughly 45 minutes of racing allowed earlier than its official finish, the grand prix resumed at a rolling begin.
Verstappen cruised into the space because the main pack refused to gamble on an early pit cease for Inters, Vettel and Nicholas Latifi doing so to leap into the factors positions.
Leclerc’s focus rapidly turned to holding off the advancing Sergio Perez in a battle for second. However, like Lewis Hamilton’s pursuit of Esteban Ocon for fourth, fading tyres made overtaking too troublesome.
Verstappen cruised residence by a stonking margin of over 25 seconds, the race nudging previous 50 per cent distance to seemingly dish out a barely lowered set of factors over three hours after it started.
Moments later, Leclerc misplaced management on the chicane and acquired a five-second time penalty to see Verstappen topped along with his affirmation introduced throughout his post-race interview after an obvious determination to award full factors for the race.
