EActually, this duel shouldn’t even exist. When Formula 1 returned from the summer break, Mercedes led the battle for the box seat behind Red Bull against Ferrari with 247:191 points. Nine races later, the two heavyweights are only separated by four points. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff expects an “open fight” for the World Cup finale this weekend in Abu Dhabi.
Since the Dutch Grand Prix, Ferrari has driven home with more points than Mercedes seven times. There was a draw once, and only in Qatar was Mercedes able to briefly extend its lead again. To the same extent that Ferrari has stabilized, Mercedes has gotten into trouble. At first glance, this is surprising because both teams focused early on the 2024 season and scaled back the development of the current cars in the second half of the season. Both brought a new underbody, Ferrari in Suzuka, Mercedes in Austin. Modest gains in the range of two to three tenths of a second were recorded.
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