Mercedes v Ferrari down to the wire 

With the drivers’🅺 and constructors’ world championship titles both sorted, the biggest score left to settle in 2023 is the battle for second place behind Red Bull. 

Mercedes currently occupy P2 heading into the final round of the season bu𒅌t🍌 face a tough task to hold off Ferrari, with just four points separating the rival teams. 

Ferrari have dramatically closed the gap over the last two races. In Las Vegas, they outscored Mercedes by 16 points thanks to Charles Leclerc taking second and Carlos Sainz finishing s🍃ixth. 

Momentum is with Ferrari and second place is now within striki🌼ng distance heading to a circuit that should suit their car th🥀anks to the SF-23’s superior straightline speed. 

🦩The difference between second and third in the constructors’ championship is thought to be in the region of $10m, so there is plenty at stake for both teams. 

"It's all down to the last weekend,”♓ said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. “They are very quick, they have done a good job. I think we could have been on par [in the Las Vegas race] but the result shows something differen🐼t. So let's race.”

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur said: "We were able to perform in Monza, in Singapore, in Auඣstin, in Mexico, during this weekend on different tracks with different race conditions, different [tyre] compounds, and we can be moreℱ than motivated before Abu Dhabi. 

“The momentum is for us and 🥃let's see what happens."

The battle for P4 

While the championship to🐭p-three may already be cemented, there is a fascinating fight behind over fourth place in the driver♔s’ standings. 

Sainz has moved level with Aston Martin’s Fe🐭rnando Alonso on 4🐼00 points, with the Ferrari driver’s victory in Singapore making him the current holder of fourth spot. 

McLaren’s Lando Norris is also in the hunt, with the Briton currently sixth in the championship and just five points behind Sainz and Alo✃nso. A heavy crash in Las Vegas was a setback for Norris, but there is still a chance he could pip the Spanish duo in the final round showdown. 

Leclerc can also mount a late bid for fourth, although that is more of a long-shꩲot considering he is 12 points adrift of his teammate. He would require at least a fourth-place finish with the fastest lap to have any chance of bridging the gap, as well as requiring his rivals to all score lowly, or not at all. 

Given Ferrari’s impressive form of late, it is hard to see past Sainz coming out on 𒆙top when the chequered flag falls in Abu Dhabi. 

Just outside of the top-10, bragging rights are still up𝄹 for grabs in the Alpine intra-team battle. 

A superb drive to fourth place in Vega🔯s saw Esteban Ocon enjoy a 12-point swing on teammate Pierre Gasly, leaving Ocon just four points beh🅰ind. 

Things can get heated between the two Frenchmen, so that’ll be another fight to kee🧔p an eye on. 

Millions at stake at the bottom 

An💛 important scrap is raging towards the bottom of the constructors’ championship, with four teams i🍌nvolved. 

Williams currently ꦐhold seventh spot but are just seven points clear of AlphaTauri, who have outscored the British outfit by 11 points across the recent triple-header in the Americas.

AlphaTauri’s pe🔴rformance has improved significantly since introducing a sizeable, Red Bull-inspired upgrade in Singapore, but neither team scor⭕ed last time out. 

It would take something special for AlphaTauri to overhaul Willia❀ms i🐓n the final race of the season, but it is not impossible. 

Alfa Romeo are a further five points ꦕadrift of AlphaTauri in ninth place, while Haas occupy the unwanted 10th spot, four points adrift of the Swiss outfit, in the race to avoid finishing 2023 with the wooden spoon. 

Any last-minute chang👍es of position - resulting in the gain (or indeed loss) of millions in prize money - will have huge ramifications for F1’s smaller teams. 

Mercedes' last chance to avoid unwanted stat

Abu Dhabi will provide Mercedes with their final chance to stand on the top step of the podium🐠 and avoid a winless season. 

Remarkably, Mercedes last endured a season without a si🐲ngle vict🔯ory in 2011.

Can the German manufacturer avoid a repeat in 2023 by triumphing at the Yas Marina Circuit? It will be a tough ask, considering Red Bull and Ferrari’s expe🐈cted competitiveness in Abu Dhabi. 

Mercedes’ last F1꧃ victory came over 12 months ago at the 2022 ꦉSao Paulo Grand Prix, courtesy of George Russell leading teammate Lewis Hamilton in a Silver Arrows 1-2 at Interlagos. 

Hamilton, 🧔the most successful driver in Abu Dhabi with five wins, remains determined to end his own personal winless drought - stretching back to the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.