Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel eliminated after 2018 Mexican Grand Prix
By Asher Fair
Sebastian Vettel has been mathematically eliminated from 2018 Formula 1 championship contention following the Mexican Grand Prix.
Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel entered the 19th race of the 21-race 2018 Formula 1 season, the Mexican Grand Prix, at risk of being mathematically eliminated from championship contention and thus the losing possibility of joining the short list of five-time Formula 1 champions this season.
Vettel entered the 71-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.674-mile (4.304-kilometer) Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico trailing Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton by 70 points for the lead of the driver standings. Hamilton also entered the race as a four-time Formula 1 champion.
A maximum of 75 points were on the table for each driver throughout the final three races of the season entering this race. With two races remaining, a maximum of 50 points are on the table for each driver before the season concludes.
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Because Hamilton entered the Mexican Grand Prix with nine victories this season and Vettel entered with five, there was no way by which Vettel could possibly win a tiebreaker over Hamilton if the two drivers tied in points at the end of the season since Vettel’s maximum possible win total was eight.
This meant that Vettel needed to remain within 49 points of Hamilton coming out of the Mexican Grand Prix as opposed to 50 points to remain mathematically eligible to win the championship. In other words, Vettel had to win the Mexican Grand Prix and Hamilton had to fail to score more than four points in it in order for Vettel to remain mathematically eligible to win the championship heading into the penultimate race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Vettel ended up finishing the Mexican Grand Prix in second place and scoring 18 points, meaning it didn’t matter where Hamilton finished since the fact that Vettel didn’t win the race meant that he had been mathematically eliminated from championship contention.
Hamilton ended up finishing in fourth place and scoring 12 points, so even had Vettel won it, he still would have been mathematically eliminated from championship contention. Hamilton now leads Vettel by 64 points in the driver standings with two races remaining on the 2018 schedule.
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With Sebastian Vettel having been mathematically eliminated from 2018 Formula 1 championship contention and his focus on 2019 as far as the championship is concerned, will he end up becoming the fourth driver to win at least five Formula 1 championships next year? If not, will he ever win his fifth career Formula 1 title? If so, when will he pull it off?