A "mistake" made by Formula 1 chiefs last season led to the loophole which saw Max Verstappen earn enough points at the Japanese Grand Prix to be crowned world champion," Christian Horner said.
The title 'race' has been a foregone conclusion for a long time now. The Dutchman overcame a couple of early-season reliability issues to dominate this year's championship, opening up a massive gap to Charles Leclerc and team-mate Sergio Perez in the drivers' standings.
He made it official at Suzuka, after earning enough points to make it mathematically impossible for the Red Bull star to be caught. But that didn't look to be the case at first, as the race was shortened due to the terrible weather and it was expected that points would be awarded proportionately with only 29 laps completed.
That rule was created after last season's debacle at the Belgian Grand Prix. The rain was so bad at Spa that the race was eventually called off after just two laps completed behind a safety car. Half points were handed out in that unprecedented situation, and team bosses later created a rule to deal with any such eventuality in the future.
But the wording of that rule left a loophole, which went unnoticed until it became relevant in Japan at the weekend. That proportional system only comes into effect if the race is not restarted after a red flag, so because the racing was able to continue at Suzuka, full points could be handed out.
That fact, coupled with a late penalty for Leclerc for some overly-aggressive defending against Perez on the final lap, made Verstappen's title official. But even he had to double check, and Red Bull bosses were digging through the rule book to make sure before the celebrations got under way.
Horner admitted the bizarre situation had come about because F1 team bosses did not close that loophole when drawing up that rule last year. "I think it's a mistake that wasn't included after the issues in Spa last year, that the regulations haven't been mocked up," he said.
"Because we were under the strong impression that only 75 per cent of the race points would be scored. So, we felt that we were going to be one point short but in the end, Checo's move on Charles nailed Max the championship. You could see his surprise, the team's surprise. A wonderful surprise.
"It was the most amazing finish and almost against expectations. We were debating on the pit wall whether to pit him, did we have enough of a window? But then with all the things that can go wrong, you're thinking why take the risk for that one point here?
"And there was no assurance that Checo was going to make the move on Charles, so the expectation on the pit wall was that we've got one point to go and get in Austin. But, as it transpired, we had got more than enough points and didn't need a fastest lap anyway."
