Lewis Hamilton already has one hand on the Formula One Drivers Championship trophy after winning the Mexican Grand Prix. Needing just 4 points this weekend to seal the deal, barring a major issue or DNF, it’s very likely that by the end of the race Hamilton will have championship number 6 under his name. A truly remarkable achievement in modern F1. Michael Schumacher’s record is well within his grasp.

Valtteri Bottas has second place in the championship all sown up by the look of it. An interesting battle is bubbling for third place in the championship between current third place man Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, his team mate Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull rival Max Verstappen. This battle will likely go on till the final race of the season.

Back-to-back with the Mexican Grand Prix is the United States Grand Prix in Austin Texas. Coming in to this weekend and off the back of a Hamilton victory, Mercedes are looking pretty comfortable. Already having closed up the constructors championship, it’s now just and exercise of showing just how good they actually are. The drive of the Mercedes is incredible and everyone in the team from the factory to the race team should be commended for that.

Ferrari enter this race weekend cautiously optimistic. Their approach at the moment is to manage the expectation ahead of the weekend and pleasantly surprise come qualifying. When race day rolls around there’s always a nervousness about the team and a little bit of uncertainty of how they will perform in the race and how the team will handle their strategy. Mercedes have been king of the hill in their execution of race days and while Ferrari have improved drastically from the start of the season, there is still a way to go for the Scuderia. The good news for them is that things are improving and should come good soon.

Apart from Mexico, Red Bull have fallen behind Ferrari in terms of pace but while saying that Max Verstappen’s pace in the Mexican Grand Prix shows that they have one of the best chassis’ on the grid. The design concept of their car is more toward cornering speed rather than outright speed. The remainder of the races for Red Bull will be a damage limitation exercise for them. With no threat from McLaren in the constructors championship they are on course for a comfortable third in the constructors championship.

There has been an intense battle brewing over 5th place in the constructors championship between Renault(73), Toro Rosso(64), and Racing point(64). McLaren, who is a Renault customer, in 4th place on 111 points is a little out of reach for the Works Renault team. While not out of reach McLaren do have a cushion of points. The only thing that might hamper McLaren is a double DNF.

With only 9 points separating Renault, Toro Rosso, and Racing Point the next few races are going to be intense in the mid field. It’s going to come down to the final race of the season. And while TV directors tend to show more of the leaders, the mid field fights are captivating. The battle of strategies is so intense. It’s what we can only dream of at the front of the pack.

If Hamilton lifts Drivers Championship trophy on Sunday, Ferrari will reflect on yet another season where they had a good car capable of beating Mercedes but came up short. It could be argued that with it being Mattia Binotto’s first season in-charge of the team there will be some kind of transition period. With new regulations coming up in 2021, it will be Ferrari’s last chance to challenge for a title in this current era of F1. Then again, next year for sure…