Points/Standing cause of CONVID-19 (NOT race/event due to virus)

Major Eazy

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Hiya. I'm new here, just joined.

Please note: I am not talking about how the virus affect the schedules and events. I am not talking about which races is going to be cancelled or postponed to a later date, I am not talking about which races will be held behind closed doors. I'm sure there are plenty of threads about this on many other forums.

I'm talking about the World Driver's Championship standing. The points the drivers gets in order to win the championship, and how the cancel/postpone of few races will change that.

In the past few years (examples being 2017, 2018, and 2019) Lewis Hamilton had been able to build up a lead, usually around between 50 to 100 points ahead of whoever is in second place on the championship standings. Even if there was no COVID-19 virus, many people would believe Lewis could do it again in 2020, there could have been a chance that Lewis would be anywhere between 50 to 100 points ahead by around October/November.

But this year, a few of the races have been either cancelled or postponed, and F1 is expected to start in May. That means what?

A likelihood of not picking up between 75 to 100 points? Australian GP was said to be "cancelled" so a driver won't pick up 25 points. The next three (Bahrain, Vietnam, and China) were said to be "postponed" therefore could be rebooked for a later date or totally cancelled, that's 75 points in doubt. (This is assuming if Dutch GP and Spanish GP are going ahead.)

I figure maybe Lewis could manage to get to be only barely between 0 to 50 points ahead? Maybe either Bottas and Vettel could be very close on Lewis's heels? Could it be possible that either Bottas or Vettel (or even Leclerc or Verstappen) could be barely a couple of points behind or ahead of Lewis?

If you think of it this way, some years ago, the championship is not over until the last race, when the top two drivers may have a gap of a few points. Then in the past few years, Lewis won the championship with 2 or 3 or 4 races left to go. Do you guys think maybe this year, the outcome of the championship will depend on the last race?

I'm guessing the Championship standings will look like it's back in the 1990s-2000s. I'm guessing Lewis could get his 7th title, but the points would look too close between the first and second place drivers.

What are your options on what the Championship standings will be like? (Bear in mind 3 races are in doubt in addition to the 1 race already cancelled, therefore up to 100 points in doubt, could be up to 150 points assuming if Dutch and Spanish races are unsure.)

Many thanks.
 
Hello Major Eazy and welcome, it’s nice to have someone new join us, and an interesting new topic to share.
But you are right less races would mean each one would be absolutely crucial to the championship. It’s very possible the championship decider would be the very last race. That would put some oomph back into F1.
 
Hello Major Eazy and welcome, it’s nice to have someone new join us, and an interesting new topic to share.
But you are right less races would mean each one would be absolutely crucial to the championship. It’s very possible the championship decider would be the very last race. That would put some oomph back into F1.

Thanks, and yeah, the so-called "championship decider" could be on the last race, if not on the penultimate race.
 
Possibly yes, however there used to be only 16 races a season and it's still didn't always go to be last race. In 1992 there were only 16 races and it was over by race 11. For me it actually takes out some of the Grand Prixs I would expect Ferrari and Red Bull to stand a chance at and this make a Merc domination more likely.

Welcome the site Major Eazy! Brilliant content to open with. You are very welcome here sir.
 
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Perhaps it may become more exciting, back to the 60's with a handfull of races where skill and breakdowns decided the result. You take a bigger chance of failure as the more unskilled aggressive driver may lose out, Vettel, Max, the odds of winning a wheel banging session with Lewis is not great as either both lose or Lewis drives away, statistics suggest that is the case.
 
I would dispute that this would affect lewis Hamilton chances of winning the title because of the less races or starting in "middle" of the season because we cant forget 2017 vettel had a 14pt lead going into the summer break or 2018 when vettel had a 8pt lead in championship while leading the german gp & likely chance of making it 20-30pts lead

then in 2019, even if you start the season after the French GP when they'd won 8 in a row. Hamilton would have still won the title by nearly 50pts & a race early because even with the crash, 7th would've been enough to clinch the title
Lewis 226
Verstappen 178
Leclerc 177
Bottas 175
Vettel 129
 
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