Rosberg hails F1 comebacks ‘no one would have predicted’

Nico Rosberg believes "no one in the world would have predicted" an F1 constructors' championship showdown between McLaren and Ferrari this season.

Given the dominance in which Red Bull started the year, which was a continuation of it's all-conquering 2023 form, the German feels it is "really unbelievable" to have two different teams fighting it out for the title in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Ferrari has not won the constructors' crown since 2008, and McLaren has to go back a further decade for its last triumph in the standings.

They are two of F1's most storied - and successful - teams, forming a historic rivalry that has been battled over decades on track together.

With just the race at the Yas Marina Circuit remaining, the Woking squad leads the Scuderia by 21 points, which has been compounded by two further advantages.

The MCL38 looks to have the measure on the rest of the field, with the SF-24 not able to match its pace in the second and third practice sessions.

On top of that, Charles Leclerc has incurred a 10-place grid penalty after the Italian team had to replace the energy store in the back of his car.

"It is really unbelievable," the 2016 F1 drivers' champion said on Sky Sports F1 when assessing the title picture.

"No one in the world would have predicted that it's McLaren vs. Ferrari for the constructors' [championship], and that Red Bull is out of it. That was so unpredictable."

Red Bull post-mortem

Rosberg conducted a brief post-mortem on where things went wrong for Red Bull, distilling the Milton Keynes outfit's issues down to two major factors.

"Red Bull has just completely dropped away - [with] car performance and also the number two driver, [Sergio] Perez, just dropping away completely," he stated before underlining the simultaneous improvements from those chasing the team at the start of the campaign.

"Especially McLaren have just done such a phenomenal job with their car development," the 39-year-old highlighted.

"This season, they've had arguably - second half of the season, certainly - the best car."