The big World Championship decisions may have already taken place with Max Verstappen winning the Drivers’ Championship at Suzuka and the Red Bull-secured Constructors’ Championship at Austin, but beyond that there’s still a fight for places, and not just important millions of prize money, but also of prestige.
The latter is likely to be the focus in the battle between Ferrari and Mercedes for second place in the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship, as the two teams are not exactly short of money. After Mercedes’ first win of the season in Brazil, the Silver Arrows’ gap to the Scuderia has narrowed to just 19 points.
With 44 points still up for grabs at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari still has a decent lead, but Mercedes are more motivated than ever to salvage a bumpy season with a second place in the teams’ standings.
“19 points is a lot, I think you need a retirement”, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff is also aware of his team’s chances. “That’s why you have to try to do as well as possible in the race.”
Mercedes squints at the “great comeback”
“Finishing second would be fantastic. It’s something I no longer thought was realistic. Of course it would be an incredible thing for the team because it affects our bonuses for all employees. It makes a big difference.”
“It was a great comeback from the start of the season when we were more in midfield than up front,” adds Wolff. “Beating Ferrari would be great. But my priority is still next year” if Mercedes wants to fight for the championship again.
In addition to Ferrari’s points cushion, Mercedes also does not believe that the track in Abu Dhabi will accommodate the W13, as Wolff says: “Due to the track characteristics, we do not expect that we will be as competitive in Abu Dhabi [wie in Brasilien] but given the surprises we’ve had with the W13 this year, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
“We still have an outside chance of second place in the World Championship – and the points gap to Ferrari is the closest it’s been this year. Hopefully we can keep that positive momentum and end the year strong.”
Ferrari in “defense mode”
However, with the update in Austin, the Silver Arrows took a big step forward and were able to fight for victory at all three races in America. At the same time, the Ferrari team feels that it is becoming increasingly difficult, since tire wear is a particular issue with the F1-75.
“We are clearly in defensive mode because Mercedes was [im Rennen von Brasilien] untouchable,” says Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. “They simply had the fastest car, faster than the Red Bull, faster than us.”
“I think there have been a few weekends where that has been the case. So in Abu Dhabi we have to expect them to win. And we either have to do damage control or go for the win ourselves.”
Brazil winner George Russell suspects Mercedes and Ferrari will be on a similar level by the season finale, with the question being whether Red Bull’s performance in Sao Paulo was just a blip on the downside or normal pace.
Mercedes progress over the course of the season “simply unbelievable”
“I think in Abu Dhabi we will probably be similar to Ferrari,” says Russell. “And I think maybe a little step behind Red Bull. The last two races were rather slow tracks and we kind of excelled in that this season.”
“But the progress we’ve made as a team is incredible. And since Austin, we’ve fought for, or had the opportunity to win, as a team, at every single race.”
“The boost this has given us and the confidence it has given us in the factory is great. As I said, the factory will rev up over the winter and we will do everything we can to do this first test [2023] to come out with a car that is competitive from the first race,” said the Brit.
Mercedes has already announced that they will be using a completely different vehicle concept in the coming season, after the solution with the extremely narrow side boxes does not seem to have proven successful.
Silver Arrows celebrated first win of the season in Brazil
So there are question marks again as to whether this was the right decision at all, since the W13 was the fastest car in Brazil. But when asked about it by “ORF”, Mercedes communications chief Bradley Lord emphasized that this is the right decision for the future.
“I think it’s a mix of both,” he says. “We know that there are certain limits with this car, with this concept. And the upgrade from Austin also gave us a bit of a direction for next year, which actually confirms our way of thinking and this direction of development.”
“So it’s a positive sign and we also know that there are many areas that we haven’t touched this year where we can also gain performance. We don’t want to get overly euphoric. There’s still a lot to do with the Red Bulls and also on the Ferraris at certain tracks, so what we still have to do well, but it’s going in the right direction, definitely.”
Lord adds that after struggling to identify the sources of error and fix the problems for most of the season, they are only beginning to reap the rewards.
superstition? Mercedes more successful without Toto Wolff?
“It took us a while to really understand the issues and then start fixing them,” he says. “And yes, this last update, now that we really understand it, is starting to work. And hopefully there are still some good maps to play in Abu Dhabi next weekend.”
After the victory in Brazil, when team boss Toto Wolff was not there, it was joked that it might be better for Mercedes to do without Wolff in Abu Dhabi as well, as that way they could win the first race of the season. But for Lord this is proof that the Mercedes team also has such strong personalities.
“Not at all,” he replies when asked jokingly whether it would be better if Wolff stayed at home in Abu Dhabi. “I think it’s a testament to the strength of Toto’s management that he has built a team that can do this well from afar.”
“I think we’re all very proud that after things didn’t go so well in Japan we were actually able to fight for this win and also for him and also with him. He was in contact the whole time via the intercom, via WhatsApp and also provided a lot of valuable input, as always, even from the hotel in Abu Dhabi.”