Formula 1: How Max Verstappen can clinch a crucial tiebreaker

Max Verstappen can clinch a crucial tiebreaker over Lewis Hamilton in any one of the remaining four races on the 2021 Formula 1 schedule.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen secured his second straight victory and ninth of the 2021 Formula 1 season in this past Sunday afternoon’s Mexican Grand Prix at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

With Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finishing in second place and teammate Valtteri Bottas taking the fastest lap point off Verstappen on the final lap, this result allowed Verstappen to grow his 12-point lead over Hamilton to 19 points with four races remaining on the 22-race schedule.

This has positioned the 24-year-old Dutchman to clinch a crucial tiebreaker over the 36-year-old Briton in any one of the season’s final four races.

As long as Hamilton doesn’t win all four of these races, Verstappen will secure the wins tiebreaker.

But while it may seem crucial, the reality is that while Verstappen hasn’t technically secured it, he already has. Here’s why.

Verstappen has earned nine victories so far this season while Hamilton has earned five. But even if Hamilton does win all four races to tie Verstappen in wins, he would win the world championship anyway and would not need to rely on a tiebreaker.

With four straight wins to end the year, he would, at the absolute worst, finish two points ahead of Verstappen, factoring in the possibility of Verstappen winning the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race (three points) and taking the fastest lap point with runner-up finishes in all remaining events (19 points each).

Even in that scenario, Verstappen would have the tiebreaker, as he would have more runner-up finishes (nine) than Hamilton (seven), but again, it wouldn’t matter.

Hamilton would only have the tiebreaker if the two both finish with nine wins and Verstappen does not record more than two runner-up finishes in the final four races.

If both finish with seven runner-up finishes, Verstappen would win the tiebreaker if he also records two third place finishes, as Hamilton has recorded one already this season while Verstappen has not recorded any.

But if not, Hamilton would win the tiebreaker; he has both a fourth place finish and a fifth place finish to his name in 2021 while Verstappen does not have either one.

Bottom line, the tiebreaker scenario is such that, no matter what else happens throughout the rest of the season, Verstappen’s 19-point lead means that Hamilton needs to outscore him by 20.

Anything less than that, and Verstappen wins the 2021 world championship.

Verstappen is listed by WynnBET as the favorite to win this year’s title at -475, with Hamilton listed as the underdog at +300.

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This means that a $475 bet on Verstappen would return $575 ($100 winnings) while a $100 bet on Hamilton would return $400 ($300 winnings).

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The Brazilian Grand Prix is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, November 14. Start your free trial of FuboTV today!