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Quick off the grid

Steven LynchJanuary 21, 2015
Michael Schumacher needed just 11 races to win the 2002 championship © Sutton Images
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I see that Lewis Hamilton's dad thinks he can wrap up the 2015 championship by mid-season - no pressure there then! What is the earliest time the title has been decided? asked Martin Page

The earliest the F1 world drivers' championship has been decided was on July 21, when Michael Schumacher clinched it by winning the French Grand Prix in 2002, the 11th of that season's 17 races.

That was the third of his eventual 11 wins that season - in which, incredibly, he was on the podium in all 17 races, only once finishing lower than second.

Nigel Mansell wrapped up the title in 1992 with five of that season's 16 races still to go. Schumacher (2001 and 2004) and Sebastian Vettel (2011) had four races in hand when they won. In 1969 and 1971, two seasons which contained only 11 GPs, Jackie Stewart had clinched the title after eight races.

The latest the title has been decided is December 29, when Graham Hill clinched his first title in South Africa in 1962.

The title has gone down to the final race on 28 occasions now, including 2014. Both Lewis Hamilton's titles have been confirmed at the last gasp - literally so in 2008, when his final-sector overtake of Timo Glock in Brazil gave him the points required.

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