Mercedes could lose in the region of £7million if they fail to convert their points advantage over Ferrari into a P2 Constructors’ Championship finish. The Silver Arrows are four points better off than their closest rivals heading into the final race of the 2023 season.
According to calculations from Autosport, finishing second place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2023 will be worth £104.4m ($131m), while a third-place finish is valued at £97.2m ($122), meaning that there is plenty of prize money up for grabs in Abu Dhabi as well as pride.
The Silver Arrows have been the frontrunners to clinch second place throughout the 2023 season but a shaky end to the campaign has seen them slip back into the clutches of Frederic Vasseur’s team ahead of the season finale.
Charles Leclerc’s second-place finish at the Las Vegas Grand Prix was a major contributing factor in bringing the Scuderia back into play heading into the final round. The Monegasque driver climbed back onto the podium as Mercedes were forced to settle for P7 and P8 finishes following a messily executed weekend.
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The mood in the Ferrari camp is certainly positive this weekend. Discussing his team’s chances of completing the comeback and finishing in second place, Vasseur said: “If you consider that we were 60 points behind them a couple of races ago, we are on a good path.
“But Abu Dhabi will be another story, four points it’s nothing or a lot. And again we were able to perform in Monza, in Singapore, in Mexico during this weekend on different tracks with different weather conditions, different compounds, and we can be more than motivated before Abu Dhabi. The momentum is for us, and let’s see what happens.”
There was, however, a different attitude emanating from Mercedes ahead of Friday’s running at the Yas Marina Circuit though as Toto Wolff insisted that P2 would be of little consolation to him given the size of the deficit to champions Red Bull.
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“I think we’re going there on pretty much equal points… then let’s race,” he explained. “It’s all down to the last weekend. They are very quick, they’ve done a good job. I think we could have been on par today but the result shows something different, so let’s race.
“To be honest, it’s good to have P2 as a positive to finish the season, but P2, P3 for me, there is little… it doesn’t make me particularly cheery anyway. How do you say – it doesn’t make [this year] better for me.”
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