It’s time for the penultimate race of the season. At night in the desert, the air temperature is 20 degrees, the track is at 21. The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz line up fifth and seventh on the grid respectively, with Medium tyres that have previously been scrubbed in for just one lap.
Start. Charles gets the jump on Oscar Piastri to go fourth, while Carlos passes Lewis Hamilton for sixth. There’s a Safety Car on the first lap following a multiple collision that ends in retirement for Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon.
Giro 5. At the restart, Piastri passes Charles for fourth.
Lap 24. George Russell pits for Hard tyres so the Ferraris move up to fourth and fifth places.
Lap 35. Carlos has a puncture, pits and rejoins tenth on Hard tyres.
Lap 36. Safety Car. Charles switches to Hard tyres and finds himself third ahead of Piastri, while Carlos is eighth.
Lap 40. The race resumes and this time Charles stays ahead of Piastri. Carlos is up to seventh after Sergio Perez pits.
Giro 42. At the restart, the positions remain unchanged, but Lando Norris is given a ten second stop & go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags. Charles is second and Carlos sixth in a car this is no longer at its best.
Finish. No more changes and Ferrari has reduced the gap to Constructors’ championship leaders McLaren to 21 points. The title fight will go down to the wire in Abu Dhabi.