Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has cited a list of missed opportunities as the reason his team didn’t finish second in the constructors’ championship.

Mercedes sealed the place by three points following Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix despite Charles Leclerc finishing second to Max Verstappen.

However, with George Russell third and Lewis Hamilton ninth, Mercedes did enough to hold on after Mercedes entered the race with a slender points advantage.

While disappointed to miss out, Vasseur reasoned that missed opportunities through the year are what ultimately cost the Scuderia, and not the Abu Dhabi result.

“We started on the wrong foot with Bahrain, that when we had to stop [when] we were P3, and we get the penalty for the second race,” Vasseur explained.

“It meant that, for Charles, it was almost 25 points of penalty after two events, plus the points that we are giving to the others – the two Mercedes were behind us.

“But it’s not only this one. You can do the list, trust me, I did the list a couple of times. I have in my head a classification without the issues.

“Overall, you have ups and downs during the season but for sure we gave up more points that our competitors, even our direct competitors.

“It’s another topic that we have to work on for next year, to be more opportunistic and more efficient.”

Ferrari dropped points in Bahrain with Leclerc, who was also a retirement in Australia.

The Monegasque was disqualified for plank wear in the United States Grand Prix before a technical issue saw him crash out on the warmup lap in Sao Paulo two weeks later.

In the other car, Carlos Sainz failed to see the flag only once, in Belgium after an opening lap clash with Oscar Piastri.

However, a penalty saw him drop out of the points in Australia and an issue with his car meant he didn’t start in Qatar. There was also a grid drop in Las Vegas.

In Abu Dhabi, a crash in practice left him on the back foot, while strategy played against the Spaniard to leave him only 18th at the chequered flag.

The net result was Leclerc and Sainz amassed a combined 406 points for Ferrari from the 22 races in 2023, three points shy of Mercedes.

While scant reward, it can at least boast to have been the only team to beat Red Bull all year, with Sainz taking a fine victory in Singapore.