Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Verstappen – Leclerc – Russell

Dark. Dry. Air +27…26C, highway +34…31C

The pre-race ceremony began in Abu Dhabi in daylight with the traditional end-of-season photo. The atmosphere was festive, everyone was happy that the long and busy season was ending.

All the drivers remain, there are only questions with the contract of Logan Sargent, but the head of Toro Rosso / AlphaTauri, Franz Tost, who led the team for 18 years, is leaving Formula 1. The title sponsor, Alfa Romeo, and physiotherapist Joseph Leberer, who worked with the team for 27 years and 527 Grand Prix, are parting ways with Sauber. Another page in the history of Formula 1 has ended.

Leclerc was in the lead on Friday, Russell was in the lead on Saturday morning, and Verstappen won qualifying.

The tire makers brought the softest rubber compounds to the stage – C3, C4 and C5 in the roles of Hard, Medium and Soft. Stroll, Sainz and Bottas started on Hard, the rest on Medium.

At the start, Verstappen maintained his lead. Norris gained one position, Hamilton gained three, but overtook Perez outside the track.

Top ten on the second lap: Verstappen – Leclerc – Piastri – Norris – Russell – Tsunoda – Alonso – Gasly – Hamilton – Perez.

On the third lap, Perez overtook Hamilton in the fight for ninth place – Lewis regained the position.

On the sixth lap Magnussen changed tires, on the eighth Ricciardo.

On lap 11, Russell passed Piastri for fourth place. Perez moved ahead of Gasly into eighth place.

On the 12th lap Alonso changed tires, on the 14th – Piastri, Hulkenberg and Zhou, on the 15th – Norris and Russell. There was a slight hiccup while servicing Lando’s car. On lap 16, Hamilton, Ocon and Sargent changed tires.

In the last Franz Tost Grand Prix, the race was led by Yuki Tsunoda!

After the pit stop, Hamilton and Gasly’s cars touched, but the stewards refused to sanction them.

On the 17th lap, Verstappen and Albon made a pit stop, on the 18th – Leclerc, Sainz, Perez and Gasly, on the 23rd – Tsunoda and Stroll.

On the 23rd lap, Norris was ahead of Sainz, Hamilton was ahead of Bottas and Tsunoda, and Sainz turned into the pits again, changing tires.

On the 25th lap, Perez was ahead of Alonso, and Hamilton was ahead of Ricciardo.

Top ten on lap 25: Verstappen – Leclerc – Russell – Norris – Piastri – Perez – Alonso – Hamilton – Ricciardo – Tsunoda.

Hamilton moved ahead of Ricciardo and Tsunoda into eighth place.

Halfway through the race, the sun set in Abu Dhabi. The picture became even more impressive.

On the 32nd lap, Ricciardo changed tires, on the 33rd – Gasly, on the 34th – Norris and Hulkenberg, on the 35th – Russell, on the 36th – Leclerc and Hamilton, on the 37th – Piastri and Alonso.

Piastri and Hamilton were ahead of Alonso, Fernando complained to the engineer that the car was losing speed on the straights, but was ahead of Lewis.

Top ten on lap 40: Verstappen – Perez – Leclerc – Russell – Tsunoda – Norris – Stroll – Piastri – Sainz – Ocon.

On lap 43, Norris passed Tsunoda for fifth place. Perez and Stroll made a pit stop, Verstappen and Albon did so in 44th.

On the 48th lap, Perez attacked Norris in turn six – the cars touched – and Sergio received a five-second penalty. Hamilton was ahead of Sainz in the battle for ninth place.

Top ten on lap 50: Verstappen – Leclerc – Russell – Perez – Norris – Piastri – Tsunoda – Alonso – Hamilton – Sainz.

On lap 51, Ocon overtook Stroll for 11th place. At 57, Sainz turned into the pits and retired.

On the last lap, Leclerc let Perez move into second place, so that after adding a five-second penalty to the Mexican’s result, Sergio would still end up ahead of Russell and take away points from Mercedes, but the calculation did not work.

Max Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, scoring the 54th victory of his career and the 19th of the season – no one has won so many races in one year before. Charles Leclerc took the second step of the podium, George Russell took the third.

The 2023 season is over. Youth and tire tests will be held in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.

New Year holidays, presentations of new cars, winter tests are coming soon! The 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix is ​​just 97 days away. Time flies by quickly!

Race results

* Sergio Perez received a 5-second penalty for the incident with Lando Norris

Best lap: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Basing) – 1:26.993 (45th lap, 218.541 km/h)

Championship position: Individual competition

Championship position: Constructors’ Championship