Red Bull's Max Verstappen won a rain-shortened Japanese Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday to claim the 2022 driver's title, with a late penalty to his championship rival handing him the crown.
The Dutch driver beat his teammate Sergio Perez who snatched second after Ferrari's Charles Leclerc slid wide at the final chicane while in second and was handed a 5-second penalty for cutting the corner.
Japan's Yuki Tsunoda finished 13th, where he started on the grid, having been as high as ninth early in the race in his AlphaTauri.
After initially believing he missed out on the title, Verstappen was informed during a television interview that he had in fact won his second consecutive driver's championship.
"It is crazy, very mixed emotions of course," he said.
"What a year we have had so far. It has been incredible, something I could not have imagined after last year."
With the Red Bull team powered by engines provided by Honda Motor Co., Verstappen was quick to recognize the Japanese automaker's contribution.
"The work we have done with Honda, all the way through every year just constantly improving rapidly, to win twice is very emotional, especially here with everyone watching," he said on the podium.
"It is a little more pressure but it is good pressure, it is positive pressure."
After a crash-marred first lap in which Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz hit a wall, the race at the circuit in Suzuka, central Japan, was delayed for more than 2 hours due to the wet weather.
When the cars returned to the track, there was not enough time to complete the full 53 laps, meaning the race would be determined over a hectic final 40 minutes.
Known as a master of wet conditions, Verstappen was never seriously threatened and only lost the lead briefly when he was in the pits. The win was his 12th of the season.
Tsunoda was in the battle for 10th, the final points-scoring position, until a pit stop with 20 minutes to go sent him to the rear of the field. His teammate Pierre Gasly finished 17th.
Gasly was involved in a worrisome first-lap incident in which he sped past a tractor on the circuit at the site of Sainz's crash, causing the French driver to exclaim over the team radio "this is unacceptable...remember what has happened."
Gasly was referencing a tragic incident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix in which French driver Jules Bianchi was severely injured when his car slid off a wet track and hit a crane that was lifting a crashed car.
Bianchi died nine months later and is the last Formula One driver to have died from injuries sustained in a race.
During the race stoppage, a number of other drivers took to Twitter to express their outrage at the incident, with McLaren's Lando Norris also calling out organizers.
"We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risk our lives, especially in conditions like this. We wanna race. But this...Unacceptable," he tweeted.
