Lewis Hamilton needs a seventh-place finish at next Sunday's Mexican GP to clinch his fifth Formula 1 world title.
After finishing only third in a frenetic US GP with Sebastian Vettel fourth, the title race has continued to Mexico - although Hamilton has still moved even closer to wrapping up the championship early.
The Mercedes driver needs just five points over the final three races to be sure of the title, even if Vettel wins every race.
Hamilton leads Vettel by 70 points with 75 still available over the final three races.
Hamilton needs to be 50 ahead by the end of the Mexican race to wrap up the title with two rounds to spare.
Vettel must outscore Hamilton by 21 points next Sunday to take the fight on to Brazil - meaning he must take the 25 points available for a race win to have any chance.
But even if Vettel does win the race, Hamilton only needs five points to close out the crown. A seventh-placed finish, which is worth six points, would be sufficient.
Due to the disparity in performance between F1's top three teams and the rest, a bad weekend for Hamilton will see him finish sixth at worst. Only a bad run of reliability issues in the final three rounds would stop Hamilton from winning a deserved fifth title, and even then, Vettel would still have to win every race.
"I know the guys will do great analysis from today in the next couple of days and we'll come strong in the next race," he told reporters after finishing third in Austin last Sunday with Vettel fourth.
"The sole goal was to win these four races, that's what my mind was set on," he said of his approach going into last weekend.
Hamilton's Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas may also feel he has more of a chance of standing on top of the podium, for the first time this year, since a win for him also hands Hamilton the title.
