(Abu Dhabi) With the world titles locked by Max Verstappen and Red Bull, the F1 season which ends on Sunday in Abu Dhabi still has a few thin stakes: which Mercedes or Ferrari will finish vice-champion? Will McLaren hold off Aston Martin for 4th place? Will Frenchman Théo Pourchaire win his first Formula 2 title?
Far behind Red Bull, which continues on its own thanks to a sovereign Verstappen, the fight for second place among the teams will be played out on Sunday between eight-time world champion Mercedes and reigning vice-champion Ferrari.
The “Silver Arrows” (392 points) are four points ahead of the Scuderia SF23 (388). But with 44 points to distribute before the final meeting of the season, the margin is very small.
And the advantage seems to be on Ferrari’s side since, since the improvements made at the beginning of September, the prancing horse team has regularly supplanted Mercedes, scoring on average 23.4 points per weekend, compared to 17.1 for its rival.
“They have shown good form recently, but we know we have not maximized our performance in the last few races,” retorted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
On the other hand, if his counterpart Frédéric Vasseur was pleased with the performances recorded in Las Vegas last weekend (Charles Leclerc 2nd, Carlos Sainz 6th), the Frenchman tempers: “we know our car well and we know that ‘she won’t be as competitive in Abu Dhabi as she is in Las Vegas.’
Another battle, this time for 4th place in the constructors’ championship, will be one to watch on the Yas Marina track, at dusk in a largely night-time race.
McLaren (284 points) will indeed try to maintain its rank against Aston Martin (273), a position acquired at the cost of an incredible comeback since the British GP in August.
It’s quite simple: since the English round, McLaren’s progression has been diametrically opposed to that of Aston Martin, who performed much better at the start of the season.
Thanks to improvements made to the MCL60, McLaren, in great difficulty at the start of the year, returned to the forefront mid-season when Aston Martin began to mark time.
“We’ve had an up and down season. And look where we started from and where we are, it’s the result of the hard work of a lot of people,” said McLaren’s Briton, Lando Norris.
Over the first nine rounds of the year, the team based in Woking (England) had only scored 29 points, while Aston Martin had already scored 175.
The stakes for this 4th place are high since the final ranking of the season determines the share of F1 revenues paid to the teams: the better they are ranked, the higher their bonuses.
The Formula 2 championship, the antechamber of F1, will also have its epilogue this weekend in Abu Dhabi.
At the head of the championship, the Frenchman Théo Pourchaire took a serious option for the title in Italy at the beginning of September, scene of the penultimate round of the season, from where he left with a 25-unit lead over his Danish runner-up. Frederik Vesti.
On the eve of the last meeting of the year contested on the sidelines of the F1 GP, 39 points remain to be distributed. Pourchaire could pocket his first F2 title on Saturday, at the end of the sprint race.
Japan’s Ayumu Iwasa is still mathematically in the race for the title, but, at 39 points behind the Frenchman, his chances are minimal.
Like many F2 drivers, Pourchaire, Vesti and others will take the wheel of an F1 on Friday during the first tests in place of the holders: the regulations require F1 teams to give the wheel to their young drivers at least twice in the season, as part of the first practice session only.
However, even if he is titled this weekend in F2, the 20-year-old from Grasse, member of the Alfa Romeo Team, already knows that F1 will keep its doors closed to him next year, due to a lack of available seats.
