Verstappen retains F1 world title after dramatic Japan win

SUZUKA, Japan -- Max Verstappen was declared Formula One world champion Sunday after winning a dramatic rain-shortened Japanese Grand Prix.

Red Bull's Verstappen crossed the line first and he was then awarded the title when second-place finisher Charles Leclerc was given a five-second penalty, dropping him to third.

The result gave Verstappen an unassailable 113-point lead in the championship, making him only the third driver after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel to clinch the title with four races to spare.

Ferrari's Leclerc finished the race second in front of Red Bull's Sergio Perez, but he was hit with a penalty after squeezing Perez wide and leaving the track in a late surge for the line.

Verstappen was informed he had retained his title midway through the post-race TV interview, and even the driver himself was not sure if he had sealed the deal.

"It's a crazy feeling of course as I didn't expect it when I crossed the line," said a shell-shocked Verstappen.

"Was it going to be half points? I didn't know how many points I was going to get. I was happy with the race we had."

The race got off to a chaotic start in heavy rain, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Williams' Alex Albon exiting on the first lap prompting a safety care.

A red flag soon followed and forced the drivers to wait for more than an hour before the action restarted, again under a safety car.

Verstappen resumed with a lead over Leclerc and Perez, and extended it as conditions gradually improved.

Verstappen has won 12 of 18 races in 2022 and thanked his team for an "incredible" year.

"The first (championship) is a little more emotional, the second one is beautiful," he said.

"It's been a special year, and you need to remind yourself as these kind of years you don't have very often."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Verstappen had "grown" as a driver.

"Carrying that number one this year, he's done it with a lot of pride," he said.

Agence France-Presse

Motorsports: Marquez fastest in rain-hit Japanese MotoGP practice

Six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez topped a tricky second practice on Saturday for the Japanese Grand Prix as a typhoon brought heavy rain.

The Spanish great has only recently returned from a long injury absence but he showed all his experience to master the conditions at Motegi for a leading time of one minute and 55.232 seconds on his Honda.

That was ahead of Ducati riders Jorge Martin, also from Spain, and Jack Miller.

Australia's Miller topped a mostly dry first practice on Friday and still holds the fastest lap, 1:44.509, so far.

The forecasted rain duly arrived on Saturday, when there is qualifying scheduled for later in the day, and the trio of title contenders had to settle for places further down the timesheets.

World champion and current leader Fabio Quartararo was 10th on his Yamaha in the wet second practice, a place ahead of Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro.

Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia, who has closed Quartararo's championship lead to 10 points with fives races left, was 15th.

The Italian was second-fastest on Friday in the dry.

The wild weather is forecast to dump heavy rain on the Motegi area on Saturday but should clear up for Sunday's race.

Japan is hosting its first MotoGP since 2019 because of the pandemic.

Leading times from the first two practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix:

1. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati) 1min 44.509sec, 2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) at 0.028sec, 3. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 0.049, 4. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 0.068, 5. Luca Marini (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 0.136, 6. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 0.147, 7. Pol Espargaro (ESP/Honda) 0.169, 8. Brad Binder (AFS/KTM) 0.226, 9. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 0.234, 10. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) 0.288

Agence France-Presse

Zarco claims surprise pole in Japan, Marquez third

Johann Zarco claimed a surprise pole for Yamaha Tech 3 at the Japanese Grand Prix in Motegi on Saturday as championship leader Marc Marquez grabbed a spot on the front row.

Frenchman Zarco roared to the top of the timesheet on his non-works bike with a lap of one minute 53.469 seconds late in the session, with Ducati's Danilo Petrucci pipping Marquez into second on the grid on a greasy track after weekend rain.


Third on the grid, defending champion Marquez admitted a mistake at a corner had cost him a better time but he will have been buoyed that his closest rivals Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales will start well back.

Ducati's Dovizioso, who is second in the championship race 16 points behind Marquez, will start ninth on the grid, with third-placed Vinales 14th after he failed to get his works Yamaha into Q2.

"Honestly on the fastest lap, I did a big mistake on the last corner and I lost a lot of time," three-times MotoGP winner Marquez said track-side.

"This time maybe I sacrificed a little bit to attack more.

"But anyway, happy to be on the front row which was the main target. And we are there, we are in front of our main rivals."

Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro will start fourth on the grid ahead of fifth-placed Jorge Lorenzo and Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

Twenty-eight points behind Marquez and with three races remaining after Motegi, Vinales' title hopes have waned in Japan with his Yamaha struggling badly for grip during wet practice sessions at the hinterland circuit in Tochigi prefecture.

He was further frustrated on the drying track in Q1, finishing fourth in the session, with Pol Espargaro and Brad Smith posting the fastest times to graduate to Q2.

His Yamaha team mate Valentino Rossi has also had a forgettable weekend with grip problems and will start 12th in Sunday's race after falling from his bike in the final practice session. (Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

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F1: Ruthless Hamilton roars to Japan win

SUZUKA, Japan -- Lewis Hamilton romped to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to close in on a fourth world title after Sebastian Vettel retired with engine failure on lap four.

