Verstappen did “doughnuts” after crossing the checkered flag
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen ended the most dominant season in Formula 1 history with victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, his 19th victory in 22 races.
The comfortable win, after fending off a brief attack on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the first lap, gives Verstappen a win rate of 86.4% in 2023.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez took second place on the road after Leclerc let him past on the penultimate lap in a vain attempt to secure second place for Ferrari in the constructors’ championship against Mercedes, but was defeated by a five on the road -second penalty demoted to fourth place.
This moved George Russell up to third place for Mercedes, and with Lewis Hamilton securing two points for ninth place, that was enough to keep Mercedes three points clear in second place.
Leclerc’s strategy was to let Perez pass in the hope that with fresher tires the Mexican could build up a sufficient lead to negate the penalty he received for a collision with McLaren’s Lando Norris.
But Perez didn’t quite make it and he fell back, finishing 1.1 seconds behind Russell.
The small consolation for Leclerc was that he overtook both Norris and his teammate Carlos Sainz to take fifth place in the drivers’ championship behind Verstappen, Perez, Hamilton and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
But Leclerc had said before the race that he didn’t care – and his face showed it as he waited for the post-race interviews and his disappointment with the constructors’ result was clearly visible.
Norris was fifth ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri, Alonso seventh ahead of Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Hamilton and the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
The season finale in Abu Dhabi takes place at dusk
Verstappen’s incredible season
Russell said he was pleased to secure the position for Mercedes. “After a difficult season, it means a lot to everyone at the plant,” he said. “I’m really happy to be second for sure.”
Leclerc said: “Checo got a five-second penalty so we had to help him finish ahead of George, so I tried to give him the DRS and the slipstream but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
He said he was happy that Ferrari had been the second fastest car in Abu Dhabi, was disappointed to have lost second place in the championship, but was proud of the team for recovering strongly after facing a difficult one car started the season.
Verstappen said: “An incredible season. I was a little emotional on the in lap – it’s the last time I’ll be in the car, which gave me a lot.”
“I am proud to have won the last race. It’s been an incredible year. It will be hard to do something similar again.”
“We are working hard again to have a very competitive car. The other teams will try to beat us, but we are up for the challenge.”
How the race developed
There was never any doubt about Verstappen’s victory – and that certainly wouldn’t have been the case if Leclerc had managed to overtake the Red Bull on a lively first lap.
The Ferrari driver challenged in the first corner after making a better start than Verstappen, before pulling out and heading into turns six and seven again, where the world champion once again fended him off.
Leclerc then secured second place, knowing he was in for a battle with the McLarens and Russell.
Lando Norris overtook Russell at the start and was fourth in the opening laps behind Verstappen, Leclerc and the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri.
But Norris and Russell soon overtook Piastri and then made their first pit stops on lap 14 when a slow stop by Norris put Russell in the lead.
When he was in the lead, the Mercedes was quicker and the top four positions appeared to be secured until Perez’s race to catch up became clear.
The Mexican had started ninth after losing his fastest qualifying lap due to a track limit violation, but Red Bull took advantage of two long first stints, stopping later than his rivals at both stops, to give him a tire advantage in the final stint.
Perez lined up behind Leclerc, Russell and Norris, but caught them all in the last ten or so laps.
His penalty came due to an incident on lap 47, 11 laps to go, when he attempted to overtake Norris at the end of the first long straight.
Norris gave him space, but Perez ran deep into the corner and the two cars collided.
Norris complained that Perez had driven into him, and the stewards concluded that Perez had caused a collision and imposed the penalty that ultimately decided the $10 million prize money.
McLaren was disappointed that he was unable to achieve his pre-race podium. Piastri started third and Norris fifth, but their car simply didn’t have the speed to keep up with the Ferraris and Mercedes at the front.
Their consolation was that the result was more than enough to secure fourth place in the constructors’ championship ahead of Aston Martin.
Tsunoda drove a strong race in the upgraded Alpha Tauri with a one-stop strategy and was even in the lead at times when the top cars made their first pit stops.
But as his tires wore out in the final laps, he was unable to stop Alonso’s attack, although he managed to stay just over a second ahead of Hamilton due to front wing damage caused when he crashed into the rear of Pierre Gasly was driving, Alpine was slightly hampered at the start of the race.
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