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On Sunday 26th November 2023, at the Yas Marina circuit, on the homonymous island, in the United Arab Emirates, Will be held the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, 22nd and last race of the Formula 1 world championship. Initially there were doubts about the course of the event due to the Gaza-Israel conflict, but Formula 1 has stated that there is no risk that the race will be cancelled. The situation was made clear with the teams, who have been assured of the regular running of the event. All the teams and their drivers are preparing themselves for the final rush. After Max Verstappen got the first podium spot at Las Vegas and given that he has won the last three races at the Yas Marina Circuit, everything seems to lead us to think of his victory at this last race of the season. Everyone is then waiting for the result of the entertaining fight between Ferrari and Mercedes for the second place in the constructors’ championship, with the Italian team now within four points of the Silver Arrows. The other question is: will McLaren, who put into place a very strong second part of the season, assure that fourth place in the rankings against Aston Martin, who are 11 points behind? At the same time, in the drivers’ standings, there are just 12 points of detachment among Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc, who are in positions four to seven. Alfa Romeo and AlphaTauri compete for the last time with these names. The Swiss team end their partnership as title sponsor and technical partner, after having collaborated and contributed since the 2018 season with the homonymous Italian car manufacturer. Sauber is ready to become the Audi official team in 2026, as an engine supplier. Regarding the Scuderia from Faenza, there will be a change in the name and a partial transfer to Milton Keynes, in the UK, for a management restructuring. Franz Tost, at the command of the team since it was called Scuderia Toro Rosso, leaves his team principal role, to be replaced by Laurent Mekies, former sport director at Scuderia Ferrari. Talking about the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Max Verstappen has good memories in Abu Dhabi, as here he won his first Drivers’ Championship:
"Abu Dhabi always brings back good memories for me and the Team, winning my first Drivers' Championship here is a memory that we'll never forget. It's been a long but successful season, I'm looking forward to a break and having some free time. The whole Team has worked incredibly hard and everyone deserves a good rest and time with their friends and families. It's the last push for the year and I'm hoping to end this season on a high".
Sergio Perez, despite a particular season full of high and lows, is happy to have secured the second place in the drivers’ rankings:
"The final race of 2023! It’s been a tough season at times and it’s come with highs and lows for me but to be going to Abu Dhabi with second place in the Championship secured makes me very happy. I want to end the season on a high so I’ll work hard in the time I have in the car to ensure we’re in a good window. We had great pace in Vegas and I’ve had two brilliant weeks of racing, Brazil and then last weekend were so fun. I want to get the most out of the car once again and if we get it right we should have a successful Saturday and Sunday".
Charles Leclerc, after the good performance in Las Vegas, is ready to fight against Mercedes for the second place in the Constructors’ Championship:
"I think it was a good confidence boost, we knew we would have a chance of doing well and we managed it. We could have done even better and won, but the important thing is that the SF-23 delivered, confirming we are going in the right direction in terms of development. I think that so far we have done a good job, but having said that, we know the fight with Mercedes will go down to the wire. Of course we are here in a positive frame of mind after going well in the last few races, even if historically, Mercedes has always gone well here. It will be very close and it will all be down to the small details in terms of who does the best job of optimising their car set-up in free practice. We can’t deny it’s been disappointing. After last year, we thought we could fight for the title, but right from the first race we realised that would not be the case. We have made a lot of progress over the year and that gives me confidence for the future, even if the gap to Red Bull is still pretty big".