The Briton dominated from pole, steering his Mercedes to a crushing eighth win of the year, stretching his Formula One championship lead over Vettel to 59 points with just 100 left to play for.


"Honestly I could only have dreamed of having this kind of gap," said Hamilton after holding off a late charge from Max Verstappen in Suzuka. "The team has done a phenomenal job, they're just so meticulous so a big thank you to the guys."

The Red Bulls of Verstappen -- who stunned Hamilton to win in Malaysia last week -- and Daniel Ricciardo secured a double podium for the second successive race.

Valtteri Bottas finished fourth in the second Mercedes with Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari taking fifth and Esteban Ocon sixth for Force India.

Hamilton celebrated a fourth victory in Japan and a 61st career win with a 'Mobot' pose, a tribute to his friend Mo Farah, the Olympic champion athlete, who was watching trackside.

"Max drove an outstanding race and it got very close at the end," said Hamilton.

"His car was looking so big in my mirrors. It wasn't a walk in the park today. There's still a long way to go," added the Briton. "Anything can happen in life so I have to keep my head down and hopefully continue to perform like this."

Fatal blow

Vettel's title hopes, meanwhile, suffered a potentially fatal blow with four races left following nightmare start from the front row.

Ferrari mechanics worked frantically on the grid to fix a spark plug issue before lights out and Vettel was quickly complaining of a lack of power.

The German, who finished fourth in Malaysia and crashed from pole in Singapore before that, plummeted to sixth on the first lap before being told to retire the car as Hamilton roared away into the distance.

"It's just a pity in the two races with the reliability issues," said Vettel, who led the championship just six weeks ago. "But now it's important to get some rest and give my all for the last four races and see what happens."

Ferrari, who have struggled with reliability issues since the summer break, later blamed the faulty spark plug for the car's loss of speed.

"The misfortune of Ferrari is unbelievable," said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. "But Lewis drove a spectacular race."

The warmer conditions were supposed to favor the Ferraris but Hamilton ruthlessly converted his record-breaking pole position by rapidly taking a stranglehold on the 53-lap race.

Verstappen raised pulses over the final two laps but ultimately his charge was too little too late to prevent a fourth successive Suzuka win for Mercedes.

Also in the points, Sergio Perez finished seventh for Force India ahead of the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean with Felipe Massa holding off Fernando Alonso's McLaren to take 10th for Williams.

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Rosberg wins, Hamilton third in Japan

SUZAKA, Japan -- Nico Rosberg romped to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to extend his lead over world champion Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One title race.

The German claimed his first Suzuka win from pole as Hamilton took third after a dreadful start, Rosberg stretching his lead over his Mercedes rival to 33 points with just four races left this season.

"Woooooooh!" cried Rosberg over team radio after a fourth triumph in five races since the summer break and his ninth of 2016.

"Thanks a lot, guys. An Amazing weekend and congrats on winning the constructors (championship)," he added after he and Hamilton secured a third successive team title.

"It's 33 points, but I'm not focused on that. There's still a long way to go so I'm just keeping my head down."

Red Bull's Max Verstappen held off a furious challenge from Hamilton in the final few laps to take second after also finishing runner-up in Malaysia last weekend.

The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth and fifth after both turned the air blue over radio, complaining about back markers.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who inherited victory in Malaysia after Hamilton's engine caught fire, took sixth ahead of the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

Hamilton, who has now failed to win since Hockenheim at end of July, almost fought back to take second as he tried to duck around Verstappen coming into the chicane on the last lap.

But the Dutch teenager blocked off the inside, forcing the Mercedes to lock up and skid into an escape road.

Rosberg, whose Finnish father Keke won the 1982 Formula One title, failed to convert pole position into victory in Japan the past two years, both times losing out to Hamilton.

But he got away cleanly this time, while Hamilton fell to eighth, radioing to the pits: "Sorry, guys."

"No stress, Lewis," came the reply before Hamilton began a rousing charge through the field to make up places.

Hamilton, who had hinted at sabotage from within his Mercedes team after his third power unit failure of the year last week in Malaysia, cut a forlorn figure on the podium, the 100th of his career.

"I did the best I could with where I was in the race," he said.

"I'll give it everything I've got (for the rest of the season), and we'll see what happens. Nico did a great job, so congrats to him."

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Rosberg leads Hamilton in opening practice at Suzuka

SUZUKA, Japan - World championship leader Nico Rosberg set the pace ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton as Mercedes dominated Friday's opening session of practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

The German set the lead with one minute, 32.431 seconds, 0.215 seconds quicker than Hamilton, on a pleasant and sunny morning at the Suzuka circuit.

The Mercedes pair were a second clear of the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen who were third and fourth-fastest, respectively.

Vettel heads into the weekend carrying a three-place grid penalty for tipping Rosberg into a spin at the start of the last race in Malaysia.

Rosberg extended his lead over Hamilton to 23 points in the overall standings after the Briton was forced to retire from a comfortable lead in the Sepang race 16 laps from the finish.

As a result, Hamilton heads into Sunday's Japanese round desperately needing to revive his flagging title hopes with just five races remaining by clinching a third successive win at the Suzuka circuit.

