Ferrari facing 'mission impossible' as F1 constructors' hopes fade

Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari is facing a "mission impossible" in its slim hopes of beating McLaren to the 2024 F1 constructors' championship. 

Heading into the Qatar weekend, McLaren was 24 points ahead of Ferrari, knowing that if it out-scored the Scuderia by 21 points, it would seal its first title since 1998. 

In the sprint race, McLaren increased its lead to 30 points following a one-two finish for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, with Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc taking fourth and fifth. 

It means that if McLaren out-score Ferrari by 15 points in the grand prix, it will win its ninth constructors' title and mean Ferrari's wait will go on for its first title of any kind since the 2008 constructors'.

For the race, Norris and Piastri will start third and fourth, with Sainz and Leclerc seventh and fifth, respectively. 

Should the four cars finish in these positions, McLaren will haul 27 points to Ferrari's 16, with a fastest lap for McLaren bringing the total to a 12-point difference. This would not been enough for the Woking team with Ferrari still just about within reach, but Sainz has faced up to the reality of such a scenario heading to the Abu Dhabi finale.

"It would need to be a very, very big change of pace because going from a couple of tenths off to being a couple of tenths in front and being able to overtake them needs a big swing in performance," Sainz said when asked by RacingNews365 for his thoughts on beating McLaren. 

"But we should at least stay with them in the race, play with them with the strategy, the pit-stops and see what will happen. 

"It is not about third and fourth, it is about recovering points and we need to finish in front of them. 

"Of course it is good for us if they don't win with a P1 and P2, but even if they finish P3 and P4 ahead of us, it is still going to be almost mission impossible in Abu Dhabi."

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Leclerc's take

Leclerc, who starts fifth, having also finished fifth in the sprint, felt Ferrari had to do something "special" to overhaul the 30-point deficit to McLaren, on a weekend the SF-24 machine was not expected to suit the Lusail track as McLaren's MCL38 was.

"Realistically, yes," started Leclerc when asked if the weekend was a damage limitation one for Ferrari. 

"But we still had hope that we could turn the situation around because at the end, if we want to win the constructors', we've got to finish in front [of McLaren]. 

"We cannot afford to just to take the points available, we need to over-perform in order to target the constructors'.

"We've got to do something special in order to gain some points on them."