Just in Suzuka a year ago Max Verstappen won the second world title of his career with 5 races ahead of the calendar. In Austin, the constructors' title arrived for Red Bull the following race weekend. Compared to last season, the Austrian team dominated all the circuits on the calendar, except for Singapore where the victory went to Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz. This trail of success, achieved especially in the first part of the calendar, has guaranteed Red Bull a certain advantage over its rivals. And that's why already this weekend in Japan, with 7 races and three Sprints remaining in the championship, the sixth world title could arrive for Red Bull. However, let's see what the conditions are for Red Bull to become world champion in Suzuka and also when we could have the official award of the drivers' title, which Max Verstappen is holding onto at the moment.
Max will have to wait
With 7 races and 3 Sprints to run, there are 206 points on the table. Max Verstappen currently has 374 points and a 151 point gap on teammate Sergio Perez thanks to 12 wins out of 15 races held so far. It is therefore impossible for the third world title to arrive at Suzuka. If he wins in Suzuka, the first opportunity he will be able to win the championship will be the following race weekend, in Qatar. The Sprint will return to the Losail circuit, therefore extra points that would lead Max to comfortably win the title.
Red Bull world champion at Suzuka SE
Everyone believed that Red Bull would win them all but unexpectedly in Singapore, it was Ferrari who triumphed. Red Bull didn't even manage to finish on the podium, the first real misstep by a team that until then had demonstrated a clear superiority over the competition, even on different tracks. But Singapore is such a unique track that underestimating Red Bull, thinking that their decline has begun, can be fatal. In fact, the RB19 should comfortably return to victory at Suzuka. However, this does not stop teams from reacting. Ferrari, which knows it has a more difficult track ahead, will in fact lead among the updates a new fund. McLaren will also continue to bring the updates that already debuted on Norris' MCL6O in Singapore.
Red Bull's bid to become world champion could be in jeopardy. But let's see how it could win the constructors' title in Japan. In the constructors' standings, Red Bull precedes Mercedes with a 308 point lead. Red Bull would need to gain just one more point than Mercedes and not be beaten by Ferrari by more than 24. If they were to regain their pre-Singapore performance in Suzuka they would need a double with the fastest lap, or a top three finish of Verstappen and Perez. But if Mercedes did the double instead of Red Bull, third and fourth place would not be enough for Red Bull and the fight for the title would therefore move to Qatar.
Will Ferrari, Mercedes and McLaren be able to prevent this from happening?
Source: Formula1
