Ferrari hopes to finish ahead of Red Bull in Abu Dhabi

Ferrari’s last podium was at the Italian Grand Prix, but the men from Maranello hope to finish another disappointing season on a positive note, and getting on the podium would be a good way to do so.

In any case, it’s the ambition of Sebastian Vettel, despite being only fifth on the grid: « The Mercedes are a bit far but we hope to get ahead of the Red Bull tomorrow. We are on the softest compounds, which should give us an advantage to start from the grid and in the first lap. » Indeed, the two Ferrari drivers stuck with the more conventional strategy, using the super softs in Q2, unlike the Red Bull drivers, who switched to the super softs.

The four-time world champion explains his fourth place by a small mistake made in his last lap of Q3: « I am not really satisfied with this result. I struggled a bit with the car’s balance at the beginning. At the end, it was good but in the last lap, I had a somewhat complicated final sector. I saw a bit of smoke from Verstappen, just ahead. It was enough to lose a bit of concentration. »

If Sebastian Vettel still finishes ahead of Max Verstappen, he once again bowed to his teammate, Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn therefore wins the qualifying match for the season since they were tied at 10-10 before this session.

However, he still wasn’t able to maintain a place in the top 3 since Daniel Ricciardo managed to take the best in the very last lap of the session: « It was rather good qualifying. The car performed well all day. Today, we went faster than in free practice and we did our best. It was almost enough for third place, but my last lap wasn’t perfect. »

The two Red Bull drivers will therefore surround their two Ferrari rivals at the start, which promises an action-packed beginning.