Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: Verstappen – Leclerc – Russell

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

The pre-race ceremony started in daylight in Abu Dhabi with the traditional season photo. The atmosphere was festive, everyone was happy that the long and busy season was coming to an end.

All drivers remain, there are only questions about Logan Sargent’s contract, 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 have worked for the team for 27 years and 527 Grand Prix, are saying goodbye to Sauber. Another page in the history of Formula 1 has been closed.

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 podium: C3, C4 and C5 in Hard, Medium and Soft roles. Stroll, Sainz and Bottas started on Hard, the rest on Medium.

Verstappen retained his lead at the start. Norris gained one position, Hamilton won three, but overtook Perez off the track.

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

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

Magnussen changed tires on lap six, Ricciardo on lap eight.

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

On the 12th lap, Alonso changed tires, on the 14th – Piastri, Hulkenberg and Zhou, on the 15th – Norris and Russell. There was a small problem during the maintenance of 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, the cars of Hamilton and Gasly collided, but the stewards refused to penalize them.

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

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

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

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

Hamilton climbed to eighth place ahead of Ricciardo and Tsunoda.

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

In the 32nd lap Ricciardo changed tires, in the 33rd – Gasly, in the 34th – Norris and Hulkenberg, in the 35th – Russell, in the 36th – Leclerc and Hamilton, in 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 Lewis was ahead.

Top ten in 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 place.

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

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

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

On the final lap, Leclerc moved Perez up to second place, so that after adding a five-second penalty to the Mexican Russell’s result, Sergio would still come ahead and take 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 the third.

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

New Year’s holidays, new car presentations, winter tests are coming! 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 round: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Basing) – 1:26.993 (45th lap, 218.541 km/h)

Championship Position: Individual Competition

Championship position: Constructors’ Championship