Ferrari seem to be fighting a lost battle against McLaren for the 2024 Constructors’ Championship. Heading into the Abu Dhabi GP weekend, they were already on the back foot with a 21-point deficit. As the weekend has progressed, the Scuderia’s troubles have increased three-fold.
Firstly, McLaren have been the benchmark team around the Yas Marina circuit, having a two-tenth advantage on average in both qualifying and race pace. Secondly, Charles Leclerc has to serve a 10-place grid penalty for the race. On top of that, Ferrari’s qualifying performance has left much to desire with the Monegasque driver qualifying a miserly P14.
Still, his teammate Carlos Sainz is not keen on losing hope yet. With hopes for a miracle on Sunday, the Spaniard — who qualified a decent P3 — expressed his thoughts after a mixed-bag qualifying session for Ferrari.
“Before arriving in Abu Dhabi, we needed a bit of a miracle. It was even more so after Charles’ 10-place penalty, now obviously even more so with the problem in qualifying”, Sainz said in an interview with DAZN.
“Everything has become much more complicated, but Charles is not going to give up. I’m not going to give up. The team is not going to give up”.
About the WCC:
“Yes, it was already before arriving in Abu Dhabi, we needed a bit of a miracle, it was even more so after Charles’ ten place penalty, now obviously even more so with the problem in qualifying,”#CarlosSainz | #AbuDhabiGP
pic.twitter.com/DQ6cDIFHv3— Carlos Sainz News (@CSainzNews_) December 7, 2024
Leclerc’s grid penalty is a result of the team exceeding the limit of energy stores (2) for his power unit this season. As it is his first infringement for the battery component, he has to serve a 10-place grid drop. However, his awful qualifying result has worsened the situation, as Leclerc will effectively start last on the grid for the Grand Prix.
Now, McLaren will be quite relaxed in this situation, as they have locked out the front row after a comfortable qualifying performance. While they will have Sainz in their mirrors at the race start, the MCL38’s pace seems very promising to take the victory under lights in Abu Dhabi, and with it the Constructors’ title.
Can Sainz have a dream end to his Ferrari stint?
Sainz would want to spoil McLaren’s party by taking the win at the Abu Dhabi GP and end his Ferrari career on a high. Winning the Constructors’ championship would certainly be the cherry on the cake for the #55 driver.
However, he knows that for Ferrari to beat the British team in the Constructors’ title battle, they need Leclerc as well to score a strong result, which seems a mountainous task after Saturday’s qualifying result.
The Scuderia need to outscore McLaren by 21 points to take the championship, and for that, they would ideally need a 1-2 result in Yas Marina with a sub-par race for the Woking outfit. But with Leclerc starting all the way from the back, they would need some rub of the green going their way with chaotic events in the race and a timely safety car.
Nevertheless, both teams are looking to end their respective long droughts for the F1 world championship at the 2024 season finale. As things stand, McLaren seem the favorite to do so. Still, given the way things swung in Ferrari’s favor in Qatar, nothing can be said until the chequered flag falls on Sunday.
