The standings after the Japanese Grand Prix: Verstappen unreachable, Alpine regains 4th place
Max Verstappen is crowned world champion! This is the Dutch driver's second consecutive title with Red Bull. With only 4 races left in the championship, he is now unreachable by his competitors. Alpine makes a good move by finishing the race with valuable points and reclaiming 4th place from McLaren.
The Japanese Grand Prix took place in a particularly difficult context, with a red flag after 3 laps, narrowly avoiding disasters with Gasly and the tractor on the track, reminding of very bad memories, and full points awarded despite only 26 laps completed in the confusion.
Max Verstappen is a double Formula 1 world champion.
Max Verstappen needed at least 112 points ahead of his opponents in the driver’s standings. Shortly after the finish of the Japanese Grand Prix, with Leclerc’s second place, it wasn’t enough. But a few minutes later, Verstappen was eventually crowned world champion due to Leclerc’s demotion to third position.
Leclerc also loses his position as runner-up to Perez by just one point now. George Russell remains in 4th place and now with a 5-point lead over Sainz, thanks to the Ferrari driver’s retirement, who ended his race in the gravel trap as early as the 2nd lap. No changes behind them.
Find the Formula 1 constructors and drivers standings
Alpine moves back ahead of McLaren in the battle for 4th place.
In the constructors’ standings, the stakes are very limited ahead. Red Bull is far ahead of Ferrari and could be crowned in two weeks in Austin at the United States Grand Prix, while Mercedes still has too much of a gap behind Ferrari (65 points) to be a threat.
On the other hand, the good operation is done this weekend for Alpine, who takes back the 4th place from McLaren. The English team had taken the 4th place by a few points last week in Singapore thanks to Alpine’s underperformance, who had to retire due to engine failures. In Japan, the team from the Dieppe manufacturer finally managed to catch up with their comeback, thanks to Ocon’s 4th place and Alonso’s 7th place.
Le classement du championnat #F1 après Suzuka
Avec 113 points d’avance sur Perez et 114 sur Leclerc, il est donc inatteignable désormais avec 4 courses restantes #japanesegp pic.twitter.com/fiRbkiX00U— Motors Inside F1 (@MotorsInside) October 9, 2022
