For ꦆthe first time since the Dutch Grand Prix in September, Ferrari finds itself holding third place in the constructors’ championship ahead of its old F1 foe McLaren.

The intense battle for🦂 P3 has raged all season long but largely swung in ꧑favour of McLaren. 

However, since introducing an upgraded engine in Russia and Turkey, Ferrari have held the upper hand. The Scuderia has been chipping away at the deficit ﷽until finally 𝓰snatching third away from McLaren last time out in Mexico. 

A miserable race for McLaren saw Daniel Ricciardo’s drop out of the top-10 after first-corner conꦍtact with Valtt🔯eri Bottas, while Lando Norris salvaged a point as he recovered from the back following an engine penalty. 

Wit🌱h a resurgent Ferrari in the ascendancy and now holding a 13.5-point buffer over P3 in the ♕constructors’ standings with just four races remaining, is there hope of a turnaround for McLaren? 

“Absolutely, absolutely, it’s s♛till doable,” Ricciardo said at Interlagos on💞 Thursday. “We have been in third for most of the season, and now they are. So let’s see. 

"We will be the hunters and we’ll see what happens. I think it’s going to go down to the last raceꦯ. 

“I do t🍸h💎ink we can peg it back and come back in the fight. Yes, obviously Mexico wasn’t great from a point swing but no concerns, I think we’re still very much in it.”

Ricciardo’s teammate Norris was equally optimistic and keen to take the positives from an overly disappointing weekend in Mexico City, a venue where McLaren didn’t expecဣt to perform at its best. 

“From my side we m🌠aximised everything,” Norris said of his race in Mexico. “I don’t think we could have done a lot more. 

“Yes, the car wasn’t as competitive as where we h💛ave been in previous races, but that’s just the way it is and I think we have to be happy that we maximised what we could.&n🐟bsp;

“We still got one point an🌠d that’s better than nothing. It could be crucial come the end of the season. 

“We’ve had bad w𝓡eeken♋ds, Ferrari have had bad weekends; we just need to make sure we bounce back this weekend with a better one.” 

And Norris is hopeful of ✤having a stronger weekend at Interlagos, where former-teammate-turned-Ferrari-competitor Carlos Sainz registered a podium finish for McLaren at the last Brazilian GP in 2019. 

🎃“Ferrari have been the stronger team lately, they’ve been the guys who ⛎have been consistently ahead in qualifying and the races,” Norris added. 

“So lookingꦅ🎶 at the stats lately, you would put them ahead. 

“But weꦜ’re working hard. We’ve done a lot of reviews from Mexico and looking back at two years ago we had a pretty decent car and Carlos was on the ♕podium. 

“So ꧅we’re hopeful and we’re confident we can have a good weekend.” 

Ominously for Ferrari, on each of the three previous occasions the Maranello squad have head🐓ed McLaren for third this year, it has ♑only been able to hold the advantage for one race. 

Both Sainz and Ferrari stablemate Charles Leclerc are 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:wary of a McLarℱen fightback in Brazil, and the Spaniard acknowledged th🔥e t💫eam which reacts best to their new-found situation will be key. 

“We need to see how we g🦩o from chasing to now being chased,” Sainz admitted. 

“I think it’s quite a bit of a turning point in the battle. We are finally ahead and we are looking a bit at what McLaren is doing.♈ 

"Before we were always pushing to try and catch them and they’ve been very strong all season, and now we need to see how we can keep this momentum up and keep it going through until the last four races🍷 of the season.”