Max Verstappen could this weekend wrap up his second world drivers’ championship at the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.
The Dutchman holds a commanding 116-point advantage over Charles Leclerc with six races of the 2022 season remaining.
Leclerc stands as the only realistic challenger for the crown, though Sergio Perez, George Russell, and Carlos Sainz remain theoretically in contention.
Perez’s chances are long at best given he is team-mate of Verstappen and would likely be prevented from mounting a serious challenge by Red Bull.
Not that it is realistic, the Mexican can score a maximum of 374 points in 2022 – that is victory and fastest lap in each of the remaining races, including the Sprint in Sao Paulo.
Should Verstappen win in Marina Bay (without the bonus point for fastest lap), the Dutchman’s tally would move on to 360 points.
Perez would have to finish third (or fourth with the fastest lap), or second should his team-mate set the fastest lap, simply to keep his slim title hopes alive.
Even still, they’d likely be extinguished in Japan next weekend.
Sainz’s and Russell’s hopes are even more precarious. Both will be eliminated from the title race if Verstappen wins.
Leclerc is in the best position to delay the championship’s resolution; the Monegasque needs finish only eighth or better (seventh if Verstappen sets the fastest lap) to ensure the battle goes on to Japan next weekend.
That outcome is also guaranteed should there be any outcome other than a Verstappen win.
The championship being moved out of reach is therefore a longshot this weekend, but it is not off the table all together. And with the performances of Verstappen thus far in 2022 it cannot be ruled out, not matter how seemingly unlikely it may be.
The Dutchman has been in devastating for much of the season with 11 wins from the opening 16 races.
With the exception of the British Grand Prix, where he battled a damaged car having led early on, he has finished no worse than third each time he has seen the flag.
That follows a trying start to the year after being forced out of the Bahrain Grand Prix in the closing laps (officially he was classified 19th) and stopping during the Australian Grand Prix when chasing Leclerc.
Since then, he’s recorded a third in Monaco and a second in Austria with every other finish (again, barring the British GP) a victory.
Red Bull has benefitted from the Dutchman’s incredible run, too, holding a 139-point advantage over Ferrari in the constructors’ title.
While that is a competition that can’t be resolved this weekend, like the drivers’ crown, it seems a matter of when rather than if.
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