The third title
Next weekend Formula 1 will be in Qatar for the eighteenth race weekend of this year. That will be a special one, because Max Verstappen will almost certainly become world champion for the third time. What should he do for that?
Logically, this time it will not be as controversial as two years ago and as confusing as last year. Yet there is a good chance that Max Verstappen will again win the world title this year in a slightly different way than usual. The 26-year-old 48-time GP winner has excellent credentials to gain enough points to secure his third title in the sprint race in Qatar on Saturday. If he finishes sixth (three points) or higher, he will be a three-time world champion.
If Verstappen does not succeed for some reason, then we have to look at what teammate Sergio Pérez does. After all, that is the one who must be at least 180 points ahead of Verstappen to become champion. Verstappen now has a 177-point lead and there is still a maximum of 180 points to be won until the end of the season, but two points (if he finishes seventh on Saturday) is enough for him, provided Pérez finishes second or lower. If Verstappen finishes eighth in the sprint race, Pérez may not finish higher than third. If Verstappen does not finish in the points at all, he will have to hope for fourth place or lower ahead of his teammate and then he will still be champion.
| Verstappen in sprint race | Champion? |
| 1st | Yes |
| 2nd | Yes |
| 3rd | Yes |
| 4th | Yes |
| 5th | Yes |
| 6th | Yes |
| 7th | Provided Pérez is at most P2 |
| 8th | Provided Pérez is at most P3 |
| 9th or lower | Provided Pérez is at most P4 |
Suppose, in the most unfavorable scenario for Verstappen, Pérez wins the sprint race and Verstappen scores no points. The Mexican then catches up with Verstappen by eight points and the Dutchman’s lead then shrinks to 169 points. However, he only needs to be 146 points ahead of Pérez at the end of the weekend to be champion. Pérez must win the race on Sunday, while Verstappen scores at most one point if he wants to advance to the United States GP.
You can read more about the coming race weekend here.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl