McLaren and Ferrari deliver big spectacle in Abu Dhabi

If ever there was a great screenplay to showcase the history of Formula One, it's a showdown between the sport's two longest-established contestants: Ferrari versus McLaren.

- David Tremayne

Enzo Ferrari's purist company prided itself on making its own chassis, engine and gearbox. Bruce McLaren's team, who followed Ferrari 16 years later, in 1966, mated a self-built chassis with proprietary engines and gearboxes and achieved similar or better results.

But since 2009, when the private Brawn team won the drivers' and constructors' titles, both oldies have been overshadowed and no championship has fallen to any team other than Red Bull or Mercedes.

On Dec 8, in the Abu Dhabi twilight, it was most certainly not the first rodeo when it came to Ferrari and McLaren fighting for the ultimate glory, however. Ferrari had won 16 of them; McLaren were tied with Mercedes on eight.

This year the papaya orange cars have been extraordinarily competitive, building relentless momentum from the fresh foundation that chief executive Zak Brown and team principal Andrea Stella started creating in 2023 when an astonished Lewis Hamilton described their car as "a rocket ship".