Max Verstappen wrapped up a second F1 world championship on Sunday, however you will not discover any photos of him celebrating with the trophy he simply gained.

It stays one of many archaic quirks of Formulation One which the world champion doesn’t obtain their trophy till the top of the 12 months. Verstappen won’t get his arms on it once more till the black tie FIA Prize Giving Gala in December.

The championship trophy makes fleeting appearances at F1 occasions. On the Japanese Grand Prix it was on the entrance of the grid throughout the pre-race formalities however was conspicuously nowhere to be seen when Verstappen was celebrating profitable it a number of hours later.

Loads of F1 followers would in all probability battle to right away consider what the championship trophy seems like, which is weird while you examine that to different sports activities.

Most main sporting occasions instantly conjure up psychological pictures of the trophy on provide — the big Stanley Cup, the golden FIFA World Cup, the Vincent Lombardi Trophy, the Ashes urn, or the Indy 500’s Borg-Warner Trophy, to call just a few examples. Even the sight of the winner of the Masters slipping right into a crisp inexperienced jacket is known — it’s as synonymous with golf as Tiger Woods strolling down a fairway in a pink shirt on the ultimate day of a significant.

These trophies are particular as a result of they’re related to the uncooked emotion of victory. However seek for any picture of the F1 trophy and you’ll often discover photos of it in a sterile setting, being held by drivers in good fits a number of weeks or months down the road, when the second has lengthy handed them by.

After profitable in Japan, Verstappen briefly held the Japanese Grand Prix trophy whereas on the rostrum (which in itself was very spectacular) however that was it. There was no trophy ceremony for the brand new world champion.

The FIA and F1 are actually doing the championship trophy a disservice, too, as a result of it’s a actually putting prize. A towering silver jug with gold lining, that includes the title of each champion courting again to the inaugural championship in 1950.

To point out you the way unknown it’s, there is no such thing as a Wikipedia web page for the trophy, which is formally known as the FIA Formulation One World Drivers’ Championship trophy.

Why does he have to attend for it?

F1 has pushed for a rethink in how the trophy is handed out lately, however the FIA has caught to its present formulation.

The rationale the FIA offers is {that a} postseason attraction by a rival group might alter the end result of the championship if factors are deducted from a driver. Whereas that logic is smart, it immediately contradicts what occurs on the finish of the grand prix occasion.

As we noticed finally week’s Singapore Grand Prix, Sergio Perez celebrated victory on the rostrum regardless of the actual fact he confronted what might have been a result-altering penalty. After doing the rostrum and conducting his media duties, he went to see the stewards — on that event he stored the victory, however it reveals you the way the present process rewards the winner within the second somewhat than after the actual fact.

Satirically, the perfect instance of a post-championship attraction threatening the end result of the championship was final 12 months, when Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to the title on the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Mercedes ultimately dropped their attraction a number of hours earlier than Verstappen was formally offered with the trophy on the gala occasion.

However you need to go additional again to seek out different examples. In 1999, Ferrari was briefly disqualified — handing Mika Hakkinen and McLaren the championship — from the penultimate race of the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix, solely to be reinstated later that night. In 2007, McLaren appealed Sauber and Williams for gasoline irregularities the week after Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen had gained the title — which might have altered the results of the Brazilian Grand Prix and made Hamilton champion — however it got here to nothing.