The Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships may have already been won, but there’s still more on offer at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
McLaren or Sauber, the battle for eighth place
McLaren can still jump to seventh if they miraculously manage a one-two in Abu Dhabi.
With that seeming extremely unlikely McLaren-Honda’s only realistic chance is to overtake the Sauber-Ferrari team who currently sit in eighth.
9 points currently separate the two, and with neither team finishing in the points at the last two races it’ll still be a tough task for the McLaren’s to leapfrog the Swiss team.
Only once before have McLaren achieved more than 9 points in a race weekend this year, that was back in Hungary where they managed 12. With Sauber only picking up 1 point that weekend, the same result on Sunday would be enough for McLaren to claim eighth in the championship.
Sauber also still have a very slim chance of beating the Toro Rosso’s, albeit they’d have to achieve 30 points and hope the STR’s don’t pick up any points for that to happen.
The Lotus-Toro Rosso battle continues
Lotus currently sit in sixth and have been trading places with Toro Rosso all season.
Like the Sauber and McLaren, the two teams are separated by 9 points, but in this case that points haul can be much more realistically achieved.
Lotus extended their lead in Brazil, and although it was only by three points, that could prove crucial in their defence for sixth. However, Toro Rosso are more than capable of getting 9 points or more in a race having done it on three occasions this year.
This is definitely the most interesting battle on the grid, and I can see Toro Rosso maybe edging this one, but both Verstappen and Sainz will have to be at their best if they’re to knock Lotus off sixth spot.
The intra-team battles
Rosberg can’t beat Hamilton, Raikkonen has lost out to Vettel, and surprisingly Sainz is no longer within reach of Verstappen.
Other than that, the battle for superiority within the remaining teams is still undecided, although for many it’s pretty much impossible.
Massa’s disqualification in Brazil means it’s highly unlikely that he’ll be beaten by his teammate as 19 points separates the Brazilian and Bottas.
Only a win will do for Felipe, and he’d have to hope Bottas finished lower than sixth to jump above his teammate.
One of the closest intra-team battles on the grid is between Kvyatt and Ricciardo.
The Russian leads his teammate by 10 points, which may come as a surprise to most people, so it’s all to play for at Red Bull.
Perez leads the way at Force India, with Hulkenburg a full 16 points adrift of his teammate.
It’s possible but unlikely that Nico could manage to get ahead of his teammate this weekend, as only 2nd would do, and even then Sergio couldn’t finish higher than 9th.
The last realistic battle is between Alonso and Button, with Jenson leading his Spanish teammate by 5 points. Although, I’m sure the McLaren duo have more important things to focus on than who beats who in 2015.
Can Manor salvage any points for this year?
It’s unlikely but they have done it before, when the late Jules Bianchi managed it in Monaco last season.
They’d have to hope for a lot of retirements, as the Manor is still a long way off the pace of the rest of the cars, but we can all keep our fingers crossed that the Oxfordshire based team pick up their first points for 2015.