Carlos Sainz Jr. is ready too, as this will be a very intense weekend. He is focus on his goals and ready to reach them:
"We are ready for a high intensity weekend. We want to end the year in style here in Abu Dhabi, fighting for the goals that are still within our reach, in other words second place in the Constructors’ and fourth in the Drivers’. The places we are fighting for this weekend only mean something at the moment. In a short while, no one will remember my fight with Fernando, Lando and Charles for fourth place, or even the one between Ferrari and Mercedes for second in the Constructors’. They are good goals to have for the weekend and they help in terms of motivating us to do everything as well as possible and I think we have shown we have the potential to make up the four points that separate us from our closest rivals. It won’t be easy, because at this track we expect that Red Bull and McLaren could be stronger than us, which means we could be fighting for places that are only worth a few points, so being just ahead might not be enough. But we will give it our best shot. We can’t describe this season as positive because we were not competitive enough. We grabbed the opportunity that came our way in Singapore, but for the rest, especially in the early stages, our season was not good enough. However, there have been some positives and I think our ability to react has been impressive. Going into the summer break, we were the fourth best team, but now we are much more competitive, because we have been constantly improving how we manage our package. We must learn from this season because it can be useful for the future. Even if you have a very competitive car, you can have some tough races and the fact we had to deal with several of those this year has given us a lot of knowledge about how to deal with unexpected situations and experience gained in the races is always useful".
Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari’s Team Principal, is conscious that the car will be less competitive here than it was last weekend, but wants to achieve that second place:
"The end of the season is upon us and it’s time for everyone to put in one last effort before a well-deserved break. We worked very well in Las Vegas, keeping focused even when faced with some rather unusual situations. We must do the same in Abu Dhabi after having closed right up to Mercedes in the battle for second place in the Constructors’ championship. We have a good understanding of our car and we know it won’t be as competitive in Abu Dhabi as it was in Las Vegas, conscious that there’s not much to choose between the teams currently lying second, third and fourth in the standings. The slightest detail can make the difference and every point counts, so we will try to ensure we have the upper hand and will do our utmost to achieve that".
Toto Wolff is ready, with all his team, to give it their all to get the second place in the standings:
"Las Vegas was an extraordinary event. We saw a fantastic race, it was visually spectacular, and overall, a great Grand Prix that I am sure has helped increase the visibility of the sport in the United States. Everyone worked very hard to make it such a success and credit must go to all those involved. On track for us, it was a case of what could have been. The pace of the car was strong. Without the numerous incidents of contact, both Lewis and George would have been challenging for the podium. But that's a case of could have, would have, should have. Ferrari have closed the gap in the Constructors' to just four points and we're ready to give it our all in Abu Dhabi to come out on top. They have shown good form recently, but we know we haven't maximised our performance in the past few races. It will be a close fight and hopefully we can finish the season with a strong performance and on the front foot".
On Friday 24th November 2023, during the first free practice session, the asphalt temperature is 41 °C; despite this, George Russell, the fastest driver, manages to get a lap 0.6s faster than the last year’s best time. Behind him there is Felipe Drugovich, the best among the ten rookies who participate at the session.
Third is Ricciardo, ahead of Bottas; both are driving cars where technical changes have been made. At the end of FP1, Lance Stroll and Frederik Vesti are summoned by the stewards because the Canadian drove slowly, with no necessity, between Turn 15 and Turn 16, involving the Danish driver. Aston Martin are fined 5.000 euros by the Federation. Logan Sargeant and Jack Doohan are summoned because the American driver drove irregularly, bewteenTurn 15 and Turn 16, involving the Australian driver. Sargeant gets a reprimand, the second of the season, while the Williams are fined 5.000 euros by the Federation. Both convocations had been postponed to allow the Formula 2 drivers to participate at the qualifying session. The best of the afternoon session is Charles Leclerc, with Lando Norris second, detached by few tenths. The McLaren driver precedes Verstappen. The reigning world champion was also the author of a misunderstanding, in the pitlane, before the underpass, with the two Mercedes, that didn’t seem willing to give way. The session has been interrupted, after few minutes, due to an incident which involved Carlos Sainz Jr.: the Spaniard went out of track, at Turn 3, when, due to a slipstream problem, didn’t manage to control the car, because of a disconnection and the chatter which the car had already shown in the first practice session.
