Mercedes ultimately beats Ferrari for the 2nd place in the constructors’ championship

Mercedes finished the season in second place in the constructor’s standings, just ahead of Ferrari. This season, Red Bull and especially Max Verstappen were above the rest of the grid. The Dutch driver alone achieved 21 podium finishes in 22 races, with 19 wins and accumulated 575 points, while the Mercedes team scored 409 points.

Despite this complete domination by the Austrian team and the reigning triple world champion, the battle for second place in the constructor’s standings was intense. In the first eight races of the season, Aston Martin was the second strongest team, led by Fernando Alonso who had just joined the team. The Spaniard secured six podium finishes in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Miami, Monaco, and Canada.

But the competition tightened up starting from the Austrian Grand Prix. Mercedes arrived with sidepods, earlier in the season, after trying their “zero sidepods” concept on the W14, which allowed Lewis Hamilton and George Russell to secure seven out of eight podiums for the team, six for the seven-time world champion and two for the former Williams driver.

Ferrari has been slightly more in the background, but has been able to achieve some standout performances, such as Charles Leclerc’s two pole positions in Azerbaijan, for the main race and the Sprint. As well as Carlos Sainz’s poles in Monza and Singapore, followed by the Spanish driver’s victory in the Asian city-state.

A season anything but linear for Mercedes and Ferrari

If both teams achieved good results behind Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari also experienced major disappointments. While George Russell had finished the 2022 season in fourth place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with eight podiums including a victory and a pole position, the 2023 campaign for car number 63 has been much more challenging.

In Australia, the young British driver had to retire due to engine problems. In Canada, he had to retire after making contact with the wall all by himself. In the Netherlands, he went off track on a wet surface and finished 17th. In Singapore, on the final lap, he went straight, hit the wall, and had to retire while in third place. And in Brazil, he didn’t finish the race due to a mechanical issue.

Charles Leclerc also experienced his fair share of misadventures. In the opening round in Bahrain, he had to retire due to an engine problem while he was in third place. In Australia, he ended up in the gravel on the first lap. In Spain, he qualified 19th and did not finish in the top 10. In the Netherlands, he didn’t complete the race. The Monegasque driver was disqualified in Austin for a “non-compliant ride height” despite finishing third. And in Brazil, Leclerc spun out during the formation lap due to a hydraulic failure.

In the final race in Abu Dhabi, Leclerc finishes second and Russell third, after a penalty imposed on Sergio Perez, and Hamilton finishes eighth in the race. Mercedes ends the season with 409 points, three units ahead of Ferrari. Last year, the red team finished second in the constructors’ championship and the grey team in third place.