The final four races are going to determine who comes out on top in an intense $30 million battle in Formula 1‘s Constructors’ Championship.
With McLaren being the runaway leaders this season, wrapping up the Constructors’ title, all eyes have shifted to an intense battle in the midfield of the grid.
Williams has all but secured a fifth-placed finish, and the Enstone-based Alpine’s squalid 2025 has consigned its fate to 10th in the standings.
What remains to be decided is between four teams, i.e., Haas, Aston Martin, Sauber and Racing Bulls, who are embroiled in a fight for sixth in the Championship.
The lower echelons of the team standings are worth around €10 million per position, and hence, these teams will be battling it out for round about a €30 million payout in the battle for sixth.
Oliver Bearman’s superlative fourth-place finish at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, two weeks ago, means that only 12 points separate sixth through to ninth.
“I’m going to be giving him absolutely everything to try and score more points and get us closer, but I think now it’s 10 points from P6 or something like that,” Bearman told media including Motorsport Week ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend.
“I look at last year in Brazil, two Alpines were not very fast all year and then they had both cars on the podium and they jump up to P6.
“So it’s still possible to have one of those crazy races where things can change a lot.
“But I just want to try and capitalise and maximise every opportunity in these last four with the car that we have, which is clearly able to fight in the points.”
The Kannapolis-based team fitted upgrades on the VF-25 during the United States Grand Prix weekend that Bearman credits for the team’s recent upturn in pace.
“Yeah, certainly it was a good decision I think to bring the upgrade, looking at where we are now and every position is so important in terms of money for Haas,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bearman has even confessed that he would be willing to get engaged in certain team tactics, such as the one Haas employed in Saudi Arabia in 2024.
“We’re a team and our joint job at this stage, I don’t care if I finish 12th or 10th or 14th in the Drivers’ Championship, it doesn’t matter to me,” he expressed.
“It’s not changing anything in my life, but if we finish eighth or seventh or sixth there’s a huge difference in the Constructors.
“So if I have to sacrifice a good result for myself to give Esteban [Ocon] a great result, I’m totally happy to do that because that gives us more resource for next year and vice versa.
“I’m sure he’ll be happy to do the same. That’s what the team is all about.”
His team-mate Ocon is also invested in ensuring his debut season with the team bears fruit in terms of getting a jump over its rivals in championship prize money.
“It’s big. It’s big for our team. It’s a great motivation for everyone,” Ocon, who helped Alpine make that unexpected leap 12 months ago with second at Interlagos, insisted.
“It’s far from over. When it’s tough, because no one is fresh at this part of the year.
“Everyone has had a lot of races, a lot of work through the year. And it is now that you can make the difference. So, yeah, it’s exciting.”
Racing Bulls’ lost momentum in F1 championship fight
Haas currently sits in seventh, 10 points away from Racing Bulls. That said, the Faenza-based squad’s grip on sixth has been slowly fading away.
The team has failed to score points since the race weekend at Baku, and Isack Hadjar admits this means the team is on the defensive rather than on the offensive.
“The momentum is definitely against us at the moment. But the good thing is we’re still sixth,” he admitted.
“We believe we can turn things around, keep pushing and keep our sixth place.”
Midway through the season it looked like a two-way fight between Racing Bulls and Williams for the lead in the midfield battle. However, Hadjar has all but written those ambitions off.
“I don’t think we can [fight Williams for P5]. I just don’t think we can. Sixth is good,” conceded the French driver.
Hadjar’s team-mate Liam Lawson, who is also striving to prove to Red Bull he warrants a place on the 2026 grid, is hopeful to recover from a troubled weekend in Mexico.
While Lawson recorded a DNF after an early-race contact left his car stricken, he highlighted how the car had enough pace in it to return to the points in the closing races.
“I think we’ve had a reasonably strong car over most of the year,” he began.
“I think we had a strong car in Mexico, less strong in the race I would say, but obviously I didn’t really get to race anyway.
“The potential has been there every weekend, we just need to execute and try and have a good weekend.
“We have an opportunity this weekend with the sprint, so two sessions where we can try and get some points, and that’s the target.”
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