Midfield battles that will be decided at Abu Dhabi GP

There is still a lot to be finalized in both standings.

As we head into the season finale, there are plenty of things to look forward to and celebrate. The biggest highlight is undoubtedly racing legend Sebastian Vettel's last race in Formula 1. With him, the likes of Mick Schumacher, Daniel Ricciardo and Nicholas Latifi are also sure that they won't be part of the starting grid next year. Lewis even organized a farewell dinner for his mate Vettel to commemorate his astonishing career. But keeping all that aside, there are still plenty of battles that will get their final say on the calendars last Sunday.

The biggest battle of them all is the second-place fight between Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. Both of them are tied at 290 points going into the weekend. Checo was involved in a teammate drama last week when Verstappen didn't give him the place back. Other than that, there are several battles in the midfield which are worth rooting for in the Abu Dhabi GP.

Alpine vs McLaren

McLaren's double DNF in Brazil and a massive points haul for the Alpines have got them 19 points clear of the British constructors. Despite having a considerably faster car, Alpine's poor reliability has seen them getting fewer points than they should have.

The French constructor's tally stands at 167 compared to McLaren's 148.

Alonso vs Ocon

While Alpine looks to round off the season with P4 in constructors, their two drivers will look to end the partnership with an upper hand over each other. Throughout the season, Ocon and Alonso have tussled each other and produced some nasty moments from a teammate's point of view. After coming together in Brazil's sprint last week, Alonso made comments like "only one more race and it's over" targeted to his teammate.

Currently standing at P8, Ocon is five points ahead of Alonso with 86 points. Both of them have produced great moments with the car this year but Alonso is undoubtedly the single biggest loser in terms of lost points due to reliability failures throughout the season. So the table and tally look harsh on the Spaniard.

Alfa Romeo vs Aston Martin

While Aston Martin is the second most improved team in the grid, Alfa Romeo has deteriorated the most over the year. In the initial phases of the season, Valtteri Bottas was putting the car right alongside Hamilton and Mercedes. Which gave the real promise of a lower midfield team making a big jump to challenge for the Top 5-6 finishes. But things got worse over the course of the year and now they are only as good as P6. Bottas had finished in points every single time in the first seven races. He and Alfa Romeo went on a pointless streak from the British Grand Prix to the United States Grand Prix. Chinese rookie Guanyu Zhou has finished in points only on two occasions.

While Aston Martin has solidly improved on their pace on Sundays. They have 50 points compared to Alfa Romeo's 55.

Haas vs Alpha Tauri

Further down in the grid, Haas (37) and Alpha Tauri (35) are separated by just two points. The two teams are looking for the P8 spot in the constructor's championship. Keeping in mind that the prize money difference between P8 and P9 is 2 million dollars, this could be a major boost for both of them.

This week, Haas announced the signing of Nico Hulkenberg who will be making his Formula 1 comeback after serving the grid for three years from the sidelines. The outgoing Mick Schumacher is said to be in talks with Mercedes for a reserve driver role. Whereas Alpha Tauri's only second race-winner Pierre Gasly will be featuring in his last weekend for Red Bull's Italian sister team.