The stop lasted for about half an hour. A little after the restart, Nico Hülkenberg, after the first corner, lost the control of his Haas, because he didn’t manage to bring the tyres to temperature. Also in this case, the interruption of the session has been consisting, so that the drivers had only eighteen final minutes of session. During the first two free practice session on Friday, Esteban Ocon complained about the assembly of a transmission outside the allocation previded by the technical rulement. The Alpine French driver has not been penalized on the starting grid because this operation is one of those carried out in the maximum number allowed by the regulation. In the night between Friday and Saturday, Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin use one of the two curfews allowed during the season to make some operations in their vehicles. The three teams are not sanctioned. Before the start of FP3 on Saturday, on Kevin Magnussen’s car is installed the seventh unit related to the exhaust system. The Haas Danish driver is not penalized on the starting grid because the new installed component is within the maximum number set by the technical regulation. Max Verstappen is not satisfied with the limited track time the team had during FP2, so hopes to have a good qualifying maybe with some improvements on his car:
"We had limited track time in FP2 so we weren't able to learn as much as we wanted to. I didn't expect the balance to be so far off, there was a lot of understeer and jumping. There's a lot to figure out in tomorrow's practice session. Of course, we're still P3 so it's not too bad, I just think balance wise it could be much better. We need to make some big improvements to be good in qualifying tomorrow".
Sergio Perez is of the same advice. However, he thinks they have a good potential:
"We had to do some tweaks to the car towards the start of the session, I was struggling a bit with some front end initially. Due to the red flags, we hardly got any running, especially on the medium and then on my soft run I had traffic with people doing high fuel runs towards the end of the session. It wasn’t a very straightforward day, obviously I didn’t run in FP1 so you lose that and it means we have to be very careful on what route we take with set-up. I think we have some good potential in the car though, we just have to do some tweaks here and there, then we should be in a good place for tomorrow".
Charles Leclerc had a pretty feeling with the car:
"It was a tricky day. We only completed two laps on the short run and not many overall, but the feeling in the car was pretty good so far. The fight is on with Mercedes and they look competitive, so it won’t be easy. We will do everything we can to qualify in front of them tomorrow".
Bad accident for Carlos Sainz Jr., who hit the barrier at Turn 3. He is sure that on Saturday everything will be okay and he will join an interesting qualifying:
"It’s obviously not been the Friday I wanted here in Abu Dhabi. We played a bit with the set up in FP1 and I was looking forward to FP2 after making some changes to the car. Unfortunately, I went over the big bump at the entry to turn 3 and I lost the car over it, bottoming out and hitting the barriers.It was a costly mistake and I’m sorry for the mechanics for giving them extra work today. I’m sure tomorrow we will be back on track and ready to go. It looks like the field is going to be tight so we can expect an interesting Qualifying".
George Russell knows that his team has a lot of data to analyze, so hopes to have a good finish to the race:
"That was a relatively positive Friday for us. There were a lot of rookie drivers out there on track in FP1, so we didn't get a completely clear gauge of where our relative pace was. Fred did a good job for the team though, and we got a lot of useful data to look over. FP2 was clearly an interrupted session so again, we couldn't get a read on where we were stacking up against our competitors or a true picture of where our pace may be. Nevertheless, we have a lot to review overnight and that will hopefully put us in a good place to finish the last race of the season on a high. I'm excited going into tomorrow".
Lewis Hamilton felt the car ok, but is angry that they did not manage to get more running:
"FP2 was a very frustrating session for me, and I suspect for all the drivers out there. We got very little running in the end, and a lack of consecutive laps too, which is what we most want to achieve on a Friday. On the laps we did do, the car felt OK. The grip felt good and there are a few things we will look at overnight to see what we can improve. It was a shame we didn't get more running, but we will look to make up for that in FP3 tomorrow".
