Verstappen just held his lead from pole position at the start in wet conditions, which quickly worsened and led to Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) to crashing heavily. The race was red flagged on Lap 3, which led to a lengthy delay as the heavy rain continued.
As conditions improved slightly, the race was restarted with 40 minutes remaining on the event clock, with Verstappen holding sway again and pulling clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to score his 12th win of the season.
Leclerc just fended off Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez to finish second on the road, but was given a 5s penalty by race stewards for his tactics on the final tour.
That pushed him back to third and was enough for Verstappen to be confirmed as champion as full points were awarded despite the race only running to 28 laps.
2022 Japanese Grand Prix race results
How the Japanese Grand Prix unfolded
On a wet track, with all the cars in the field starting on intermediate tyres, Verstappen just held on to his pole advantage on the run to Turn 1 despite a poor initial getaway.
Leclerc, who raced him wheel-to-wheel until Turn 2, led the chase ahead of Perez, Sainz, Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
Sebastian Vettel spun his Aston Martin after he clashed with the Alpine of Fernando Alonso on the chaotic dash to Turn 1, then Sainz aquaplaned off at the right-hander following the hairpin, causing a safety car.
Zhou Guanyu spun his Alfa Romeo at the hairpin, as Pierre Gasly started from the pit lane but picked up an advertising hoarding from the Sainz crash on the front of his AlphaTauri, while Alex Albon’s Williams ground to a halt.
Due to intensifying rain, the race director decided to red flag the race on Lap 3 but not before Gasly, who had pitted for a new nose section, controversially suffered a near miss with a tractor that was recovering Sainz’s car.
After a long delay, due to a prolonged period of torrential rain, the race resumed under the safety car with only 48 minutes remaining on the clock with all cars now on extreme wets. The race went green with 40 minutes to go.
Verstappen headed Leclerc, Perez, Ocon, Hamilton and Alonso. Vettel led a handful of cars that pitted for inters almost straight away and began setting faster sector times, prompting the leaders to pit too.
Alonso led for a lap, with Verstappen rejoining in fourth, before he too pitted. Mick Schumacher briefly led for Haas before Verstappen swept past…
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