NBC Sports Presents Formula One Drivers' Championship This Sunday

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) can clinch his fourth career Formula One Drivers' Championship on Sunday, as NBC Sports presents live coverage of the Mexican Grand Prix from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at 3 p.m. ET on NBC. Pre-race coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC with F1 Countdown.

NBC, NBCSN, NBCSports.com, and the NBC Sports app will combine to present comprehensive live coverage of all practice, qualifying and race coverage this weekend, beginning tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET on NBCSN with Practice 1.

In addition, NBC Sports Group continues its coverage of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs this weekend with the opening race in the Round of 8 from Martinsville Speedway. Live race coverage begins Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.

Hamilton is primed to capture his fourth career Drivers' Championship following his victory at the U.S. Grand Prix last weekend, his sixth career USGP win. Hamilton holds a 66-point lead over Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the World Championship standings as the season rolls into Mexico City. Hamilton needs to finish fifth or higher to earn his fourth career Formula One Drivers' Championship, which would tie him with Vettel and Alain Prost for the third-most all time.

Hamilton wins Drivers' Championship ...

• If Hamilton finishes fifth or better;
• If Vettel finishes in second and Hamilton finishes ninth or better;
• If Vettel finishes outside of the top two.

2017 F1 Drivers' Championship
Position	Driver	Team	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	331
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	265
3	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	244
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red BULL Racing Tag Heuer	192

With Hamilton's win last Sunday, Mercedes claimed its fourth consecutive Formula One Constructors' Championship. The German manufacturer has won 11 of the 17 races this season. Hamilton has won nine races, while teammate Valtteri Bottas has claimed two.

NBCSN will air Practice 1 on Saturday at 11 a.m. ET, followed by Practice 2 at 3 p.m. ET. NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app will stream Practice 3 live on Saturday at 11 a.m. ET, which will air on NBCSN at 12:30 p.m. ET, followed by live qualifying on NBCSN at 2 p.m. ET. Pre-race coverage kicks off on Sunday with F1 Countdown beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, followed by live race coverage beginning at 3 p.m. ET. F1 EXTRA wraps up the day's events on NBC at 5 p.m. ET. NBCSN will air an encore presentation of the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. ET.

NBC Sports Group's lead F1 commentary team of play-by-play voice Leigh Diffey, veteran analyst and former racecar driver David Hobbs, and analyst and former race mechanic for the Benetton F1 team Steve Matchett will call the action. F1 insider Will Buxton will serve as the on-site reporter from Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

NBC Sports is proud to report that Total Audience Delivery for last Sunday's F1 U.S. Grand Prix on NBC (2:56-4:43 p.m. ET) averaged 1.073 million viewers, ranking as its most-watched U.S. Grand Prix ever. NBC has grown race viewership of the F1 U.S. Grand Prix by 53% since the last year it was not on NBC (2012; 688,000 on SPEED).

In addition, NBC Sports Group continues to grow F1 viewership, and is in the midst of its most-watched F1 season ever, averaging a TAD of 543,000 viewers through 17 races.

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