On Saturday, November 25, 2023 George Russell sets the best time also during FP3. The two Mercedes diversified their work, so much that Hamilton, focused on the car’s setup for the race, is only twelfth. McLaren on the other hand confirmed their speed, and are second and third. Albon, who seems to be the fastest driver on the first two sectors of the circuit, is fourth. Red Bull Racing showed setup problems, with Verstappen finishing sixth and Pérez eleventh. A few hours later, at the start of qualifying, the drivers get on track only after four minutes. First Sargeant and then Verstappen get the first place, even if the American driver’s time is canceled due to the track limits. Norris is two tenths away from Verstappen, while Sergio Pérez is further. Leclerc is third, four tenths away from the reigning world champion, while Sainz Jr. is seventh. The two Mercedes seem to have some difficulties. The track speeds up, from lap to lap. The two Williams rare in the first positions but Logan Sargeant’s time is again canceled. Nico Hülkenberg sets the fourth time, and Hamilton is immediately behind him. Norris beats the Haas driver’s time, and behind him there is Stroll. Yuki Tsunoda manages to improve and is in second position. Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Ocon maage to go out from the drop zone, as Kevin Magnussen and Piastri. Carlos Sainz Jr. is in danger of being eliminated, and it happens with Pérez’ arrival. Together with the Spaniard, the drivers eliminated are Magnussen, Bottas, Zhou and Sargeant. In Q2, Albon sets 1'24"965, time of seven tenths worse of that of Q1. Lewis Hamilton, Russell and Verstappen too, alternate at the command. A little after, Tsunoda gets third. Also the other AlphaTauri, that of Ricciardo, is fast, in P6. Fernando Alonso is fourth, then defeated by Leclerc; Perez is the closest driver to Verstappen, just four tenths behind him. The two McLarens are fast: Piastri takes P3, while Norris is at only 0.180s from Verstappen. Albon improves, and is just seven tenths away from the lead; Hülkenberg is fourth, while Daniel Ricciardo seventh. Leclerc is third, ahead of Gasly, fourth. Tsunoda (P6) and Lance Stroll (P9) manage to get into the top ten. The Canadian’s time is beaten by Ocon, while Alonso is sixth. Then, Hamilton is tenth, but is eliminated by Russell’s fourth time. The drivers who don’t make it to Q3 are, in addition to the former world champion, Ocon, Stroll, Albon and Ricciardo. In the first attempt of the ending phase, Norris gets a better partial, in the first sector, than Max Verstappen, who however closes with the global best time (1'23"445). The best time in the first sector, however, is that of Piastri. Norris closes the lap four tenths away from the Dutch. Behind him there is Pérez, beaten then by Piastri.
After a mistake in the last corner, Charles Leclerc closes with the eighth time. Tsunoda is P5, ahead of Hülkenberg and Alonso. Then, the fourth is Russell. The McLarens face their second attempt on new tyres, unlike the first fast lap. Norris, penalized by a mistake in the final part of the track, doesn’t improve, while Piastri is able to beat his teammate’s time. Alonso sets the fourth time, while Leclerc gets P2. Verstappen doesn’t improve, while Tsunoda is fifth. Hülkenberg sets the seventh time; Pérez, fifth, sees his time canceled due to the track limits. Russell, third, will start from the second row. Max Verstappen gets the 32nd pole of his career, the twelfth and last of the season, the first since the l Sao Paulo Grand Prix. The three-times world champion equals Niel Mansell’s number of pole positions, in the seventh place of the all-times ranking. For Verstappen this is the fourth ( following) start from pole at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. For Leclerc, second, this is the first start in the front row at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the fifth of the season, the longest series of any other driver of the grid. Piastri’s third position sets his third start in the first three places in the championship for his debut season in the last qualifying session of the year. Russell’s fourth position is the best start at Abu Dhabi of his career, while for Tsunoda the sixth position is the best result ever in qualifying. For Alonso, seventh, this is the best starting position at Yas Marina since the 2012 edition with Ferrari. Hülkenberg, eight, made it to Q3 for the sixth following time at this Grand Prix, and for the eighth time in this season. His teammate Magnussen has been eliminated for the twelfth time in the first phase. With his second time of Q3 canceled due to the track limits, Pérez qualified ninth, for an average starting position of 10.4 in the last seventeenth Grands Prix of the championship. The tenth place sets for Gasly his second Q3 at Abu Dhabi in seven qualifyings. Verstappen and Leclerc will start from the front row for the third following race. After getting the pole, Verstappen talks with this engineer on the radio but doesn’t receive the compliments that he was waiting for. In fact, Lambiase, with a rather harsh tone, warns him:
"I think that you owe this *** box an apology, fried. You are P1".
