Tension in the midfield: the hunt for 18 million

For many fans, the focus at a Grand Prix is on what is happening at the front or at least in the sub-top. Often out of sight of the television cameras, a championship of its own is taking place: the battle for spot six among the constructors. Important? For the teams, certainly. After all, it is a million-dollar game.

First the figures: Assuming for the sake of convenience that Liberty Media, Formula 1's owner, pays out the same bonuses as last season, the sixth-placed teams will soon earn $84 million. Number seven would get $75 million, number eight $71 million and ninth would still get $66 million. Especially for 'smaller' teams, the difference between 84 million and 66 million is quite a difference. After all, it still saves a lot of searching for needed sponsorship money.

Luxury position

Anyone looking to buy an existing Formula One team now will have to dig very deep into their pockets. A billion dollars perhaps? Could well be. But the paper value of a team is slightly different from its actual turnover. Formula 1 is in the luxury position of the sport being 'booming' all over the world. Sponsors are lining up to get their names on the expensive bolides. The top teams in particular have little to complain about. Oracle, for example, pays $100 million a year to be title sponsor of Red Bull Racing. That almost covers the cost of the budget cap, you would think. But the salaries of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez - to name a few - are not covered by that. In short, the more prize money, the more you can spend as a team (even with the budget cap).

Certainly for the teams further down the grid, a million more or less matters a lot. That is why the battle for spot six in the championship is so crucial. McLaren and Alpine seem too far out of sight for these teams, Williams is too far behind (or miracles need to happen) to still lay claim to place six. For now, this spot is occupied by Alfa Romeo, which has tallied 52 points. Aston Martin has seven points less than the Swiss-Italian team, followed by Haas and AlphaTauri with 34 points each. So the battle for the $84 million is still wide open.

Rain race

In a 'normally' dry race weekend, the balance of power is pretty clear: The first six spots after a Grand Prix are taken by Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes. Behind them, basically Alpine and McLaren take the remaining points. But fortunately it is often not that predictable: usually there are one or two teams that make the top ten and grab some points. It gets much more interesting when there is no normal race weekend, like last time in Japan. The rain changed the balance of power. Whoever handled the conditions best could be quite surprising.

In the battle for sixth place, Aston Martin did good business in Japan. The German finished sixth and picked up eight expensive points. But where a great opportunity thus presented itself, the other teams in the rear failed at Suzuka. It made for disappointed faces at Alfa Romeo and Haas. Alfa Romeo took just one point in the last nine races, while Haas has gone home with nothing seven times in a row.

Catching up

Since the summer break, AlphaTauri and especially Aston Martin have been catching up with Alfa Romeo and Haas. The question, of course, is who takes the coveted spot six after Abu Dhabi. A question that is not easy to answer, as all four teams have cars that have good and lesser aspects. AlphaTauri has the highest top speed of the four, but loses a lot in the corners. Aston Martin struggles to get its tyres up to temperature. Alfa Romeo is horrified by the car's unreliability, and has not developed properly. Haas especially has the problem that every weekend there is something different: a defect or a crash by one of the drivers.

So the next four races will be interesting. It will probably come down to details; no weird mistakes and probably a bit of luck. Our prediction: Aston Martin will come out on top. With Sebastian Vettel, the English team probably has the best driver of these teams. And surely the four-time world champion wants to finish with a mini-championship?