While the majority of the focus has been on the driver's championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, there has also been an exciting battle in the constructor’s championship for third place between Ferrari and McLaren.

After a disappointing sixth-place finish for the 2020 constructors championship, the Italian team has significantly improved this season and they head into the season finale in Abu Dhabi in third place with a 38.5 point advantage over the McLaren team. It is still mathematically possible for McLaren to take third place in the constructors' standings if extreme incidents occur in the final race, however, for the moment, Ferrari has the odds in their favor. 

Both Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have managed to outscore the McLaren drivers consistently over the last four races starting from the Mexican GP until the Saudi Arabian GP which has attributed to their significant gain over McLaren.

Ahead of the final race in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari team Principal Mattia Binotto feels proud of all the progress and hard work the team has made this season to maximize points as they sit comfortably in third place for the constructors’ championship. 

“I think it is certainly great after a big effort, after Monza or Russia we thought it would be difficult for us to imagine we could achieve it, but the team has been continuously working well, staying focused and really consistent at all the races getting all the maximised points we could do” stated Binotto.

“I think the objective of this year was to try to improve ourselves in the details and by doing that in the last races we have scored the points that were necessary.

Although finishing third in the constructor’s championship is an appreciable accomplishment especially after the disappointing season Ferrari endured last year, Biniotto clarified that the team’s main goal is to be fighting at the top with Mercedes and Red Bull. The Italian also expressed deep frustration on behalf of the entire team with the results from the last race on the Jeddah circuit where they finished seventh and eighth due to the multiple red flags of the race.  

“So it is great to finish third because it is really the best we could have done this year, but we know that is not the real objective of Ferrari, we know that the gap to the best competitor is still very big, but I think we can be satisfied for the progress we’ve made this season and we are really looking ahead to the next one.

“As I said finishing third gives us some serenity for the winter time and try to work well for next year’s car.”

“We are not, not just myself I mean the entire team the drivers as well, we are not happy with the results, we are frustrated because we know that we could have done better.

“Our race pace and quali pace too was better than seventh and eighth and today we have been unlucky with all of the situations of the race and I think we are clearly the third car in terms of pace this weekend, which means we could have finished ahead of where we finished.

“Which is great as well somehow, as it is a brand new circuit, and I think it shows that again our race preparations back at Maranello meant we came here in the best position.

"So I am pretty happy with the race, but frustrated for the result.”

In terms of intra-team, battles Leclerc sits currently in fifth place in the driver’s standings while Sainz is 8.5 points behind in seventh. The Monegasque driver remains focused and motivated on keeping his fifth place in the drivers’ standings ahead of McLaren driver Lando Norris.   
"Yes I’m pretty sure the eyes of the world are more on the top two than on Lando and myself, but yes of course there’s a drivers’ championship to play for, for ourselves, and at the end, we’ve done loads of races to get there and it’s also very important for us to get that [fifth] place” said Leclerc.

“It gives us that little bit of extra motivation also, because we are not fighting for the top positions – I wish we were – but at the end there’s still a place in the championship that I have to keep this weekend, which is the fifth place. So I will give my best.”

Despite trailing behind Leclerc by two places in the drivers’ championship, Sainz says he is “still in the fight” for fifth place and feels optimistic for Ferrari’s third-place standing in the constructors’ standing.   

It got fairly spicy [in Saudi Arabia], good fun to be honest also. I was on the medium, he was on the hard… and managed to make a couple of good moves. But he came back on me at the end of the race with the hard tyre and we had the medium. So actually, very close, and a fun battle” stated Sainz.

“I’m still in the fight for P5 in the drivers’ championship, third for constructors’ looks good, So I must have done a pretty decent season to be in that position.”