The helmet cam is back in Abu Dhabi, and this time Charles Leclerc takes his audience around the Yas Marina Circuit. With the angle giving us all the glorious details of driving around the circuit, it also gave us a peek into Leclerc’s on-track emotions as well.

As the FP1 session gets underway, the drivers are pumped to get their cars on track this weekend. There are a lot of battles scattered across the field and it is going to be intense; especially the battle for the title.

However, Verstappen may be getting too excited too quickly. Testing the limits of his RB16 during the first practice session, the Dutchman came awfully close to Leclerc, who was on a flying lap. As a result, the Monegasque vented his frustration with the usual confused hand up at the driver ahead of him.

Charles Leclerc ready for McLaren war

Charles Leclerc has two battles at hand. The team goal of holding on to the P3 from McLaren; and a more personal goal of placing 5th on the driver’s board. The fight for P5 is with Lando Norris, who is a mere four and a half points behind the Monegasque.

Read more: Lewis Hamilton Laughs Off ‘Crazy’ Radio Barb at Max Verstappen

Leclerc shared his motivation for the big finish. “I’m pretty sure the eyes of the world are more on the top two than on Lando and myself, but yes of course there’s a drivers’ championship to play for, for ourselves, and at the end, we’ve done loads of races to get there and it’s also very important for us to get that [fifth] place.”

As determined as ever, Leclerc also wants to bag the position for his team. And since he isn’t fighting for the title, this is his version of it. ” At the end there’s still a place in the championship that I have to keep this weekend, which is the fifth place. So I will give my best.”

However, his British rival in orange is just as zealous for a top-five standing. Determined to make McLaren proud on both boards, Norris has an intense battle awaiting him at Abu Dhabi.

“For multiple reasons, we want to end the season well. I want to be ahead of Ferrari and be ahead of them as a driver. If we can finish ahead of them as a team, even better, but that’s a very long shot; we kind of need another Monza weekend.”

Now, it all comes to a boil as the second-best battle of the season comes alive. As the Big Two go at it one last time in 2021, who will dominate the midfield?

Watch this story: F1 Drivers Fighting on Track