Max Verstappen now leads the championship with 341 points, with five races to go. Charles Leclerc is second with a 104 point deficit, Verstappen’s Mexican teammate Sergio Pérez – yesterday’s winner in Singapore – is third with 106 points behind. If Verstappen has at least 112 points lead after the race in Japan on Sunday, he is world champion.
After 2019, the Japanese GP – then won by Valtteri Bottas – is back on the calendar. The Suzuka International Racing Course, owned by Honda, has also been ravaged by the corona pandemic in recent years. For Verstappen it will not only be the first chance at the world title, but also an opportunity for a first victory in Japan. He dropped out in 2019, finished third in 2018, second in 2017 and 2016, and 9th on his debut in 2015. The circuit shows quite a few similarities with Zandvoort, but that is not so strange with the same designer (Hans ‘John’ Hugenholtz).
If his fans want to follow Verstappen’s hunt for his second world title from A to Z, they have to set the alarm very early from Friday. On the slightly more than 5800 meter long circuit, the lights will turn green at five o’clock on Friday and Saturday. The race is on Sunday at 7am.
Check the program here (all times are Dutch times)
Friday
• 5 a.m. – 6 a.m.: first free practice
• 08:00 – 09:30: second free practice
Saturday
• 5 a.m. – 6 a.m.: third free practice
• 08.00 – 08.18 hrs: qualification Q1
• 08.25 – 08.40: qualification Q2
• 08:48 – 09:00: qualification Q3
Sunday
• 7 a.m.: race