On Sunday, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix, and he admitted that he had no idea he had taken his second F1 world championship.
Japanese GP occurred at Suzuka, and the race was truncated to 28 laps after having been delayed for over two hours due to rain. Although, Verstappen won the race but did not know he had done enough to secure the championship until some time after climbing from his car.
After winning the race, Verstappen said, to be honest, I do not mind that it was a little bit confusing, and I find it quite funny.
No one was quite sure whether full points would be awarded for the race or just three-quarters across the paddock. The latter would not have been enough to ensure Max had won the race, even though his team was not aware.
Verstappen said when I crossed the line, I did not believe that we would have won the title because I also did not know if we were going to get full points or not. He said I do not think everyone was 100% sure at the end.
About FIA regulations, Verstappen said during the race I had no clue what they were going to decide with the points. Moreover, he said the plan was to win the race, but once I crossed the line, I did not know if it was half points, 75% points, or full points because you were reading through the rules.
Verstappen said FIA media delegate, Tom Wood, came to me and said that I was world champion, and then suddenly people were saying, no, you still need a point. Moreover, he said it was a bit weird, but eventually, we had enough points, so then, we were the world champion again.