All without any enthusiasm or exultation. The reference is obviously to internal criticism made by the world champion to his team during the past hours. However, Verstappen reply without making particular acts of contrition:
"Sometimes you can do things better, you know. I think that this is what we did, so well done. Great work".
Then, maybe to dampen the tension a little, Christian Horner congratulates Max Verstappen, telling him he just won, thanks to him, 500 euros in a bet with Helmut Marko.
"Helmut lost a bet? What on earth is happening?"
But on what were Marko and Horner challenged? According to the Austrian manager himself, the bet was on Verstappen’s final placement in qualifying. Marko, pessimistic, predicted the second row, while Horner was convinced of a start in the first two positions of the grid. It looks like that the money won by the Team Principal will be invested in the party organized by the mechanics of the team after the race. Max Verstappen, the last poleman of the season, is of course satisfied with the performance he carried out:
"I'm very happy to be on pole, I didn't expect it. The weekend so far has been a bit tricky but we definitely improved the car for Qualifying, we did everything we could. From lap one the RB19 seemed more together and we could definitely push more, it felt miles better than in practice. It's been a very special season, we've been enjoying it a lot and we're really proud of what we've achieved. We'll try to have a good start tomorrow, focus on our own race and hopefully end the season on a high".
Sergio Perez was competitive at first, but due to a lap deleted didn’t qualify in a good position:
"Things were looking really good, we had a very competitive Q1 and Q2, but unfortunately, we ended up not putting things together in Q3 and it made it worse that we got the lap deleted. It was a little bit of a disaster with the scrub set of tyres, we had an issue with the driveability and then unfortunately I got caught out by track limits. I had a moment coming out of turn one and that made it really difficult for me to get a lap together, it wasn’t a very clean lap in the end. The podium will be the target tomorrow, no one really has much information on how they will perform in the race so we will see, as I always say, anything can happen".
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s Team Principal, expresses his feelings about this year’s excellent season:
"Final qualifying of the season and it was certainly a good one. Both drivers performed very well. Checo was unfortunate at the very end with track limits but its a good track to overtake here and he will take every opportunity tomorrow. For Max, it was a text book drive, his 4th consecutive pole here, its a great summation of his year. Obviously this sets us up well as we head into our last race. Its been a phenomenal season so far, lets see if we can bring that home tomorrow".
Charles Leclerc will do his best to get the second place in the Constructors’ Championship:
"I'm really happy with my lap, and qualifying on the front row is not something we expected today. It's not the ideal track for us and considering the high temperatures, it could be a tough one tomorrow. Our main target is to take second place in the Constructors' championship. We will give it everything to finish the season on a high".
Carlos Sainz Jr. had a difficult session, but hopes to recover during the race:
"It was a difficult day for me. We found ourselves in a challenging situation leaving the pits late due to a small issue with the front wing. Then the traffic during the push lap didn’t help and I didn’t manage to put a clean lap together, so that was my bad. So far it has been a tricky weekend but the race is tomorrow and I will push to recover and fight to score important points for the team. It’s not over yet".
Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari’s Team Principal, analyzes the drivers’ performance:
"It was so tight today that anything was possible to the extent that at one point I thought that not just Carlos, but also Charles might have been out before Q3. Today, the out-lap was very important and towards the end of the session we nailed the right approach and we were finally able to do a good job. Charles only had one set of new Softs available for Q3 as we had to use an extra one in Q1 to be safe. But in that last phase he drove one of his mega laps. Now it’s all about doing a better job than Mercedes tomorrow. We cannot predict what will happen but I think we have the pace. We need to score points with both cars so we will have to be aggressive in terms of strategy with Carlos. Unfortunately, we were late sending him out and he found himself in traffic and was unable to prepare the lap properly. We believe he can move up the field tomorrow, the car seems quite consistent now over a long stint and we can therefore be confident we can do a good job in our fight for second in the championship. We must just focus on ourselves".
