Formula One ended their 2023 season with a return to the scene of the crime – the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fiasco where a rogue race director prevented Lewis Hamilton from winning his eighth world championship – with considerably less drama this time around as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put an exclamation mark on the season with another win – albeit not in as dominating fashion as his earlier season wins – over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in second and Mercedes’ George Russell in the third and final podium position.
Verstappen began the race on pole position and held off a first corner attempt to pass by Leclerc and that pair remained in the 1-2 positions until Lap 17 when Verstappen made a pit stop to allow Leclerc to briefly take the lead for one lap followed by Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, who led for three laps until Verstappen once again cycled to the front of the race on Lap 21 where Leclerc joined him in his second position on Lap 23 and that pair remained that way until Lap 36 of the 58-lap race when Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, who had started the race in ninth position, briefly held second place until lap 43, when Leclerc reclaimed it.
With Perez holding a five-second penalty for causing a collision with McLaren’s Lando Norris on Lap 49, Leclerc purposely relinquished second place to Perez in a failed attempt to deprive Mercedes of team points in the 2023 constructor’s championship but Perez was unable to get five seconds ahead of Russell and Mercedes claimed second behind Red Bull in the team race, with Ferrari third.
In the driver’s championship, Verstappen had long ago clinched first place while Perez clinched second place last month and Hamilton clinched third place last week in Las Vegas.
