(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 8 - Charles Leclerc said he had done his best in climbing from 19th at the start to 3rd place at the finish behind Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in third and they had been hoping to win the constructors' title but McLaren's Lando Norris, who led from the start to win the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Priz and give the British team their first title since 1998, had been too strong for them.
    "I knew I had to be aggressive on the first lap to find myself in a good position for the rest of the race. We did it but we were too far back to do more. We did our best, unfortunately it wasn't enough and that hurts", said the Monegasque, who will be flanked by joint-record seven-time world champ Lewis Hamilton instead of Sainz next season.
    "Unfortunately after such a hard-fought season until the end we narrowly missed the objective.
    "At the beginning of the year things weren't going well, then they improved and with Sainz we did really well.
    "I was hoping to close these 4 years together with the constructors' title. A disappointment".
    Ferrari ended the season on 652 points, 14 behind McLaren on 666.
    Red Bull was third with 589 and Mercedes fourth on 468.
    How the came in: 1. Lando Norris (Gb/McLaren) in 1h26.33.291 2. Carlos Sainz (Spa/Ferrari) at 5.832 3. Charles Leclerc (Mon) 31.928 4. Lewis Hamilton (Gb/Mercedes) 36.483 5. George Russell (Gb/Mercedes) 37.538 6. Max Verstappen (Ola/Red Bull) 49.847 7. Pierre Gasly (Fra/Alpine) 1:12.560 8. Nico Huelkenberg (Ger/Haas) 1:15.554 9. Fernando Alonso (Spa/Aston Martin) 1:22.373 10.Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:23.821 11.Alexander Albon (Tha/Williams) at 1 lap 12.Yuki Tsunoda (Gia/RB) 13.Zhou Guanyu (Cin/Sauber) 14.Lance Stroll (Can/Aston Martin) 15.Jack Doohan (Aus/Alpine) 16.Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 17.Liam Lawson (Nzl/RB) at 3 laps Drivers' championship, final standings: 1. Max Verstappen (world champion) 437 points 2. Lando Norris 374 3. Charles Leclerc 356 4. Oscar Piastri 292 5. Carlos Sainz 290 6. George Russell 245 7. Lewis Hamilton 223 8. Sergio Perez 152 9. Fernando Alonso 70 10.Pierre Gasly 42 11.Nico Huelkenberg 41 12.Yuki Tsunoda 30 13.Lance Stroll 24 14.Esteban Ocon 23 15.Kevin Magnussen 16 16.Alexander Albon 12 17.Daniel Ricciardo 12 18.Oliver Bearman 7 19.Franco Colapinto 5 20.Zhou Guanyu 4 21.Liam Lawson 4 22.Valtteri Bottas 0 23.Logan Sargeant 0 24.Jack Doohan 0.
    Constructors' championship: 1. McLaren (world champion) 666 points 2. Ferrari 652 3. Red Bull 589 4. Mercedes 468 5. Aston Martin 94 6. Alpine 65 7. Haas 58 8. RB 46 9. Williams 17 10.Sauber 4. (ANSA).