Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both foresee an "exciting" showdown between their respective Mercedes and Ferrari teams for the runner-up spot in F1's Constructors Championship.
Ahead of this week's round of racing in Qatar, only 20 points separate the two teams, with Mercedes holding a narrow lead over its rival.
However, Ferrari have been gaining momentum lately thanks in large part to the Italian outfit's ability to mitigate the tyre degradation issues impacting its SF-23 on race day.
The Scuderia's progress on this front helped it deliver in Singapore – courtesy of Carlos Sainz – the only win year-to-date by a non-Red Bull team.
While both Mercedes and Ferrari ambition to challenge the Milton Keynes-based outfit in the future and to fight for wins on a consistent basis, they also believe that securing second in the Constructors' standings is a gratification well worth fighting for.
"Yeah, at the end, I think as Ferrari, especially coming to this year, we finished second in the Constructors last year, so the target was to try and win the Constructors this year," commented Leclerc in Japan last time out.
"Then after the first few races we understood that this wasn’t realistic because Red Bull is in a league of their own at the moment.
"So yeah, the main target for Ferrari is to come back winning as soon as possible. Having said that, looking at this season, the best we can do is second place and we’ll do everything to achieve that.
"It’s going to be tight because with Mercedes, also McLaren but they are a bit further away in the constructors, now all three teams are super close.
"So it’s going to be an exciting end of the season. It’s just unfortunate that it is for the second place and not the first one."
Hamilton's last victory in F1 dates all the way back to Saudi Arabia in 2021. But the seven-time world champion's prolonged dry spell, while immensely frustrating, hasn't eroded his motivation.
Like Leclerc, he'll therefore give it his all in the final leg of the season to keep Mercedes ahaed of its rival in the championship.
"Yes, pretty much the same for me. I think it’s exciting that we have this race, this battle at the moment," Hamilton said.
"I think our goal was… just like them, we started off pretty poorly at the beginning of the season.
"Definitely didn’t expect ourselves to be second in the Constructors and to now be relatively close, particularly in the last couple of races… well, the last race and be fighting in the Constructors, I think it’s exciting for us as a team.
"And of course we want to beat them just as they want to beat us so it’s going to take a full team effort, that’s for sure."
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