The 2022 championship has been awarded to Max Verstappen a Suzuka, in Japan, in a very romantic background given the origins of Honda. However, it all happened in a rather confusing context: Leclerc at the last chicane he makes a mistake due to the pressure of Sergio Perez and is penalized by 5 seconds. Of the actual race, because of the pioggia, only 52% had been run given the achievement of the limit of 3 hours and, under the new FIA rules, after the 2021 Belgian GP, points should not have been awarded normally. So Verstappen should have picked up 19 points.
This point of the regulation was, Unfortunately, misinterpreted by all, because this decision was valid if, after the expiry of the time, the race had not yet restarted. The Dutchman from Red Bull was finally officially World Champion.
More misunderstandings, FIA already at work
During the delivery of the trophy to SuperMax, the president of the FIA Mohammed Ben Sulayem he joked about the incident, creating a bit of a bad mood which, however, vanished immediately. However, the teams continued to complain asking for a new one revisiting of the regulation for its correct application. The FIA itself seems to have been a bit shocked also because, as the new president of the Federation explained in an interview, that change to the points system had been approved from all stables: "The FIA was blamed for the points, but it wasn't the FIA that made the rules, it was the teams that made the rules and we were implementing them."
The Arab multiple WRC winner then continued by returning to the "Japan case" explaining that the new F1 sporting director Steve Nielsen is already working to improve: "Yes, it's changing. Steve, now, who is the sporting director, will improve it. Back to Japan. First of all, if you look, before the next race, we had a full report [on the events that unfolded]. It's never been done before. We had it on the FIA website. Then coming to the points: who chose it? The teams. Who approved them? The teams. We just had to implement them. And who takes the blame? We. Honestly. Where is the equity? Tell me. This frustrates [me].”.
ARTICLE BY FRANCESCO ORLANDO
Source statements: Motorsport.com
