Verstappen sets a record: he also wins the Abu Dhabi GP. Now the most delicate chapter opens

Second place in Abu Dhabi and second place in the drivers’ championship sweeten a season finale which for Ferrari and Leclerc risked delivering a confused team and a driver in difficulty to the winter break. Instead, the Monegasque closed a weekend in the desert in the best possible way, which began with many clouds over the future of his Team Principal and with the risk of a mocking double overtaking both in the drivers’ standings (by Perez) and in the constructors’ standings (against a Mercedes only in the final races did it become competitive again). Ah, the race was won by Max Verstappen. Now in Eddy Mercks version the Dutch “cannibal”. he saw the checkered flag first fifteen times out of twenty-two. A record destined to remain in history for a driver who once again proved to be the added value of a car, the Red Bull, extraordinary and currently unattainable. He is 146 points behind the second in the standings, a gap of almost six races that he could have watched from the pits while remaining in the lead. A domain that recalls those of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher: the best drivers with the best cars.

Now the most delicate chapter opens. For Red Bull to try to maintain a leadership which only missed Perez’s second place in the drivers’ standings to completely crash their opponents. For Ferrari to shed definitive light on Mattia Binotto. If the company has decided that he will still lead the team, a three-line press release is not enough to silence rumors that have been circulating in the paddock for weeks. It is essential, unavoidable, that the President and Chief Executive Officer find the time to give strength to their Team Principal. If they still believe in him. Otherwise they decide differently and give the team a different guide. But without further ado. Whoever will drive the Cavallino will have to make a choice. That of Charles Leclerc as the undisputed leader in the run-up to the title.

A title (drivers) that has been missing since 2007 (Kimi Raikkonen). And that sooner or later it will arrive but for which it will be necessary to make choices. Even painful. Like that of making Sainz digest the fact that the maximum effort will be concentrated on Leclerc and only in the event of his sensational flop in the first few races will the choice be reversed. Fundamental winter also for Mercedes. Many get away with saying that the Germans never get the wrong car two years in a row. We see. There is no certainty about this either. Certainty instead that the grays will have two riders who will start on equal footing.

Russell finished ahead of Hamilton and the seven-time champion bitterly ended his first, and only so far, season without a win. Sebastian Vettel’s career ends, a long and glorious journey topped off with four world titles and with the demonstration that one can be great champions without giving up being free and thinking men. The story of Ricciardo also ends, but he will return through the window making the third, of Mick Schumacher (goodbye) and of Latifi (also not). He has been talking about it since March 5 in Bahrain. Always in the desert, for a season with 24 stages.