The Japanese Grand Prix finished in confusion last Sunday over whether or not Max Verstappen had done enough to secure his second world championship after the Suzuka event was only able to run just past half distance.
The confusing rule regarding points distribution yesterday in the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka circuit was mistaken and is expected to be rewritten. New rules were announced in 2022 to award points based on distance completed (shown below). However, this was written wrongly into the regulations and no-one noticed.
The decisive phrasing which caused confusion was ‘if a race is suspended and cannot be resumed…’. This was not updated to reflect the 3-hour time limit. There was never an example for a race which started, stopped, resumed, but expired before the 3-hour time limit.
On Sunday, several teams had been under the impression that regulations changed last year after the events in the F1 Belgian Grand Prix to award fewer points for shorter races: this would have meant that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen needed one more point to win the 2022 Formula 1 title. Yet the FIA’s strict interpretation of the wording of the regulations meant that, with the race running to its maximum time limit rather than being stopped, full points were given to drivers.
Teams agreed that the FIA’s enforcement of the rules as they are written was indeed correct, but at the same time they pointed out that it was never the intention of the revised regulations to allow such circumstances to take place.
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