Verstappen WINS F1 world title after Leclerc time penalty in wild rain hit Japanese GP where Gasly nearly hit a tractor

MAX VERSTAPPEN has clinched his SECOND Formula One world championship title with four races to go.

The Dutchman started in P1 in Japan and dominated the rain soaked race, crossing the line with a lead greater than 20 seconds.

Title rival Charles Leclerc finished second, which would’ve seen the title race go into Austin in two weeks time.

But Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage on Sergio Perez on the final lap, seeing the pair swap places.

It meant Verstappen was crowned world champion in bizarre circumstances for a second year running after his controversial last lap win over Lewis Hamilton last year.

Verstappen found out about his title win while Perez was conducting a post-race interview.

And he even questioned if it was fully confirmed in the cool down room before sitting on a golden throne.

Speaking initially he said: “I’m just very happy we got to race in the end. It was raining heavily, luckily we got quite a few laps in. I’m very pleased to win here. But also happy to see the fans. Very happy that we could race here.

“I mean I was just happy we had a race to not have a race would be terrible. It would’ve been great to win the championship but it’s another opportunity for the next race.”

He was then told he was world champ, to which he replied: “What can I say? incredible! Very special to do it here. In front of the Honda people and the Japanese fans.”

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After some confusion, full points were awarded, extending Verstappen’s gap in the championship to 113, making him uncatchable.

Title rival Charles Leclerc said: “Well from lap five, it was all downhill. I really struggled with the tyres but after three four laps we just destroyed them. Struggled this time. Huge congrats to Max on his second championship.

“Max’s title this year was just a matter of time. We expected him to win the title. Now we just use the last few races to become a better team.”

Racing in Japan was brought to a grinding halt in the opening laps after Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Williams’ Alex Albon crashed out.

The red flag was waived but tricky conditions saw racing be suspended.

Conditions were so tough that AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly had a near-miss with a tractor.

The tractor was on track collecting Sainz’s Ferrari when Gasly came awfully close to a collision.

F1 lost a life in a similar situation on the same track in 2014.

Jules Bianchi ran off track in tricky conditions and ran under a crane vehicle.

The Frenchman was left with severe brain damage and sadly passed in 2015.