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Ferrari were criticised by Red Bull principal Christian Horner on Sunday, after they failed to secure second place in the Constructors Championship. Mercedes ended up clinching second place by just four points after Ferrari failed in their efforts to hold off George Russell in the final Grand Prix of the 2023 season.<\/p>\n
Max Verstappen won his 19th race of the season to wrap up a record World Championship win, blitzing the competition in Abu Dhabi to finish the year in style.<\/p>\n
Behind him was a scrap among the constructors for second in their own standings, with Verstappen, Sergio Perez, and Lewis Hamilton already securing their one-two-three finishes\u00a0in the Drivers Championship before the start of the race. Towards the end of the final race Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc was in second, and Red Bull’s Perez in third – but the Mexican had a five-second time penalty.<\/p>\n
Ferrari made the decision to allow Perez to pass Leclerc in the hope that he could serve his time penalty, return to third place, and then keep Mercedes driver Russell away from the podium. But their plan failed and Mercedes secured second place, with Horner claiming they “Only got half of the job right” after reviewing the action.<\/p>\n
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Don’t miss… <\/strong> With Hamilton currently in ninth at the time, and Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz out of the points, Ferrari knew they’d have to act if they were to clinch second place. According to Horner their plan made sense, but it wasn’t executed correctly.<\/p>\n “It was the logical thing to do,” Horner explained to the media after the race. “From Ferrari’s position, they only did half the job because they let Checo (Perez) through, and as Checo demonstrated in that section of the circuit [Sector 3], you can hold up quite a bit of time there.<\/p>\n “Charles needed to hold George off a little more to get that extra, but we’ve just got a different neighbour [in the pit-lane] next year.” Verstappen had already won the World Championship in record time this season, finishing on 575 points to mark the most dominant F1 campaign in history.<\/p>\n
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