Suzuka GP: this kind of race direction is no longer justiFIAble

The Japanese GP was run on Sunday at the Suzuka circuit. Max Verstappen triumphed ahead of Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc, becoming World Champion. A victory that came amidst not a few controversies, but let’s review step by step what went wrong.

See also :No happy ending for Ferrari at the Hungarian GP

Sergio perez

Dangerous tyres – GP

At the start of the race all the drivers chose to start on intermediate tyres, despite the prohibitive weather conditions, poor visibility, and a very wet track. The race started with a standing start, a decision that will be criticized by Carlos Sainz at the end of the competition.
During the formation lap it was clear that the cars were raising far, far too much water, but despite this the race started as planned.

Past hasn’t taught anything

Lap 1: Verstappen holds his position over Leclerc and Sergio Perez moves up to P3: Sainz is in the wall. Here we notice the first problem of the Grand Prix. The single-seater has its nose on the circuit, and is brushed by the other cars. Sainz will later speak about the situation saying: “You just pray that no one behind you will hit you. You are in God’s hands because you don’t know if they see you or not”.  The Safety Car comes out and in the meantime Albon is also out of the picture, while Gasly was running with a billboard on the car. Norris complains about the poor visibility and the danger, which comes to a climax when a crane appears on the track, having come in to remove Sainz’s car. Gasly, outraged, shouts into his team radio: “What is this tractor on track? I passed next to it. This is unacceptable. Remember what has happened. Can’t believe this.” and adds “I could have killed myself!”.
Same circuit, same problem, the death of Jules Bianchi probably taught nothing. Philippe Bianchi writes in an Instagram post: “No respect for the life of the driver, no respect for Jules’ memory. Incredible.” It didn’t end there, because another video shot during the removal of Sainz’s car, in which a marshall is seen on the track during the race, was released on social media. After two laps the red flag waves: the race is stopped. After numerous postponements, it resumes after two hours. Full wet tyres for everyone, and while Leclerc and Hamilton seem to agree on the practicality of the track, Bottas still complains of visibility problems. The track conditions allow the intermediate tyres to be fitted.

FIA, why?

On the last lap, after a long battle between Leclerc and Perez for the second position, Charles (who had always been ahead despite his tyres being in bad condition) cuts the chicane and, according to the FIA, takes advantage. At the end of the race he will be given a five-second penalty, a decision taken very quickly compared to last week’s, when Perez violated the regulations under a Safety Car. Binotto was very critical about this, judging the FIA’s decision as “shameful and unacceptable”. After 28 laps the race ended with the victory of Max Verstappen who would later discover that he had become World Champion for the second time. Another diatribe: were the points awarded correctly? The regulations leave room for interpretation, and the FIA decided to award full points to the drivers. This allows Max to win his second World Championship, to the amazement of the paddock and Christian Horner. In the last few Grands Prix we have noticed how the FIA needs a change of gear, between over-interpretable regulations and questionable decisions. Max deservedly won the World Championship, but was it fair to award him the title at Suzuka?