2023 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Race Recap

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – Max Verstappen scored his 19th victory of the year in the Formula 1 season finale in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, capping the most dominant season by any driver in the sport’s history .

In its wake, Mercedes held Ferrari off by three points to secure second place in the constructors’ championship – a result which will impact the prize money shared between the two teams by F1 next year.

Red Bull won the constructors’ title at the end of September this year and have won every race except the Singapore Grand Prix this season.

Verstappen, who won the drivers’ title at the Qatar Grand Prix in October, extended his own record for most wins in a season from 15 to 19 with victory in Abu Dhabi while sealing the title by 290 points on his teammate Sergio Perez.

The victory in Abu Dhabi also saw the three-time world champion move into third place on the Formula 1 winners’ list ahead of Sebastian Vettel with his 54th career victory.

“What an incredible year,” Verstappen said after crossing the finish line. “It was a little emotional during the tour.”

Red Bull has won 21 of 22 races this season, with Sergio Perez taking two victories.

“It will be very difficult to have another season like this, we know that,” Verstappen said. “We’ll see. We’re working hard for next year to have a very competitive car.”

Verstappen led all but six laps of the 58-lap race, meaning the focus was almost entirely on the battle between Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell.

With Carlos Sainz out of position and relying on a safety car to add to Ferrari’s points total and Lewis Hamilton battling Yuki Tsunoda for eighth, the battle between Ferrari and Mercedes hinged largely on the results of Leclerc and Russell .

If Russell had dropped to fourth at the finish and Leclerc had retained second, it would have swung the battle in Ferrari’s favor – something Leclerc realized and tried to fabricate as Perez’s Red Bull closed in on both in the final stages of the race.

Perez, who started ninth but was quick in the Grand Prix, was given a five-second penalty for contact with Lando Norris after his second pit stop, meaning Russell and Leclerc could finish behind him on the track and stay on the podium by staying within five seconds.

Leclerc recognized this and when Perez overtook Russell for third, he slowed down to let the Red Bull pass, then tried to push Russell back so the Mercedes lost more than five seconds behind Perez and came back to fourth place at the finish.

The strategy could have worked if there was more than one lap remaining when Perez passed the Ferrari, meaning Leclerc did not have enough time to execute the strategy and slow Russell down.

When they crossed the line, Leclerc and Russell, who were both less than four seconds behind Perez, were promoted to second and third once the penalty was applied.

“Unfortunately it wasn’t enough,” Leclerc said after his third podium in the last four races. “It’s just a shame we finished third in the constructors’ race, that’s all that mattered to me. We didn’t make it, but I want to thank the team for doing such an incredible job.”

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished fifth and sixth for McLaren, securing their team fourth place in the constructors’ championship ahead of Aston Martin, who secured seventh with Fernando Alonso and tenth with Lance Stroll.

Tsunoda took eighth place and four points for AlphaTauri, leaving the team four points behind Williams for seventh in the final constructors’ standings.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.