Max Verstappen has been mathematically eliminated from winning the 2018 Formula 1 driver championship following the Russian Grand Prix.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen entered the 16th race of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, the Russian Grand Prix, sitting in fifth place in the driver standings with 148 points.
The 20-year-old Dutchman trailed Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton, who led and still leads the driver standings, by 133 points, as Hamilton entered the race with 281 points.
There were six races left on the 2018 schedule heading into the 53-lap race around the 18-turn, 3.634-mile (5.848-kilometer) Sochi Autodrom road course in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
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Because of the fact that a maximum of 25 points are on the table for each driver in each race, Verstappen was mathematically eligible to win the championship heading into this race because of the fact that his point total was within 149 points than that of Hamilton.
This point total of 149 was not 150 because of the fact that Verstappen could not beat Hamilton in a situation involving a tiebreaker. While he could have tied Hamilton’s win total by winning each of the season’s final six races since he entered the race with one victory and Hamilton entered the race with seven, he would have ended the season with just two second place finishes. Meanwhile, Hamilton has already secured three second place finishes this year.
To remain mathematically eligible to win the 2018 driver championship following the Russian Grand Prix with five races remaining on the schedule, Verstappen needed to remain within 124 points (not 125 points) of Hamilton. He needed to outscore Hamilton by at least nine points in this race.
Verstappen finished in fifth place in the Russian Grand Prix and scored 10 points as a result of it, but Hamilton earned his eighth victory of the season and scored 25 points as a result of it. Hamilton now leads Verstappen by 148 points (306 to 158) in the driver standings, meaning that Verstappen is no longer mathematically eligible to win the 2018 driver championship.
Aside of Hamilton, there are just three drivers who are still mathematically eligible to win the driver championship. Those drivers are Scuderia Ferrari teammates Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.
Vettel sits in second place in the driver standings with 256 points while Bottas sits in third with 189 points and Raikkonen sits in fourth with 186 points. Vettel trails Hamilton by 50 points while Bottas trails him by 117 points and Raikkonen trails him by 120 points.
Which driver will be the next driver to be mathematically eliminated from 2018 Formula 1 driver championship contention? The next race is the Japanese Grand Prix, which is set to be broadcast live on ESPN2 from Suzuka Circuit beginning at 1:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, October 7.