A battle that no one expected after the first few races will commence at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin will fight for the extra prize money given to the sixth in the championship.
Alfa Romeo’s season so far
Currently, the Swiss team (with Italian backing) is occupying the desired position. After starting the season with a strong double points finish, Alfa Romeo quickly accumulated 51 points.
However, from the British Grand Prix, which was Round 10, they only added 4 more points to their tally. This not only allowed rivals Alpine and McLaren to ease away from them but also paved the way for Aston Martin to become a real contender for sixth by the end of the season.
Aston Martin was pretty disappointing at the beginning
Quite the contrary to Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin had big issues with the concept of the car at the beginning. Porpoising hit the British outfit arguably the hardest. At some point, this made them raise the car by 25mm in order to eliminate the issue.
This resulted in a significant decrease in performance. After some aggressive upgrades, the Silverstone-based team got onto its feet. This allowed it to consistently get itself into the points.
In fact, the uplift in form was so good that they finally managed to get out of the last place and challenge for sixth, saving dozens of factory and team jobs. It is really interesting to see what Aston Martin can do with Fernando Alonso behind the wheel.
Before that, however, we are going to see a thrilling battle at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It will be emotional too, as it would be the last race of Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1. Let’s hope he will finish it on a high!
