Really impressive how Alonso is still holding onto 3rd. I don’t think he’ll be able to keep ahead of Hamilton though.
Agree with you.
It also shows how massive the gap between Lance and Fernando really is.
Happy to see Lando there though. Would be awesome to see him in a more competative car.
What’s the earliest a driver has ever clinched the title?
In 2002 Michael Schumacher won the WDC with 6 races remaining.
Mind you that there were were only 17 races in total that season, so he took it just before two thirds of the season was done.
This season will have 22 races (excluding the cancelled ones), and two thirds of that is 14.7 races. Since the next race will be number 15, he will not be able to break that in terms of relative progress in the season. He also cannot beat the 6 races, because to do it with 7 races left he would have to become WDC in Singapore, which is mathematically not possible. He can (theoretically) do it in Japan, so he can still equal that record, albeit with more races in a season…
In 2002 there was still the old point system. Maybe that would change your calculation.
I think Max can wrap it up after Singapore.
There will be seven races to go, including 3 sprintraces.
7 races including fastest lap is: 7 * (25 + 1) = 182 points
3 sprintraces is 3 * 8 = 24 points.
That means he would have to lead by 206 points. He is now 145 points ahead, so no, Singapore is mathematically not possible.
OK. The the race after. If he wins Singapore, then Japan, he’ll be at least 197 points ahead of Perez with 180 possible winning points for the rest of the year.
Not to sound too pessimistic, but that means he will have to extend his lead by 35 points (to get to 180). That means winning both races while Perez finishes 6th or lower. Perez isn’t amazing but 2 races 6th or lower is also not realistic.
Also: 180 points is just the regular races and the fastest lap. There are also 3 sprintraces to go, that is another 24 points, so he would have to lead by 204 points after Japan.
Edit: you are correct on the 180 points. I added the sprint-races double somehow. The conclusion doesn’t change though.