George Russell is overall satisfied:
"Ahead of the weekend, we would have taken P4 in qualifying. Having said that, after the performance in FP3 where we were quickest every single lap, we only improved six tenths from that session to qualifying. Considering that track temperatures dropped and we had less fuel in the car, we didn't extract as much as we should have. That was a little disappointing. I want to end the season on a high so ultimately my goal is to be on the podium and get the most out of the points for the team in the Constructors' Championship so let's see what tomorrow holds for us - we will aim for the best result possible. I'm excited for the final race of the season and although Lewis had a tricky session today, I am sure he will move forward tomorrow".
Lewis Hamilton had a difficult session and didn’t make into Q3, but will work hard during the race:
"It was a challenging session for me today, I've been struggling with the set-up of the car here in Abu Dhabi this weekend, although our cars are set up the same, so we need to understand what it is on my side of the garage that's causing the lack of performance. George managed to get the most out of the car today finishing in P4. It takes some good going for me to not make it into Q3 so we need to do a deep dive and try our best to move up tomorrow. The team here and back in the factory deserves a good result for the final race of the season so we will work hard as always and hopefully it will pay off and we can find improvements ahead of tomorrow".
On Sunday 26th November 2023, at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the poleman Max Verstappen successfully defends himself against Leclerc’s attacks. The two McLaren are behind them, then George Russell, Tsunoda and Alonso. On lap 4, Norris takes the third position from his teammate Piastri. On lap 11, the Aistralian, after some laps under pressure, also gives way to the fourth place, to Russell. Piastri stops on lap 14 to swap for hards, as Fernando Alonso did on the previous lap. On lap 15, both Norris and Russell pit: the Mercedes driver takes advantage of the slower pit stop of his compatriot to take the position. On lap 17, Verstappen pits, whileLeclerc waits for the next lap. Yuki Tsunoda is in the lead, ahead of Stroll and Verstappen. The reigning world champion immediately passes the Aston Martin driver. Tsunoda and Stroll wait for lap 23 to pit: Verstappen is again in the lead, ahead of Leclerc, Russell, the McLaren pair and Alonso. A little after, the Spaniard is overtaken by Sergio Pérez. The Red Bull Racing’s Mexican, on lap 29, passes Piastri, for P5. The other McLaren driver, Lando Norris, five laps later, pits for the second time, maintaining the choice of hard tyres. A lap later, is Russell’s turn, who emerges ahead of Norris. Then, also Leclerc and Hamilton pit. The Ferrari driver remains ahead of Stroll, Russell and Norris. The Canadian is overtaken by the two Britons, with Russell trying to reduce the detachment from Leclerc. At the command there are now the two Red Bull Racing cars of Verstappen and Pérez, with the latter who pits, on lap 43, followed, a lap later, by the Dutchman.
Verstappen remains the leader, ahead of Charles Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Tsunoda and Pérez. The Japanese driver is overtaken by Pérez who, on lap 47, tries a move on Norris. This brings him to a collision, which costs the Red Bull Racing driver a five-seconds penalty, on race time. After just two laps, Pérez will definitely get the better of the McLaren driver. Five laps to the end and Pérez passes also Russell, and stretches in an attempt to put, between himself and the Mercedes driver, the necessary five seconds, due to the penalty. Leclerc, in order to take away points to Mercedes for the Constructors’ Championship, gives him the second position, hoping to facilitate him in the search for the margin of five seconds overRussell. Two laps from the end and Alonso takes the seventh position from Tsunoda who, on the last laps, resists Hamilton’s return. Max Verstappen wins the 54th Grand Prix of his career, the following seventh, the 19th and last of the season. For Verstappen this is the fourth, following, victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. For Red Bull Racing this is the 21st and last victory of the Championship, the following seventh and the number 113 of their own history. Charles Leclerc, second for the second following race, at the 13th podium of his career, the sixth of the season, finishes without victories three of his last four season with Ferrari.
