Max Verstappen wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale for 19th F1 win of 2023
The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was a fitting 2023 finale for Max Verstappen.
The three-time defending champion was never passed on track and easily won his 19th race of the season Sunday. The victory means Verstappen finishes the 2023 season with wins in all but three races and ends the year with an average finish of 1.22. It is, without question, the most dominant season in Formula 1 history.
Verstappen started from the pole and kept the lead from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc over the first lap. He pulled away from Leclerc and the rest of the field over the first run and then quickly regained the lead after the first set of pit stops. From there, it was a race for second behind Verstappen.
Charles Leclerc finished second behind Verstappen while George Russell was third and Sergio Perez was fourth, thanks to a five-second time penalty for a collision with Lando Norris.
That time penalty resulted in some incredible gamesmanship from Leclerc on the final lap. Ferrari entered the race four points behind Mercedes for second in the constructor's standings. As Perez got past Russell for third, Leclerc dropped back in the hopes of giving Perez a tow to get more than five seconds past Russell.
Leclerc even pulled over for Perez in the final laps to try to get Perez five seconds ahead. The tactic was ingenious, but it didn't work. Russell finished 3.8 seconds back of Perez.
Since Russell finished third to Leclerc, he scored three fewer points than Leclerc. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was ninth and grabbed two points, while Ferrari's Carlos Sainz didn't score any points. That meant Mercedes was able to hang on to second in the team standings by three.
Perez's penalty came when he tried to pass Norris on fresher tires. Perez drifted up into Norris while making the pass attempt and forced the McLaren driver off the track after they made contact. Not long after Perez got past Norris for good, race stewards assessed him a time penalty.
Perez entered the race in a guaranteed second in the points standings to Verstappen while Hamilton finished third. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso finished fourth after he was seventh Sunday.
Alonso entered the race tied with Sainz at 200 points. Sainz started the race in 16th and ran his first two stints of the race on the hard compound tire hoping for a late safety car. The caution flag never flew, and Sainz finished 17th and out of the points after a last-second pit stop for soft tires.
Alonso ended up tied on 206 points with Leclerc but wins the tiebreaker thanks to having more third-place finishes than Leclerc. Both drivers had three second-place finishes. Norris finishes with 205 points after his fifth-place finish.
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix results
Max Verstappen, Red Bull
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
George Russell, Mercedes
Sergio Perez, Red Bull
Lando Norris, McLaren
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri
Esteban Ocon, Alpine
Pierre Gasly, Alpine
Alex Albon, Williams
Nico Hulkenberg, Haas
Logan Sargeant, Williams
Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo
Kevin Magnussen, Haas
