Formula 1: Max Verstappen eliminated in Imola
By Asher Fair
Max Verstappen has been mathematically eliminated from 2020 Formula 1 world championship contention following the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen knew entering the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari that he did not have much of a chance to rally to win the 2020 Formula 1 world championship over Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
He entered this 63-lap race the 21-turn, 3.05-mile (4.908-kilometer) road course in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy sitting in third place in the driver standings, 94 points (256 to 162) behind the six-time world champion for the lead.
This race was the 13th of 17 on the 2020 calendar, meaning that there were a maximum of 130 points on the table for each driver throughout the remainder of the season entering this race, with 25 points awarded to the race winner and one additional point to the driver who runs each race’s fastest lap, provided that driver finishes in the top 10.
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So upon the conclusion of this race, there would only be a maximum of 104 points on the table.
Hamilton entered this race having already clinched the tiebreaker over Verstappen, as he won eight of the season’s first 12 races while Verstappen only won one and therefore could not possibly bring his win total to any higher than six. So Verstappen could only stay mathematically alive in the title fight by not allowing Hamilton to outscore him by more than nine points in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
It appears as though he would avoid elimination, as he was running in second place behind Hamilton and slated to score 18 points late in the race after passing Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. But a tire failure forced him to retire.
Hamilton ended up going on to win the race and score 26 points, and with that, he eliminated the 23-year-old Dutchman, who now trails him by 120 points in the standings.
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With four races remaining on the schedule, Hamilton leads Bottas, the only other remaining championship contender, by 85 points. While he hasn’t yet officially clinched the title, it would take a huge collapse for him not to seal it and tie Michael Schumacher for the all-time record with his seventh.