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Formula 1: How Lewis Hamilton can clinch the 2018 title in Mexico

By Asher Fair

AUSTIN, TX - OCTOBER 20: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes WO9 on track during final practice for the United States Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on October 20, 2018 in Austin, United States. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX - OCTOBER 20: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes WO9 on track during final practice for the United States Formula One Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on October 20, 2018 in Austin, United States. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) /
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Lewis Hamilton has a chance to clinch the 2018 Formula 1 championship in the Mexican Grand Prix. Here is how he can do it.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton entered the 18th race of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, the United States Grand Prix, with a chance to clinch his fifth career Formula 1 championship. However, he was unable to do so.

Now the 33-year-old Briton has another chance to do so in the Mexican Grand Prix, the race in which he clinched his fourth career Formula 1 championship last season.

Hamilton entered the United States Grand Prix with a 67-point lead in the driver standings (331 to 264) over fellow four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari. With his third place finish, he gained 15 points. Vettel, who finished in fourth, gained 12 points.

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As a result, Hamilton is set to enter the 71-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.674-mile (4.304-kilometer) Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico with a 70-point lead over Vettel in the driver standings.

Vettel is still mathematically eligible to win the 2018 Formula championship as a result of the fact that there are a maximum of 25 points left on the table for each driver in each of the final three races of the season, which are the Mexican Grand Prix, the Brazilian Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

However, considering the fact that Vettel pretty much everything to go his way in each of these three races, the odds that he will actually beat Hamilton to five career Formula 1 championships is slim.

Hamilton can clinch the 2018 championship in the Mexican Grand Prix if…

  • he finishes in the top seven OR Vettel doesn’t win

Vettel must make up 71 points over Hamilton over the course of the season’s final three races as opposed to 70 as a result of the fact that Vettel cannot win the tiebreaker over Hamilton since the tiebreaker would be based on win totals.

Even if Vettel wins all three races that remain on the schedule, his season win total, which is currently five, would only increase to eight. Hamilton’s, meanwhile, is already at nine.

The fact that Vettel must make up 71 points over Hamilton throughout the rest of the season means that he must win each of the remaining three races to even have a chance to win the championship over Hamilton, as two victories and a second place finish would only net him 68 points.

A seventh place finish for Hamilton in the Mexican Grand Prix, or any of the season’s three remaining races for that matter, would result in him scoring six points, which would make it impossible for Vettel to surpass his point total even if he wins each of the season’s remaining three races.

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Will Lewis Hamilton clinch his fifth career Formula 1 championship in this Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix? Be sure to tune in to ABC at 3:10 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the race from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to find out.

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