Daniel Ricciardo, who inherited the win from Hamilton following his retirement in Malaysia was fifth fastest.

Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, who claimed second behind the Australian to secure the team's first one-two finish since the 2013 season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, was sixth.

Force India, locked in a battle for fourth in the overall team standings with Williams, showed a strong initial turn of speed.

German Nico Hulkenberg was seventh-fastest for the Silverstone-based squad, ahead of Mexican team-mate Sergio Perez, who trialled the 'halo' cockpit protection device.

Fernando Alonso, hoping to impress on home soil for Honda, his McLaren team's engine supplier, was ninth.

The Spaniard survived an early collision with the barriers when his car snapped out of control on the entry to the fast Spoon corner and slid backwards into the tyre wall lining the track.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

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F1 driver Bianchi dies 9 months after Suzuka crash

French Formula One driver Jules Bianchi has died of critical head injuries sustained at last year's Japanese Grand Prix, his family said in a statement on Saturday. He was 25.

Bianchi had been in a coma since the accident at Suzuka last October. He passed away at a hospital in Nice, near his parents' home in the south of France.

"Jules fought right to the very end, as he always did, but today his battle came to an end," said the Bianchi family.

"The pain we feel is immense and indescribable."

Bianchi was the first driver since Brazilian triple world champion Ayrton Senna, at Italy's Imola circuit in May 1994, to die from injuries sustained during a grand prix weekend.

"We are devastated to lose Jules after such a hard-fought battle," his Manor F1 team Tweeted. "It was a privilege to have him race for our team."

The Frenchman suffered severe head injuries when, in wet conditions and fading light, his Marussia slammed into a recovery tractor while it was attempting to remove Adrian Sutil's crashed Sauber.

Television images of the Oct. 5 accident, which were not publicly broadcast but have since been posted on the internet, showed the Marussia's roll hoop had been entirely ripped off in the massive impact.

The race was stopped and the unconscious driver was extracted from the wrecked car and taken by road ambulance to the nearby hospital.

Bianchi, who was also contracted to Ferrari and was considered to have a bright future in the sport, was initially treated in the Mie General Medical Centre in Yokkaichi.

His parents and siblings flew out from France and were a constant presence at his bedside, hoping against hope for a miracle.

'HEARTS AND MINDS'

An International Automobile Federation (FIA) report said in December that the Frenchman had not slowed sufficiently under warning flags before crashing.

The report found that Bianchi's car hit the tractor at 126 kph and said medical services were not at fault in their handling of the aftermath.

His family praised medical staff in Nice and Mie Prefecture for their care over the last nine months and asked for privacy as they sought to come to terms with the loss.

"Listening to and reading the many messages made us realise just how much Jules had touched the hearts and minds of so many people all over the world," the statement said.

"We would like to ask that our privacy is respected during this difficult time, while we try to come to terms with the loss of Jules."

Bianchi's father, Philippe, had told French radio earlier this month that he was "less optimistic" of a recovery. In May he said they had been preparing for the worst.

"It's hard to get up in the morning while telling yourself that you're not sure whether your son is going to live and every day is like that," he said.

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Lorenzo on pole for Japanese Grand Prix

MOTEGI, Japan - World champion Jorge Lorenzo continued his desperate fight to keep his MotoGP title by taking pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix in a wet qualifying session at the weather-disrupted race on Saturday.

The Yamaha rider swept around the circuit in one minute 53.471 seconds on his 24th of 25 laps to top the timesheets ahead of fellow Spaniard Marc Marquez, who could seal the title in his rookie season on Sunday if he outscores Lorenzo by eight points.

Friday's entire practice programme was wiped out by fog and wet weather with the rain also forcing the cancellation of Saturday morning's free practice session and leading to the extended 75-minute qualifying session.

American Nicky Hayden rounded out the front row on his Ducati with Marquez's Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa, the winner of the race for the last two years, relegated to the second row in fourth place.

A mistake from Marquez's team blew the 20-year-old's chance of clinching the title in Australia last weekend when he was disqualified but he gets second chance in the penultimate race of the season on Sunday.

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A seventh victory of his sensational debut season, combined with anything worse than second for Lorenzo, would make him the youngest champion in the top class of grand prix racing and he was delighted with second place given the conditions.

"It was quite difficult, it was my first time in Motegi, first time in qualifying without any practice sessions, in wet conditions and I took more risks than usual," he said.

"But we did a very good job because our target was the front row and we did it. We are hoping for a dry race."

The Honda-owned track was still slick with rain when the bikes finally got out of their garages for the first time this weekend and Marquez, Pedrosa and Hayden all set quickest times before Lorenzo took charge.

The 26-year-old said it had been tough having to push hard while riding in wet conditions for the first time since he broke his collarbone in a high speed crash in the Dutch round of the championship in June.

"I am very happy to get this second pole position in a row," said the twice world champion, who won in Australia last week to cut Marquez's championship lead to 18 points.

"It was hard because the last time I rode in the wet was in Assen, so at the beginning I was careful and not so confident and a bit scared.

"Little by little, I got better and in the end did a very good lap. Tomorrow is probably going to be dry so let's see what happens." (Writing by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by John O'Brien)

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