The Monegasque earns two positions in the ranking and finishes fifth in the Drivers’ standings. George Russell, third, obtains the 11th podium of his career, the second of this championship after that of the Spanish Grand Prix, in the same spot. With Russell’s result, Mercedes finishes second in the Constructors’ Championship, with three points ahead of Ferrari. Sergio Pérez crosses the finish line in second position, but finishes fourth due to the five-seconds penalty on the race time for the collision with Lando Norris. With the fifth place, Lando Norris finishes sixth in the final ranking, a point behind the fourth final placement, while with Oscar Piastri’s sixth place, McLaren finishes P4 in the Constructors’ Championship, an additional position compared to 2022. Fernando Alonso is seventh and finishes fourth in the Drivers’ standings, his first placement among the first five since the second place in 2012 and 2013 with Ferrari. Yuki Tsunoda is eighth and ends in points in three of the last five races. Lewis Hamilton is ninth and sets only two points Abu Dhabi in the last two editions of the race. Lance Stroll is tenth, the same position he has in the Drivers’ standings. Aston Martin is fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, two positions higher compared to last season. Max Verstappen, who never won four consecutive times on the same track, is the first driver in history to complete more than 1 000 laps led by race leader in a single season. The total number of laps led in the Championship by the three-times world champion is 1 003, equal to the McLaren’s total number in the 1988 season with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. In addition, Max Verstappen sets a new record for points won in a season (575), beating the previous one of 454 dating from the previous championship, and with the greatest margin on the second (290), beating the previous one of Sebastian Vettel (155) dating from 2013. Max Verstappen, at the end of this golden year, is satisfied with how everything went and thanks the team for what they have done:
"It's been an unforgettable season. It was emotional on the in-lap driving the RB19 for the last time, this car and Team has given me so much. I have to say a big thank you to everyone at Red Bull, we've had an incredible year. It will be hard to replicate a year like this but we always want to do better and to improve so let's see what we can do next year. In the meantime, I think the whole Team and everyone in the paddock needs a rest and to spend some time with friends and family. It's been a simply lovely year".
Sergio Perez is happy and awake that his team had the best season so far:
"Overall, we had a good race today. I think I could have maybe stretched it to a one stop, it's something to look at and review. It probably would have been possible, but we will never know! My honest opinion is it was just a racing incident with Lando but unfortunately, the stewards didn't agree with that and I got the penalty and lost second place in the final race of the season. I have learnt this season to never give up, we have had some tough times, ups and downs but it only matters where you finish when the season ends here. I am happy with the whole Team, they have done a tremendous job and we deserved a lot more today and at times this season. We have had the best season in our history and so much credit to Max, he has been outstanding. Next year we have another chance and we go for it".
Christian Horner, Red Bull’s Team Principal, has only beautiful words for his team:
"Well that brings the curtain down on a year that can only be described as incredible. This car is going to go down in the history books as a very, very special car. To have won 21 races out of the 22 is an achievement we never thought possible. What a year, not just for those you see week in and week out at track, but more than anything, all the people behind the scenes back in the factory across the whole business. All the support staff made this happen and played their role in making, delivering, and operating this car. I think everybody can take a huge amount of pride in what they've achieved, because this Team really does have an incredible winning spirit and their determination through it all is incredibly strong. Adding to this, Max and Checo. An extraordinary Team in themselves. Their hard work and commitment delivered our first ever Pl and P2 finish. Throughout the season Max has been as close to faultless as you can get, every week bettering his last performance, turning in his best year yet. Checo by comparison has equally had his best year and his best finish in the Championship".
So he adds:
"It was not an easy road for him but he turned it up when he needed to and secured second place. Finally, I would like to thank our partners and fans, who equally played their part in this historic season. Their commitment to the Team has been steadfast throughout the season and we are incredibly grateful for their support. We are going to hopefully take all of these lessons out of this car and apply it into our 20th car. It will be another special year for us in our 20th year as we continue to build to try and defend these two titles. Preparation has already began, we will enjoy the break while we have it but look forward to seeing what's to come in the 2024 season".
