Formula 1: Red Bull eliminated in Imola
By Asher Fair
Red Bull have 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 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 constructor championship.
The Milton Keynes-based team entered this 63-lap race the 21-turn, 3.05-mile (4.908-kilometer) road course in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy sitting in second place in the constructor standings, 2019 points (435 to 226) behind the six-time world champions for the lead, and they were the only team aside from the Silver Arrows remaining in championship contention.
This race was the 13th of 17 races on the schedule, meaning that a maximum of 220 points were on the table for each team throughout the rest of the season before it started, 44 in each race.
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The race winner scores 25 points, the second place finisher scores 18 points, and the driver who runs the race’s fastest lap scores one bonus point.
Following this race, there would be a maximum of 176 points on the table for each team throughout the remainder of the season.
With Mercedes having already clinched the tiebreaker over Red Bull due to having 10 wins through the first 12 races compared to Red Bull’s one and Red Bull therefore not having any way to win more than six races in 2020, this meant that any lead over Red Bull of at least 176 points after the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for Mercedes would secure them their seventh consecutive title.
This meant that Red Bull needed to outscore the Brackley-based team by 34 points in this race just to remain mathematically alive.
That did not happen.
In fact, Mercedes had a perfect race, with Lewis Hamilton winning and scoring the bonus point for running the race’s fastest lap and Valtter Bottas finishing in second place.
Red Bull, meanwhile, failed to score, as Max Verstappen was forced to retire from second place with a late tire failure and Alexander Albon saw a decent result go out the window with a late spin as well. So Mercedes now lead them by 253 points (479 to 226) in the standings with four races remaining.
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As a result, Mercedes clinched their seventh consecutive world championship, surpassing Ferrari’s all-time record of six from 1999 to 2004.