What Red Bull and Max Verstappen must accomplish at the Japanese Grand Prix to win F1 championships.

Despite there being six Grands Prix left in the season, Red Bull needs to hold off challenges from Mercedes and Ferrari to win the F1 constructors’ championship this weekend.

At the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, Red Bull will have the opportunity to formally announce their constructors’ championship victory.

The Milton Keynes-based team has been dominant throughout this Formula 1 season and appeared poised to clinch the championship at a canter from the start. Even the fact that they lost their perfect winning streak in Singapore last weekend made little difference in the timing of their eventual victory.

Even after the Suzuka action is over, there are still six complete race weekends left.
But by the time the chequered flag rises on Sunday, Red Bull might have already made it mathematically impossible for anyone to catch them.

With 597 points, Red Bull leads nearest rival Mercedes by 308 points.
Ferrari, who are currently in second place with 265 points, are still theoretically able to overtake Red Bull, but under no circumstances can Aston Martin, who are currently in fourth, do so.

This means that Red Bull must be cautious of what Mercedes and Ferrari can accomplish at Suzuka in addition to their own performance. But the simplest way to ensure their victory this weekend is to simply defeat them both.

To stay in reach of the leaders, Ferrari must outperform Red Bull by more than 24 points.
To win the constructors’ championship twice in a row, Red Bull must first stop that from happening and then make sure they outperform Mercedes.

The team would achieve yet another first-ever feat. No constructor has ever won the championship with six races still to play in a season.
The current record is shared by McLaren and Ferrari, who won their respective championships with five races remaining in 1988 and 2004, respectively.

The drivers’ title, which is also inevitable, will be all that Red Bull will have left by that point.
The odds of Max Verstappen losing such a sizable lead are next to zero given that he is 151 points ahead of teammate Sergio Perez in second place and has won all but three of the 15 races so far this season.

But his coronation has been slightly postponed because he came in fifth in Singapore. Even victory and the fastest lap at Suzuka will not mathematically guarantee the 25-year-old his third F1 world title, meaning he will have to wait until after his 26th birthday for the Qatar Grand Prix.

Since it will be a Sprint weekend, he may have the chance to finish it before the Grand Prix.
Verstappen will need to outscore Perez by three points if Perez doesn’t score any points in Japan and the Dutchman prevails.
The Mexican needs 21 more points than the other Red Bull driver over the Qatar weekend if he finishes second to Verstappen at Suzuka in order to win the championship.