The Red Bull driver heads to Suzuka with a 104-point advantage over nearest rival Charles Leclerc, with Sergio Perez two points clear. He must finish the race 112 points ahead of both to be assured of the title this weekend.
The clearest path for Verstappen to get what he needs would be to win the race and set the fastest lap, as that would give him exactly the number of points he needs regardless of where Leclerc is. and Perez finish.
But if he wins the race and doesn’t set the fastest lap and Leclerc finishes second, the championship will move on to the next race in the United States.
While the result is entirely in Verstappen’s hands, and he is aware Japan would be the best place to wrap up the title due to his team’s close relationship with Honda, he believes nothing short of perfection. will not suffice.
Asked what it would mean to win the crown in Japan, Verstappen said: “It would make it a bit more special, because of our relationship with Honda.
“I also think it was bad enough that we couldn’t be here last year in a title fight. So that’s what we’re really looking forward to, to be back here. And then we’ll see what happens. We need a perfect weekend, that’s for sure.
Verstappen’s reference to a perfect weekend comes after a difficult outing in Singapore where the Dutchman and his team squandered the chance to wrap up the title there.
A messy Friday, a fuel error in qualifying and then a tricky race prevented Verstappen from taking the result he needed to claim the crown.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
He looks back to what happened over the Marina Bay weekend as a prime example of exactly what not to do – although he says the issues were fairly straightforward to understand.
“I mean, just watch the fuel level, so there’s not much to really change,” he said.
“When you fuel the car for five laps, you can do five laps, you can’t do six laps. You can talk about it for hours, but it won’t suddenly change anything.
“But it’s not just that, I mean we had a very bad Friday in terms of lap count. So there too I think some things went wrong.
“We modified the car, we couldn’t really test, of course, because it was wet, and we chased it until the race. So yeah, just a very complicated weekend and I think that it was just a great example of how you don’t want a weekend to go.
“So you learn from that. But there is nothing that suddenly needs to change in the team. We all know it was a bad weekend. But we have also shown this year that we have had a lot of very good weekends, so we know how to do it.
The Red Bull driver heads to Suzuka with a 104-point advantage over nearest rival Charles Leclerc, with Sergio Perez two points clear. He must finish the race 112 points ahead of both to be assured of the title this weekend.
The clearest path for Verstappen to get what he needs would be to win the race and set the fastest lap, as that would give him exactly the number of points he needs regardless of where Leclerc is. and Perez finish.
But if he wins the race and doesn’t set the fastest lap and Leclerc finishes second, the championship will move on to the next race in the United States.
While the result is entirely in Verstappen’s hands, and he is aware Japan would be the best place to wrap up the title due to his team’s close relationship with Honda, he believes nothing short of perfection. will not suffice.
Asked what it would mean to win the crown in Japan, Verstappen said: “It would make it a bit more special, because of our relationship with Honda.
“I also think it was bad enough that we couldn’t be here last year in a title fight. So that’s what we’re really looking forward to, to be back here. And then we’ll see what happens. We need a perfect weekend, that’s for sure.
Verstappen’s reference to a perfect weekend comes after a difficult outing in Singapore where the Dutchman and his team squandered the chance to wrap up the title there.
A messy Friday, a fuel error in qualifying and then a tricky race prevented Verstappen from taking the result he needed to claim the crown.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18
Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images
He looks back to what happened over the Marina Bay weekend as a prime example of exactly what not to do – although he says the issues were fairly straightforward to understand.
“I mean, just watch the fuel level, so there’s not much to really change,” he said.
“When you fuel the car for five laps, you can do five laps, you can’t do six laps. You can talk about it for hours, but it won’t suddenly change anything.
“But it’s not just that, I mean we had a very bad Friday in terms of lap count. So there too I think some things went wrong.
“We modified the car, we couldn’t really test, of course, because it was wet, and we chased it until the race. So yeah, just a very complicated weekend and I think that it was just a great example of how you don’t want a weekend to go.
“So you learn from that. But there is nothing that suddenly needs to change in the team. We all know it was a bad weekend. But we have also shown this year that we have had a lot of very good weekends, so we know how to do it.