Ferrari did not specifically speak with Carlos Sainz about Max Verstappen’s potential tactics in Abu Dhabi as that would’ve been the “worst case scenario”.

Sainz lined up third on the Yas Marina circuit in the Constructors’ Championship showdown where Ferrari were 21 points behind the front-row starting McLaren team-mates.

Ferrari did not warn Sainz about Verstappen in Abu Dhabi

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Sainz had Verstappen alongside him on the grid with Juan Pablo Montoya warning the title-contending teams that the Dutchman could try “divebomb” them into the first corner.

Team principal Fred Vasseur though, had no such warning for his driver as he believes signalling out individual risks only messes with a driver’s head.

“I didn’t tell anything to Carlos,” Vasseur said to the media, including PlanetF1. “This is the worst case scenario.

“If you start the race thinking about this one will take risks, this one not, you are confusing. You just have to manage the situation.

“I think Carlos is professional enough to manage this kind of start when you have Verstappen next to you.”

In the end it wasn’t Sainz who had to worry about Verstappen, it was Oscar Piastri as the reigning World Champion tried to take a gap up the inside of Turn 1 only to find it had closed when he got there.

Verstappen clipped Piastri, pitching both cars into spins.

Piastri recovered from that and a later penalty of his own to finish in 10th place but it was his team-mate Lando Norris’s victory that assured McLaren of the teams’ trophy by 13 points ahead of Ferrari.

“It’s not there that we miss something,” Vasseur admitted, “it’s more on the overall in the season that we have to fine-tune everything because it’s more fine-tuning now that we did a huge step forward compared to 12 months ago.

“I’m quite pleased with the dynamic and the path of the improvement and the direction of the improvement. We just have to continue to improve. It’s marginal but it’s there is still a difference.”

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Although Sainz, running second for much of the Grand Prix behind Norris, was able to close the gap on the Briton to three seconds during the second stint, he fell back as his tyres wore.

When it clear that he was not going to catch Ferrari, pundits suggested perhaps Ferrari could put in a late pit stop in an attempt to throw McLaren off their game.

Vasseur opted against it, Sainz finishing second while Charles Leclerc raced from 19th on the grid to third at the chequered flag after an engine penalty and a track limits violation in qualifying cost him dearly.

“Honestly not,” Vasseur said when asked about the option of a late pit stop.

“The most important thing was to be focused on ourselves and do the best that we could do, and if you stay close, you don’t know what could happen, he could have an issue or a puncture and we were focused on ourselves, trying to do the best.

“It was exactly what we didn’t want to do, change the strategy or change the attitude just because we are fighting with McLaren. We were just focused on ourselves and I think overall, considering the penalty, the track limits and so, we did a good job.

“It was the most important to just focus on ourselves.”

Ferrari finished the season 13 points behind McLaren while Leclerc was third in the Drivers’ standings, 18 points down on Norris. Sainz was P5 in his last season as a Ferrari driver.

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