Lewis Hamilton is expected to bring home his sixth F1 World Championship and it looks like he’ll get to lift the trophy at the end of the US Grand Prix, which will happen on Sunday.
Winning his sixth F1 crown will put him within striking distance behind global icon Michael Schumacher, who has seven under his belt.
All he has to do is to at least finish at the eighth-place to get those champagne bottles popping. The British driver currently has 363 points at the table and running behind him is his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who is 74 points behind with 289 points.
Ferrari counterparts Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel are third and fourth with 236 and 230 points respectively, and they will do all they can to delay Hamilton’s championship coronation in Austin, Texas.
But before we get into the Austin circuit, allow SBOBET to give you some talking points ahead of this much-awaited race.
Talking points
Alexander Albon’s US debut
Alexander Albon has built some momentum coming into Austin fresh from finishing only one spot behind Charles Leclerc in the Mexican Grand Prix. The Thai-Briton went to as high as third place before ending up fifth, which was one of his best races up to date.
Good things have happened for Albon since he made the switch from Toro Rosso to Red Bull this year. He has shown his capability to adapt to new surroundings well as he outscored Max Verstappen since joining the team.
With that said, the 23-year-old is brimming with confidence coming into Austin and he hopes to make a bid for his maiden podium finish of his budding F1 career come Sunday.
“I’ve never driven the track in Austin but I’ve heard a lot of good things about it. The US Grand Prix seems like a cool race, I think you have a bit more downforce on the car than in Mexico which makes it more fun to drive,” shared Albon.
Will Max Verstappen bounce back?
Fellow Red Bull racer Max Verstappen has had a rough time as of late. He was stripped of his pole position during the Mexican Grand Prix, and he ran into trouble with some officials due to his antics.
The Belgian-Dutch racer was given a three-race grid drop as he failed to slow down for yellow caution flags after an unfortunate crash to Valtteri Bottas.
It’s back to the drawing board again for Verstappen, as he looks to make amends of his costly mistakes. But it will all start within himself as he should focus on his race strategy rather than dealing with the outside noise.
It doesn’t help when he engages with a war of words against Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. The two rival racers recently commented on his “reckless driving” which drew the ire of the 22-year-old.
“It was a bit of a silly comment to make. I think I’m always a hard racer, but fair – and I think it’s just not correct. But it’s easy to have a dig at someone,” said Verstappen.
“It only shows that I’m in their heads, and that’s a good thing,” he added.
Last season, Verstappen managed to deny Hamilton of the 2018 US title in COTA, and a similar performance this time while fighting for a spot on the podium should be the best-case scenario for the Red Bull driver.
Can Ferrari spoil the party?
We all know that Lewis Hamilton will most likely bring home the overall championship, and the least that the Ferrari racers can do is to make him earn it the hard way in Austin.
The Prancing Horse has had one of their drivers getting pole position at each of the last six races this season. However, they’ve only managed to in three of those contests, which is why team boss Mattia Binotto reminds his wards to maximize more of those opportunities moving forward.
“We are encouraged by the fact that we now have a package that allows us to fight for wins on most tracks. It’s a significant improvement on how we started the year,” observed Binotto.
“We need to use the last three races of this season to further develop as a group and to operate in the sharpest possible manner in order to be better prepared for next year. It is a very tight field at the front and every detail matters if we want to win more often,” he elaborated.
Charles Leclerc should emerge as one of the favourites in this one, as he remains to be one of the quickest drivers in action right now. It has been a while since the Monegasque racer last won in the Grand Prix, and for sure he’s itching to bag home another title this time around – while producing some of the best US Grand Prix 2019 highlights.
History
The US Grand Prix has been a personal playground for Lewis Hamilton as he won the most titles here with six – including a four-peat from 2014 to 2017.
That winning streak was snapped by Kimi Raikkonen last year in what was his last race for the Prancing Horse before transferring to Alfa Romeo.
What are the odds?
This figures to be a neck-and-neck affair between Ferrari and Mercedes racers as they are pegged at 1.85 and 1.97 respectively in the Asian Handicap Market, based on our US Grand Prix 2019 odds.
While most would dub Hamilton as the hot favourite, he has no incentive to go all-out in this race since he’ll only need four points to bring home his sixth F1 World Championship.
This leaves someone like Charles Leclerc or even Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to win it in Austin. However, Hamilton shouldn’t finish below fourth in this circuit.
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