This is the sport’s 15th visit to the Middle East track and the tenth time the race has run with the drivers’ championship already concluded – but that certainly does not mean it no longer matters.
In fact, it matters not only to Verstappen – who will want to make his already hard-to-beat season race wins total even harder to beat – but also to Mercedes and Ferrari, who are battling for the runners-up spot in the constructors’ championship, and McLaren and Aston Martin, who are in a fight for fourth.
