Max Verstappen took victory in the season finale of the 2023 Formula 1 season in Abu Dhabi in what has been a record-breaking, dominant season for the Red Bull driver and his team.
Last weekend’s race win marked the three-time world champion’s 19th win of the season, and like the majority of the races this season, was a relatively straightforward race for the Red Bull driver. Verstappen was able to maintain his lead from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc from the race start, who, despite his valiant efforts, was unable to match the pace of the pole sitter.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez, however, was not so lucky. Despite driving a strong race from ninth to his eventual fourth place finish, the Red Bull driver was compromised by a penalty. With the penalty coming as a result of the Red Bull driver forcing McLaren’s Lando Norris off the track and consequently received a five-second penalty from the FIA.
Coincidentally, Pérez’s penalty ended up deciding the fate of the fight for second place in the constructors’ championship between Ferrari and Mercedes. Although by the concluding laps of the race Pérez was sitting in second place on track, he was projected a fourth place finish due to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell being less than five seconds behind him.
Making it clear that for Ferrari to obtain the runners-up position in the constructors’ championship, Pérez would have to produce a five-second gap between himself and Russell. Therefore, Leclerc decided to concede his second place to Pérez to provide him with free air so that he could attempt to compensate for his penalty. Unfortunately for the Italian team, Pérez was unable to create out a five second gap between himself and Russell, thereby awarding the runners-up prize to Mercedes. In a post-race interview, Mercedes’ team principal remarked, “the fight with Ferrari is a formidable fight between these two great brands, a team that we respect a lot, and Charles drove like a real sportsman at the end.”
Strong performances were also seen from drivers, such as Yuki Tsunoda, who took 8th place in an impressive race for the Alpha Tauri driver, earning him Driver of the Day. The Japanese driver even led his first ever laps of a Formula 1 race by opting for a one-stop strategy. Unfortunately, for the Faenza-based team, they were not able to take seventh place in the championship from Williams despite their improved performances in the latter half of the season. Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was also able to secure his fourth place in the drivers’ championship by overtaking Tsunoda to take a seventh place finish in the season finale.
In 2023, the combination of Verstappen and his Red Bull car have been unstoppable, leading over 1000 laps over the course of the season. The question remains whether the other teams can finally create a title-challenging package in the upcoming 2024 season, and disrupt the dominance of the three-time world champion.
“2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Sunday” by CaterhamF1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.