'I didn't expect it,' says Max Verstappen after penalty hands him F1 championship | Sport

Max Verstappen was declared Formula 1 world champion on Sunday after winning a dramatic rain-shortened Japanese Grand Prix. | Sport24news

Verstappen was informed he had retained his title midway through the post-race TV interview, and even the driver himself was not sure if he had sealed the deal.

"It's a crazy feeling of course as I didn't expect it when I crossed the line," said a shell-shocked Verstappen. "Was it going to be half points? I didn't know how many points I was going to get. I was happy with the race we had."The race got off to a chaotic start in heavy rain, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Williams' Alex Albon exiting on the first lap prompting a safety car.

A red flag soon followed and forced the drivers to wait for more than an hour before the action restarted, again under a safety car. Verstappen resumed with a lead over Leclerc and Perez, and extended it as conditions gradually improved."The first is a little more emotional, the second one is beautiful," he said."It's been a special year, and you need to remind yourself as these kind of years you don't have very often.

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