MAX VERSTAPPEN had no idea he was crowned world champion – after a chaotic Japanese Grand Prix.
And his confusion was clear to see in the bizarre moment he discovered the news.
The Red Bull driver breezed to an easy victory at Suzuka after a red flag initially stopped the race.
He crossed the line well clear of title rivals Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.
But Ferrari driver Leclerc was penalised with a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage by going off the track on the final lap of the race.
And that bumped Leclerc down to third.
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But uncertainty over the points for the race, which only had 28 laps completed, meant it took a few minutes to work out for sure.
In the end, full points were awarded because the race was resumed and ensured Verstappen finished the day 113 points clear of Perez with 112 points left up for grabs this season.
But the moment he found out he was crowned champion was underwhelming.
The 2021 champ, who pipped Lewis Hamilton in controversial scenes last year, was initially told he had secured the successful title defence during the middle of his race win interview in the paddock, leaving him stunned and clearly surprised when the graphic appeared behind him.
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Verstappen took in the congratulations and finished off the very brief interview before running over to jump in celebration with his girlfriend Kelly Piquet and the Red Bull crew members.
However, even then the dominant driver was still not 100 per cent sure he was actually the world champion as fans at home had no idea whether it was done or not.
So it was not until the Dutchman was in the post-race drivers’ room with Leclerc and Perez that it was absolutely confirmed for him.
Verstappen can be seen asking: “I am? Are you sure?” before getting the green light.
He then sat on a big armchair in a side room watching a graphic declaring him as the 2022 Formula One world champion.
The Red Bull star then joked he felt “lonely” so came back out for the podium trophy lift and champagne.
He then did another interview as the reality started to settle in.
The two-time champ said: “What can I say? incredible! Very special to do it here. In front of the Honda people and the Japanese fans.
‘SECOND ONE MORE BEAUTIFUL’
“The first one is a little more emotional, the second one is more beautiful.
“It’s been a special year, and you need to remind yourself as these kind of years you don’t have very often.
“It’s crazy, very mixed emotions. Winning the championship, what a year we’ve had. It’s incredible!
“I’m so thankful to everyone who’s been contributing to the success, the whole team has been working flat out. Beside that, the work we did with Honda every year, constantly improving, gets very emotional especially here. I’m very proud we could do it here.”
Verstappen revealed he considered pitting to try and get the fastest lap and an extra point.
He added: “It’s a pretty crazy feeling, of course, because I didn’t expect it when I crossed the line.
“Of course, you could see it slowly happening, but it’s incredible at the end of the day that we did win it here.
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“I didn’t know how many points I was going to get and I wanted to go for the fastest lap, but I think the gap was just not safe enough to go for an extra stop.
“I was also very happy with the race we had, so there was no real fuss or stress about it.”
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
