All to play for in Abu Dhabi

Scuderia Ferrari HP now head to the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi next week, in the hunt for the Constructors’ world championship title. On a track that the team feared would not suit it, Charles Leclerc finished second in a race that saw little overtaking but plenty of high drama and tension. Carlos Sainz was unlucky, clawing his way back to sixth at the flag after suffering a puncture at half distance. The team therefore picked up 35 points this weekend – 26 today, 9 in yesterday’s Sprint bringing the gap to McLaren down from 24 to 21 points, while there are 44 up for grabs at Yas Marina. This is the first time since 2012 that Ferrari is in with a shot at the title at the very last round. The team was fully focussed in today’s race and was able to deal with moments of great difficulty. Carlos did a great job on track, completing a full lap with one wheel dragging on the ground, trying to lose as little time as possible. As for Charles, at every restart, he had to fend off the attentions of Piastri, who was more able to get his tyres up to temperature.

The race. The first part of the race was all about tyre management. Charles managed to pass Oscar Piastri after the start to go fourth, but at the restart after the first lap Safety Car, following a crash at the back of the field, the McLaren driver retook the position. At this point, Carlos opted to think mainly of looking after his Medium tyres, as he found himself unable to overtake the cars ahead of him. This paid off when George Russell ran into difficulty and had to make his tyre stop on lap 23, which meant Carlos had a clear track ahead of him. Piastri pitted on lap 34 and on the next lap, Carlos and Lewis Hamilton both picked up punctures: the Spaniard did well to lose as little time as possible, having to limp round to the pits, rejoining on Hard tyres in tenth place. Shortly after, the Safety Car was sent out to allow debris to be cleared away from the main straight and all the front runners still on track took advantage of it. At this point Leclerc managed to pass Piastri for third place, while Carlos moved up to eighth. There were two restarts in close succession and in both cases, Charles did very well to fend off the McLaren, while Carlos was up to seventh after Sergio Perez retired. The final drama came in the form of a ten second stop & go penalty for Lando Norris for failing to slow down under the yellow flags at turn 1, just before the first Safety Car on lap 35. It meant the Englishman dropped back, so that Charles finished second, to secure his twelfth podium of the season, the 20^th for the team, while Carlos crossed the line in sixth place.

The decider. As from tomorrow, the team heads from Qatar to the United Arab Emirates to start preparing for the final round of the season. Scuderia Ferrari HP arrives in Yas Marina as the underdog as even a one-two finish on Sunday might not be enough to clinch the title, but the team will be doing everything in its power to go against the odds. Why not believe in it?

Charles Leclerc #16

We expected this to be a difficult weekend for us so I’m happy with how the race went today, having made up some points on McLaren.
We had some luck on my side and a bit less on Carlos’ with the puncture. We may have been able to finish second and third had it not been for that, which is a shame teamwise, but overall, it was positive to be this competitive here.
Driving for such an iconic team as Ferrari, it would be amazing for us to finish the season by bringing the constructors’ title back to Maranello. It won’t be easy to score the points we need to win the title in a single weekend, but everything is still possible and we will do absolutely everything to achieve it.

Carlos Sainz #55

I’m obviously not happy with the outcome of today’s race. We were in a strong position but unfortunately, I got a puncture and had to complete an entire lap with a flat tyre. After the pit stop, the Safety Car came out so the whole situation cost us even more time and ultimately some crucial positions.
Dragging the car for an entire lap led to some damage and the car felt a bit off, making things difficult for the last stint.
That said, I’m pleased I managed to bring the car home and together with Charles’ podium we managed to score important points. We will fight until the last lap of the Abu Dhabi race for the championship, and hopefully finish the season in the best way possible.

Fred Vasseur
Team Principal Scuderia Ferrari HP

The most important thing today is that we scored more points than McLaren. We are now 21 points behind, with one race to go which means everything is possible. We have also increased our lead over Red Bull, which means in Abu Dhabi we can focus more on the team in front of us.
The race today was a bit chaotic, but overall, it was a good one for us: we executed it well, the pace was there and I’m very pleased with the job we did today. It was in our plan that the drivers would not push too hard for the first laps in order to push more later on and we were confident we had the pace on the Hard to push until the end.
We have some regrets, such as Carlos’ puncture which came at the very worst place, as he had to drive a full lap before pitting and it cost us one or two positions.
Now we go to Abu Dhabi, which on paper, should be a better circuit for us and with Max and Mercedes on the pace, you never know what could happen in the championship battle. We will push flat out to the final chequered flag.