The 18th round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, the Japanese Grand Prix, will be broadcast live from the Suzuka International Racing Course on Sunday, 9 October.
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The previous round in Singapore saw Red Bull’s Sergio Perez put in a superb drive to take victory – despite being struck with a five-second penalty for a safety car infringement.
The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz completed the podium, with Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo (both McLaren) in fourth and fifth, respectively.
As far as the Drivers’ Championship is concerned, Max Verstappen (who had a tough weekend and could only manage seventh in Singapore) still has a huge lead (104 points) and could claim the title this weekend depending on a combination of results.
Perez, meanwhile, has closed in on Leclerc in second place: the Mexican is just two points behind the Monegasque and is high on confidence heading to Suzuka: “It means a lot to me. Every win is special but I’m the type of guy that is always working under the radar and not making big noises out there.
“I knew I was going through a bit of a bad patch. There’s been two races I haven’t been on the podium, but obviously the media makes a big thing, probably because I’m Mexican, and they start to make all these comparisons, [like] the biggest mistake Red Bull has made to bring me here. So I’m super happy to get this victory under my belt, and with such a strong performance out there today.”
Verstappen was left to reflect on a frustrating weekend but promised he would be hungry to put things right in Japan.
“It’s not where we want to be, but I’d already of course [had an issue in qualifying] – you put yourself in a spot like that, and it just can either work brilliantly, you can drive back to the front, or it’s just very frustrating like we had,” said the Dutchman.
“I mean, of course better than eighth, but it’s not what I’m here for, not with a car like that and not what we showed in practice. It’s just incredibly messy.”
Leclerc and Ferrari showed the potential to win the race in Singapore, but will need to execute better in Japan if they are to take a first victory since Austria in July.
“That’s good, and as I said before the weekend, we are trying to take those last races to improve our execution on Sunday – communication, strategy,” said Leclerc. “We’ve already done a few changes and it’s not been an easy race today, but I think we’ve made the right choice and I’m happy. Then of course we’ll look into the start because that’s where we more or less lost the race.”
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