Charles Leclerc looks back at his season and thinks that it was positive, as Ferrari often managed to take home good results:
"Today, I had a very good car and the strategy was the right one. I could have pushed hard for many laps on the Medium tyres and my second place was never in danger. Unfortunately, in the end, Checo’s (Perez) five second penalty cost us a lot. Towards the end I tried to help him to build a gap over George (Russell) so that he could wipe out the penalty and finish ahead of the Mercedes, which would have put us ahead of them in the classification. However, looking back at the season, we can say it has been positive. We started the year with a car that we could not push to the limit. We knew what the problem was, but it took a while to change things. From Japan onwards my Ferrari became a very different car, capable of very good results. Unfortunately, over the course of the year there were several occasions when we were in a strong position but left points on the table: I’m thinking of my retirement in Bahrain when I was third, or in Brazil, where I qualified on the front row but I never actually started the race. I hope that, over the winter, we will be able to put everything we have learned to good use in order to be competitive right from the start of next season. We want to give something back to our fans for all their continued support".
Carlos Sainz Jr. looks at the positive aspects of the season, as he had a bad weekend:
"Not the way we wanted to finish the season, with a very tough double-header on my side in Las Vegas and here in Abu Dhabi. The race today was never going to be easy. The first stint on the Hard was risky and it didn’t go to plan. From there on our race was a bit compromised and we waited for a Safety Car that never came. It hurts badly to miss P2 in the Constructors but there have been plenty of positives throughout the year and we will of course work on the things we could’ve done better. I want to thank the entire team, here and back home in Maranello, for their incredible effort all season long and also send a massive thank you to every single fan for their relentless support. We will regroup during the winter and come back stronger next year. Grazie a tutti e Forza Ferrari sempre".
Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari’s Team Principal, analyzes the season, which improved only in the second part, and is ready for the next one:
"We are happy to have finished a far from easy season with a solid performance from Charles. Unfortunately, Carlos’ weekend took a turn for the worse starting from Friday and it’s a shame he was unable to bring home the three points but it’s not today that we lost second place in the Constructors’. Clearly, as Ferrari, we’re never that interested in finishing second, but it would still have been a reward for everyone who worked hard at the track and those who always gave it everything they had back in Maranello ever since the SF-23 first rolled out onto the Fiorano track. But the whole group can be pleased with how it reacted and fought back in the second part of the season. After the summer break that followed the Dutch Grand Prix, we made constant progress, to the point that we are the only team apart from Red Bull to have won a race. Charles ended the season with a string of strong performances and Carlos also had some very positive races including that Singapore win of course. The curtain comes down on Tuesday after the test and we are already looking ahead to the next one. We are determined to continue with the progress we have demonstrated over the past ten races".
George Russell is happy about the team’s P2 in the Constructors’:
"Today's result means a huge amount and I'm really pleased we've secured P2 for the team. There are so many people back at the factory in Brackley and Brixworth, who have worked so hard to achieve this. It's been a really challenging season for us. I've let the side down a couple of times this year so I'm pleased to bring it across the line today. It was really intense at the end and so close with Perez, his pace was just great. I thought Charles was going to back me up but respect to him for keeping it clean. I'm happy to end the season this way with a podium".
Lewis Hamilton in of the same advice and thanks the team for the work done during this tough season:
"I'm happy for the team that we've managed to secure P2 in the Constructor's Championship, it was a great effort by the team at track and both in Brackley and Brixworth. But we're not we're we want to be yet, we want to be competing for the championship and race wins and this weekend showed that we need to dig deep and work hard during the winter to get back to where we want to be and come back stronger next year. I hope everyone at the factory is happy with the result today and I'm grateful for all the hard work the team has put into this season, it's been a long and tough year for us".
Thus concludes one of the most monotonous Formula 1 World Championships in history. Both technical and sporting regulations have failed to deliver the spectacle that Liberty Media hoped for when it introduced this system, later endorsed by the management before Ben Sulayem took over the presidency of the FIA. After all, such a marked and clear dominance by a single team and a single driver during a single season had never been seen before.