Formula 1: Lewis Hamilton was eliminated in Monza

Following the Italian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton has been mathematically eliminated from winning an eighth Formula 1 world championship in 2022

With six races remaining on the 22-race 2022 Formula 1 schedule, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton sits 167 points behind reigning world champion Max Verstappen, who has led the championship since his Spanish Grand Prix victory back in May.

As a result, Hamilton has been mathematically eliminated from championship contention. In his first 15 seasons, which saw him eliminated just eight times, he had never been eliminated with six races remaining. He hadn’t been eliminated prior to the season finale since 2013.

There are 26 points on the table for each driver in each of the season’s remaining six races, 25 for the race winner and one for the driver who records the fastest lap. There is also one sprint qualifying race, and the winner of that race scores eight points. So the Mercedes driver can only score up to 164 more points before the season ends.

Even if he does that and Verstappen fails to score, he will be three points behind the Red Bull driver.

Hamilton entered the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday trailing Verstappen by 152 points with 190 points left on the table, and he finished in fifth place to score 10 points.

But in this 53-lap race around the 11-turn, 3.6-mile (5.794-kilometer) road course in Monza, Italy, Verstappen earned his fifth straight win, which tied Hamilton’s career-best win streak, and his 11th win of the season, which tied Hamilton’s career-high single-season win total, allowing him to move to 167 points ahead of the sport’s all-time winningest driver.

Verstappen himself has a chance to clinch a second consecutive world title in the next race on the schedule, the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay Street Circuit, on Sunday, October 2.

He owns a 116-point lead over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc entering this 61-lap race around the 23-turn, 3.146-mile (5.063-kilometer) temporary street circuit in Marina Bay, Singapore, and after this race, there will be just 138 points available for each driver.

Having clinched the tiebreaker over Leclerc, since Leclerc can only get up to nine wins in 2022, Verstappen can clinch the title in the Singapore Grand Prix by outscoring Leclerc by at least 22 points.