Formula One’s Driver Championship ended in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas Grand Prix, with all eyes now looking towards Brazil. Red Bull and Ferrari are looking to win at the next two circuits. Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel now move forward to Brazil and Abu Dhabi for a third-place position in the 2019 Championship.
The battle between these three for third place is the real championship of 2019. It was well known that Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes would win the 2019 Season. It’s also anticipated that he will win the 2020 Season before the regulation and car changes in 2021. Afterwards, most expect that Hamilton would keep up with the new young blood in Formula 1 and be forced to retire.
The teams are focusing on these last two races for money. Depending on your position in the constructor’s standings, more money is paid out by Formula 1 towards the development on next years car. Right now, Red Bull is third in the standings and Ferrari is in second. However, this could change in Brazil with Charles Leclerc facing a 10-Place Grid penalty. Gaining pole position against Charles would immediately jump Max and Red Bull into the second standing position. Regardless, Interlagos Brazil is a senior circuit that is known for supporting the Italian Horses.
The Battles
Internally, there has been substantial competition between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Mercedes placed first and second at Circuit of the Americas, with Valtteri Bottas winning the race from his teammate. Bottas now moves forward to Interlagos and Abu Dhabi for a second back-to-back win. This will be easier for the Finn, who can highlight on the fact that Toto Wolff won’t be at the upcoming race to assist Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari and Red Bull have actively been battling one another for 19 Races. In the first half of the season, the Honda-powered Bulls were able to defeat Ferrari regularly. Unfortunately, new fuel mixtures enabled the Italian Horses to fight back after the summer break. Multiple races were won back to back, with Charles Leclerc taking the first win for Ferrari at Monza in decades. These two rival teams will fiercely compete with each other over the next two races, with Max and Charles are known for driving aggressively. There’s the chance we will see the two upcoming rivals touch each other or worse, place a DNF.