{"id":33163,"date":"2022-10-07T12:03:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T16:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=33163"},"modified":"2022-10-07T12:03:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T16:03:50","slug":"verstappen-set-to-win-a-second-straight-f1-season-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=33163","title":{"rendered":"Verstappen set to win a second straight F1 season title | Autoblog"},"content":{"rendered":"

SUZUKA, Japan<\/a> \u2014 Ferrari’s<\/a> Charles Leclerc knows it. So does anyone following Formula One; no calculators<\/a> needed.<\/p>\n

Red Bulls<\/a>‘ Max Verstappen<\/a> is set to win his second straight drivers’ title, and it’s likely to come on Sunday with rain predicted for the Japanese Grand Prix<\/a> at Suzuka.<\/p>\n

Friday’s two practice sessions were run in steady drizzle, although Saturday’s qualifying is expected to be dry on the classic figure-eight circuit in central Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think realistically Max is going to be a champion, if it\u2019s not this weekend it\u2019s going to be very, very soon,\u201d said Leclerc, who trails Verstappen by 104 points with five races to go \u2014 including Suzuka. Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez is 106 behind.<\/p>\n

If Verstappen wins on Sunday, and also picks up the bonus point for the fastest lap, that would give him 26 points (25 for the win, 1 for the quickest lap) and he’s the champion.<\/p>\n

He could also win the season title with a lesser result<\/a>, depending on how others finish.<\/p>\n

If not, it’s sure to be settled in two weeks at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be very nice if it happens here, but if it doesn\u2019t happen here \u2014 I will be even more in favor the next race,\u201d Verstappen said, sounding unmoved by the speculation.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I’m not really thinking about it too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verstappen has been dominant all season with 11 victories in 17 races. The Singapore GP a week ago was the exception, where Verstappen finished seventh. He called it a \u201cvery messy weekend” on the street circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know that it was a bad weekend, but we also have shown this year that we\u2019ve had a lot of very good weekends. So we know how to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Winning at Suzuka would be special. The track is operated by car manufacturer Honda<\/a>. Red Bull and sister team AlphaTaura run on Honda designed engines, and the race if officially called the \u201cHonda Japanese Grand Prix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honda formally quit F1<\/a> after last season, but still supports the two teams. In addition, Honda’s name will appear on the Red Bull livery this weekend. It could indicate a return to F1 though there’s nothing official.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s great to see the full name back on the car,\u201d Verstappen said. \u201cAnd about the future. It’s too early to talk about that right now, but I think in general \u2014 the Honda name for F1 is great and it would be very nice to see them come back again.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 190,000 fans are expected over the weekend, with 90,000 on Sunday. Though Japanese fans are among the sports’ most fervent, capacity limits make the crowds smaller than at many races that draw more that 300,000 for a weekend.<\/p>\n

“It (Suzuka) is truly iconic,” Mercedes<\/a> driver George Russell said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s definitely, you know, a top-five circuit for probably all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added two-time champion Fernando Alonso<\/a>: “I think everyone loves Suzuka. The combination again of high-speed corners, a little bit of banking in the corners as well make the feeling really special. The fans are so passionate here. So, the whole weekend is a big thing.”<\/p>\n

Schumacher crash in practice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mick Schumacher spun out late in the first practice session on Friday and severely damaged the front end of his Haas car. The shunt was bad enough for the medical car to be deployed, although Schumacher walked away.<\/p>\n

Schumacher, the son of seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher<\/a>, could be on the way out at Haas.<\/p>\n

Schumacher is in his second season with Haas, where he was promoted from the Ferrari Driver Academy. He\u2019s been associated with Ferrari since 2019 after winning the European F3 championship.<\/p>\n

Schumacher\u2019s contract with the the academy is set to expire at the end of this year and Haas, which has an engine partnership with Ferrari, would not be obligated to keep the 23-year-old German if Schumacher is no longer part of the program.<\/p>\n

Schumacher has repeatedly declined to answer questions about his future.<\/p>\n

Practice results<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fernando Alonso of Alpine was quickest in the first practice session, clocking 1 minute, 42.248 seconds.<\/p>\n

The times of the leaders in the second session, also held in a steady drizzle, were quicker with George Russell of Mercedes and teammate Lewis Hamilton<\/a> going 1-2. Russell was timed in 1:41.935. Hamilton turned 1:42.170 and Verstappen was third in 1:42.786.<\/p>\n

Hamilton on cost-cap<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Formula One’s governing body FIA<\/a> is to rule Monday if any team has violated cost-cap rules. It comes a day after Verstappen could win the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be bad for the sport if action wasn\u2019t taken if there was a breach,\u201d seven-time champion Hamilton told media. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know if there is, so I\u2019ll wait just as you will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verstappen demurred when ask about it on Thursday. Red Bull is one of the teams implicated in unsourced reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really busy with these kind of things,\u201d Verstappen said. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s up to the teams and the FIA, and I just have to focus on the driving. So there\u2019s not much more to say on that. I guess we\u2019ll find out on Monday.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

More AP auto racing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SUZUKA, Japan \u2014 Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc knows it. So does anyone following Formula One; no calculators needed. Red Bulls‘ Max Verstappen is set to win his second straight drivers’ title, and it’s likely to come on Sunday with rain predicted for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka. Friday’s two practice sessions were run in steady […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}