Title Fight Decoded: What Bottas Must Do to Stop Lewis Hamilton From Becoming F1 Champ in Turkey

Lewis Hamilton is out to topple as many Michael Schumacher records as he can this year. Although the Briton believes that there’s more to success than breaking records, he will be conscious of them as he draws closer to achieving more records. Presently, he eyes to equal Schumacher’s colossal record of 7 Drivers’ Championships.

Several pundits of the sport believe that Lewis Hamilton is out to win 10 championships. However, it sounds unrealistic, as the Stevenage man has already hinted at retirement. However, for now the British powerhouse will be gunning for the 2020 title.

Yet for the convenience of the fans, here are the several ways in which Lewis Hamilton could walk with the championship at the Turkish Grand Prix.

There are still 104 points yet to score at this year’s championship. If Valtteri Bottas wants to challenge his teammate, he will have to win the race with the best lap maintaining an 8 point gap between him and Hamilton.

That is the only way Bottas can bring an end to the Briton’s title hopes.

Lewis Hamilton can win even if he is not on the podium

Besides that, all the other possibilities lead to Hamilton winning the championship. For instance, if Bottas takes P1 without getting the fastest lap that is 25 points, Hamilton wins the championship.

To further delve into hypothetical situations where Bottas can battle out the championship would be Bottas finishing 2nd with the fastest lap and the Briton finishing below P4. Then the Finn could still take the fight to Hamilton in Bahrain.

Lewis Hamilton could bag the championship even if he finishes fifth with the fastest lap giving him 11 pts. In that case, even if the Finn places P2, he will fail to maintain that 8 point deficit to Hamilton, scoring only 18 pts.

To further aggravate the situation, Bottas could also be P3 with the fastest lap and Hamilton could still win the race if he is within P5. If the Finn takes P3 without the fastest lap, the Briton will have to be P6 or more to win.

Dropping down the table, if Bottas cannot score a podium and is P4 with the fastest lap (13pts), Hamilton will have to do a P7 to win the championship. If Bottas is P4 without the fastest lap, Lewis Hamilton can drop way down to P8 and still win with the fastest lap.

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Bundling the last few possibilities together here. If Bottas finishes in P5 or P6 with the fastest lap, Hamilton will have to be within P8 and P9 respectively to win.

If the Finn scores those positions, without the fastest lap, Lewis could drop back to P9 with the fastest lap or P10, respectively, and still win. However, if the Finn were to finish anywhere below a P6, the title would fall into the Briton’s lap.

The crux of the matter is that Lewis can win the title at Istanbul in a number of scenarios to win the championship at Istanbul. Judging from his form it seems like, there is no way Valtteri can challenge him. Yet, in the weird circus of F1, anything can happen.

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