With five races to go, all eyes are on the fight for the title between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes, but behind it lies an exciting duel between Ferrari and McLaren. Who is best positioned before the last races?
The state of affairs
McLaren is fighting for third place among the designers for the second year in a row. Where in 2020 Aston Martin and Alpine were the big competitors, it is now only Ferrari. The two cult brands from Formula 1 fight a bitter battle. For example, we’ve seen both teams in front of each other in the table.
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McLaren is still third overall after the United States Grand Prix, but the difference to Ferrari is only 3.5 points. With five races to go, it can go one way or the other. There’s been a clear trend since Ferrari introduced a new engine in Russia. With this new engine, the gap to the Mercedes engine from McLaren has not disappeared, but it has been closed.
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Advantage for Ferrari
There are clear differences between the teams even more than in the duel between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing. Ferrari has shown good performances so far in Monaco, Azerbaijan and Hungary. For the Italians, routes with little grip or where little strength is needed speak for themselves. When all of the downforce is removed, the lack of top speed is less noticeable.
That makes the Mexican and Brazilian Grand Prix perfect prey for Ferrari. McLaren, on the other hand, struggles on tracks with slow corners and little grip (see for example Zandvoort). The fact that McLaren lost points in Turkey and America is therefore going to hurt because McLaren could normally have been ahead on those tracks.
Where can McLaren strike?
Ferrari’s new engine has reduced the difference between the teams on these tracks. This does not mean that the McLaren advantage has completely disappeared. At the beginning of the year the team drew 2-1 in Monza and the victory was to be won in Russia.
However, McLaren will take advantage of the Mercedes engine on the tracks in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. McLaren is benefiting from the fact that the slow sectors have been replaced on the Yas Marina Circuit. The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix is of course still a bit of a puzzle, but with a street circuit the comparison with Azerbaijan is easy. In Baku, Charles Leclerc was on pole position.
Problems with Mercedes
As has often been the case in the past, the battle between McLaren and Ferrari is not about the world title; there is a lot at stake. Third place is more prize money than fourth place. Both teams also have their honor at stake. McLaren doesn’t want to give up that third place on the way back to the top, while Ferrari is looking to recapture that third place after a difficult couple of seasons.
Ferrari seems to have an advantage at the Grands Prix in Mexico, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. McLaren also carries the burden of the Mercedes engine, which has many reliability issues in the closing stages of the season. Anything can happen in five races, however, so McLaren cannot yet be ruled out.
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