GP3 Drivers’ Championship permutations ahead of Malaysia

With just two rounds of the GP3 season remaining in 2016, the number of drivers in contention for the Drivers’ Championship title has reduced.

Two feature and sprint races are remaining, with a maximum of 96 points available for four race wins, four fastest laps and two pole positions in Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

Just six drivers on the grid can now win the title, with ART Grand Prix’s Charles Leclerc currently leading the championship on 177 points. Trident’s Antonio Fuoco is second on 153 and Leclerc’s teammate Alex Albon is third on 145.

The Monegasque driver extended his championship lead after the previous round in Monza, despite this weekend being the first round that Leclerc had failed to finish on the podium.

ART’s Nyck de Vries (fourth, 104) and Arden International’s Jake Dennis (fifth, 96) and Jack Aitken (sixth, 89) are the other three drivers still in the frame for the title.

For a driver to remain in the running, they will have to be within 48 points of the championship leader ahead of the finale in Abu Dhabi in November.

If Leclerc outscores Fuoco by 25 points and Albon by 17 points, he will be crowned as the seventh GP3 champion in Malaysia.

Any other eventuality will see the championship go down to the wire.

Even if Leclerc was to retire from both races at the Sepang International Circuit and Fuoco was to claim maximum points, the Italian would only have a 24 point lead with 48 remaining.

If Leclerc and Fuoco were both to fail to score points and Albon claim every point available, he would have a 16 point lead with 48 left.

Other eventualities could only see de Vries move up to third if he was to snatch every available point and the top three failed to finish, while Dennis and Aitken could not move into the current top three if they had a points swing of 48 points.

However, each of these latter three drivers will have to outscore Leclerc by 25 (de Vries), 33 (Dennis) and 40 (Aitken) points respectively to still have a chance of winning the title at the Yas Marina Circuit after the penultimate round.

The ongoing battle for points in the series will be an interesting development throughout the penultimate weekend of racing. A calculator may be handy while watching the action.