Despite Ferrari’s relentless pursuit, it was Mercedes who had the last laugh as they finished in P2 in the Constructors’ championship. The Silver Arrows narrowly escaped to claim an extra $9 million in prize money but McLaren driver Lando Norris made a surprising claim, as he asked for credit.
Speaking about this on Channel 4 as per PlanetF1, Norris said, “I don’t think it changed our outcome [Crash with Sergio Perez]. Actually, it helped Mercedes to P2 in the championship, which they can thank me for, so they can give me a little bonus!”
Admittedly, Norris had an on-track collision with Perez in the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi. The collision resulted in the stewards slapping a five-second time penalty to the Mexican driver. This resulted in the Red Bull driver getting pushed back to P4, a place ahead of Norris in P5, despite finishing in P2.
Without the penalty, Leclerc would have pushed for a P2 finish and kept Perez at bay in P3, subsequently forcing Russell to finish in P4. This would have swung the pendulum in Ferrari’s favor and they could have claimed P2 in the Constructors’ championship instead. Nevertheless, Leclerc tried his best to alter the result.
Charles Leclerc played a valiant role despite Sergio Perez – Lando Norris incident
Leclerc valiantly played a smart move as he tried to help Ferrari claim P2 in the championship. The Monegasque driver let Perez through so that the latter could build up a big gap to Russell.
Leclerc wanted Perez to finish five seconds ahead of the Mercedes driver, but it was too little too late. The Mexican driver just finished around four seconds ahead of Russell and it brought him down to P4. In the end, Leclerc got 18 points, followed by Russell’s 15 and Perez’s 12.
Perez was disappointed with his efforts in Abu Dhabi at this year’s season finale. This is particularly because he put in a brilliant performance at the same circuit two years ago, acting as an important catalyst in Max Verstappen’s title showdown with Lewis Hamilton.
Back in 2021, Perez held off Hamilton for a significant amount of time.. In the meantime, Max Verstappen closed the gap between him and the Mercedes driver. It acted as an instrumental move for the Dutchman’s championship win that night. Meanwhile, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur is happy to be losing out on P2 on a good note rather than winning it on a bad note.
