Verstappen’s title was confirmed when Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was penalized five seconds soon after the race concluded, which dropped him from second place to third.
Who is leading the 2022 F1 World Championship Drivers’ points?
Red Bull Racing’s two-time champion Verstappen scored 25 points at Suzuka, compared to Leclerc’s 15 rather than 18. That meant Verstappen’s lead in the World Championship is 113 points and cannot be overhauled in the remaining four races.
The penalty also meant that Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez moves ahead of Leclerc into second in the championship.
Mercedes’ George Russell could only finish eighth but that increased his gap to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who crashed out soon after the initial start in Japan, to five points in fourth.
Lewis Hamilton finished fifth and is now 22 points behind Sainz.
Nicholas Latifi’s first points of the season for ninth place in his Williams means that Nico Hulkenberg is the only driver to have started a race this year to be on zero points.
2022 F1 World Championship standings for Drivers
| Cla | Driver | Points | Grands Prix | |||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | |||
| 1 | Max Verstappen | 366 | – | 25 | – | 34 | 26 | 25 | 15 | 25 | 25 | 6 | 27 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 6 | 25 |
| 2 | Sergio Pérez | 253 | – | 12 | 18 | 24 | 12 | 19 | 25 | 19 | – | 18 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 18 | 10 | 9 | 25 | 18 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | 252 | 26 | 19 | 26 | 15 | 18 | – | 12 | – | 10 | 12 | 32 | – | 8 | 8 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 15 |
| 4 | George Russell | 207 | 12 | 10 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 12 | – | 17 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 18 | 15 | – | 4 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 202 | 18 | 15 | – | 5 | 15 | 12 | 18 | – | 19 | 25 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 4 | 12 | 15 | – |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | 180 | 15 | 1 | 12 | – | 8 | 10 | 4 | 12 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 18 | 19 | – | 12 | 10 | 2 | 10 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | 101 | – | 6 | 10 | 19 | – | 4 | 9 | 2 | – | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | – | 6 | 6 | 12 | 1 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | 78 | 6 | 8 | 6 | – | 4 | 6 | – | 1 | 8 | – | 13 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | – | – | 12 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | 65 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 2 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 8 | – | – | 6 |
| 10 | Valtteri Bottas | 46 | 8 | – | 4 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 2 | – | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 11 | Sebastian Vettel | 32 | – | 4 | – | – | 1 | 8 | – | 2 | – | – | 1 | 4 | – | – | 4 | 8 | ||
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | 29 | – | – | 8 | 3 | – | – | – | 4 | – | – | 2 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 10 | – |
| 13 | Pierre Gasly | 23 | – | 4 | 2 | – | – | – | – | 10 | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | 4 | 1 | – |
| 14 | Kevin Magnussen | 22 | 10 | 2 | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 15 | Lance Stroll | 13 | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | – | 8 | – |
| 16 | Mick Schumacher | 12 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | 11 | 4 | – | – | 6 | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 18 | Zhou Guanyu | 6 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
| 19 | Alexander Albon | 4 | – | – | 1 | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | ||
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