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The Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team entered this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi looking to claim its first constructors’ championship in the series since 2008. Ferrari trails McLaren by 21 points and in all likelihood needs a maximum haul of 44 points in order to have a shot to make up the deficit.
Unfortunately for the legendary Italian team, their chances of pulling off the comeback are all but over before they even really began. Ferrari was forced to change the battery in driver Charles Leclerc’s car during Friday morning’s first practice session. Because the team had already used the maximum amount of batteries allocated to Leclerc for the season, it meant the driver was handed a 10-spot grid penalty.
That’s a tough one to take 💔
Due to exceeding the battery allocation, @Charles_Leclerc has received a 10-place grid penalty #AbuDhabiGP 🇦🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/N6x8LupCJZ
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) December 6, 2024
The penalty means that the highest that Leclerc could possibly start for Sunday’s grand prix is 11th place, and he’d have to qualify on the pole in order to do so.
While it’s not impossible to pass at Abu Dhabi with the track’s current configuration, it’ll be all but impossible for Leclerc to get back up to first or second without some sort of bizarre circumstances.
To make matters worse, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished first and second in the day’s second practice. So to say that Ferrari is up against the odds would be a massive understatement.
Ferrari always faced a tough task. McLaren has had the fastest car on the grid for the majority of the F1 season according to most studies. But the Maranello-based outfit hasn’t done much to help itself along the way. Now a once-uphill climb looks downright impossible, and it may go down without so much as a puncher’s chance.