“I think it’s a mistake”: Red Bull boss thought Max Verstappen winning his second Championship in Japan was down to FIA’s mistake

Christian Horner felt that Max Verstappen was short of winning the Championship by just one point after the Japanese GP. 

The 2022 Japanese GP turned out to be an afternoon full of controversies. The initial headlines were all about Carlos Sainz’s crash and a recovery crane being on track whilst drivers still being out on track. However, come the end of the race, we had the 2022 F1 World Championship officially decided.

Verstappen finished 24 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc, who just about held off Sergio Perez to keep P2. However, in the immediate aftermath of the race, the Monegasque driver was given a five-second penalty which saw him slip to P3.

When Verstappen first crossed the line, team boss Horner thought that the Title would be decided in Austin. This is because they weren’t sure about full points being awarded since only 28 laps out of 53 were completed. Just a few minutes later, the FIA announced that the Dutch driver had won his second World Championship. Horner felt that this was a mistake.

Also read: What is F1’s point distribution procedure that awarded Max Verstappen 2nd championship title?

Why did Christian Horner think FIA made a mistake?

The Japanese GP was halted on the third lap after Sainz’s crash brought out the red flag. After that, it took them almost two hours to get the race back underway, and it was clear that there won’t be 53 laps of racing action.

Thankfully, there weren’t any more stoppages but despite that we had only 28 laps. This meant that the winner of the race would get only 19 points since 75% of the race wasn’t completed. All fans, drivers and teams thought this was the case, until the FIA clarified why they would award full points to the drivers.

F1 journalist Chris Medland explained the reason behind FIA’s decision making on Twitter. According to him, since the race was resumed and not completely called off, full points were given. Had they completed 50% of the race before it was stopped permanently, Verstappen would have still been a point short.

This was the mistake which Horner was referring to in an interview with Autosport.

“I think it’s a mistake that wasn’t included after the issues in Spa last year,” Horner said. “That the regulations obviously haven’t been mopped up.

Also read: “New record, two time weird champion” – F1 Twitter reacts to absurd second championship title win for Max Verstappen

Sergio Perez helped Max Verstappen win the Title once again

Horner was not sure at the moment, but Verstappen’s Title victory would have been sealed even if full points for the race were not awarded. Initially, Leclerc finished P2 which meant that the Dutchman would be a point short.

However, the Ferrari driver leaving the track in his battle with Perez earned him a five second penalty. This brought Perez up to P2 and handed Verstappen the World Championship.

“We were under the strong impression that only with 75% of the race,” the 48-year-old said. “Full points will be scored. So we felt we were going to be one point short. But in the end, Checo’s move on Charles nailed Max the championship. So you can see his surprise, the team’s surprise. But what a wonderful surprise.”

At 25, Verstappen now has two World Titles to his name, and 32 race wins.