Ferrari’s F1 Constructors’ title hopes fade as ‘mission impossible’ looms. Ferrari is facing an almost impossible task in its dwindling chances of overtaking McLaren.

Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz has expressed that the Maranello team is facing an almost impossible task in its dwindling chances of overtaking McLaren for the 2024 Formula 1 constructors’ championship.

Entering the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, McLaren held a 24-point advantage over Ferrari. The team knew that if it outscored Ferrari by 21 points, it would secure its first constructors’ title since 1998.

McLaren extended its lead to 30 points after a dominant one-two finish in the sprint race by Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, while Carlos Sainz and his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

As a result, if McLaren outscored Ferrari by 15 points in the main race, it would claim its ninth constructors’ title, while Ferrari’s wait for a championship would stretch on, with its last title coming in 2008.

For the race, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will line up third and fourth, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in seventh and fifth.

If the four cars finish in their qualifying positions, McLaren would score 27 points compared to Ferrari’s 16, and with a fastest lap for McLaren, the gap would widen to a 12-point difference. While this wouldn’t yet seal the title for McLaren, it would leave Ferrari with little chance heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi. Carlos Sainz has acknowledged the difficult reality facing his team in this scenario.

“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,” – the future Williams driver explained at the end of the qualifying session for the Qatar Grand Prix when asked about the Italian side’s prospects of beating McLaren in the battle for the F1 title – “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.” – the Spaniard added.

Charles Leclerc, who will start the Qatar Grand Prix from fifth position after also finishing fifth in the sprint race, acknowledged that Ferrari needed to produce something “extraordinary” to close the 30-point gap to McLaren. This was especially challenging on a weekend where the SF-24 was not expected to perform well at the Lusail circuit, in contrast to McLaren’s MCL38, which was better suited to the track.

When asked if Ferrari’s focus for the weekend was primarily on damage control, Charles Leclerc responded, “Realistically, yes.” He admitted that given the circumstances, limiting the damage to their championship hopes was a key priority for the Scuderia during this crucial race weekend.

“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.” – the Monegasque driver concluded.