Five more drivers were mathematically eliminated from championship contention following the 14th race of the 2018 Formula 1 season, the Italian Grand Prix.
A total of 11 of the 20 active Formula 1 drivers entered the 14th race of the 21-race season, the Italian Grand Prix, still mathematically eligible to win this season’s driver championship, as the other nine were mathematically eliminated after the Belgian Grand Prix.
Following the 53-lap race around the 11-turn, 3.600-mile (5.793-kilometer) Autodromo Nazionale Monza road course in Monza, Italy, five more drivers have been mathematically eliminated from championship contention, leaving just six drivers in the title fight.
The five drivers who have been mathematically eliminated from championship contention following the Italian Grand Prix are Renault Sport’s Nico Hulkenberg, Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Racing Point Force India teammates Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.
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With a maximum of 25 points on the table for each driver in each race, all drivers who were within 200 points of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton coming into the race were still mathematically eligible to win the championship since eight races remained on the 2018 schedule.
Hamilton came into the race with 231 points, meaning all drivers who had at least 31 points still had a chance to win the 2018 driver championship. Because he won the race and there are just seven races remaining on this year’s schedule, he secured 25 points and has earned 256 points this season while maximum of 175 points are on the table for each driver throughout the rest of 2018.
As a result, all drivers who are not within 175 points of Hamilton, meaning all drivers who have not scored at least 79 points so far this season, have been eliminated from championship contention.
Hulkenberg entered the Italian Grand Prix in seventh place in the driver standings with 52 points. He finished the race in 13th place, meaning he failed to score points. Magnussen entered the race in eighth in the standings with 49 points, and he finished in 16th, meaning that he, too, failed to score points.
Also failing to score points in the Italian Grand Prix was Alonso, who entered the race in ninth place in the driver standings with 44 points. He was forced to retire as a result of a mechanical failure and was officially scored in 18th.
Ocon and Perez finished the Italian Grand Prix in sixth and seventh place, thus scoring eight and six points, respectively, but they did not do enough to stay in championship contention. Ocon entered the race with 37 points, meaning he now has 45 points, and Perez entered it with 40 points, meaning he now has 46 points.
The only six drivers who are still mathematically eligible to win this season’s driver championship are Hamilton, his teammate Valtteri Bottas, Scuderia Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
While six drivers are still eligible to win this year’s Formula 1 driver championship, the title fight will likely come down to between four-time Formula 1 champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton currently leads Vettel by 30 points in the driver standings while Kimi Raikkonen is the next closest driver to them in third place. The 2007 Formula 1 champion sits 62 points behind Vettel and 92 points behind Hamilton.