Formula 1 News: Verstappen wins 4th consecutive Abu Dhabi GP

World Champion Max Verstappen put an exclamation mark on his 2023 season by winning his record 19th F1 race and 4th Abu Dhabi GP in a row

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Verstappen took the lead from pole, managed his tires and lead beautifully and schooled the entire field just like he has done all year long.

Leclerc made a better getaway than polesitter Verstappen and was fully alongside the outside of the Red Bull at the first corner, but the world champion swept around the Ferrari to maintain the lead.

19 races of 22 in a single season, a record we may never see broken. On his way to his 3rd title he set records for:

– Highest percentage of wins in a season
– Most wins in a season
– Most points in a season
– Most consecutive wins
– Most podiums in a season
– Most laps led in a season
– Highest percentage of laps led in a season
– Most consecutive wins from pole
– Most wins from pole in a season
– Biggest points gap between 1st and 2nd in standings
– Most consecutive races as championship leader
– Most consecutive points scored
– Most consecutive top two finishes
– Most hat-tricks in a season
– Most pitstops by the winning driver in one race
– Only driver to win 3 times in 1 country
– Only driver to lead 1000 laps ever

19 wins. 21 podiums. The most dominant season in Formula 1’s history

With his 54th F1 race win, Verstappen now has sole possession of 3rd place in the all-time win list, and he is just 26 years old!  He was tied with Sebastian Vettel for 3rd at 53 wins.

“It’s been an incredible season. It’s emotional on the in-lap, the last time sitting in the car that has given me a lot,” said race winner Verstappen.

“It will be hard to do something similar again, but we definitely enjoyed this year. It will be so hard to have another season like this, we know that. We are working hard for next year to have a very competitive car and we’ll be ready for the battle. But now we’ll enjoy this as well.”

When Verstappen made his 2nd stop, his was lead down to 5.5s, but the world champion showed why he is the best in the world.

He put his head down and pulled away with a fastest lap in the high 1m26s and then a string of times in the 1m27s that Leclerc could not match.

Charles Leclerc eventually finished 17.993s behind Verstappen for Ferrari, but it was not enough to stop Mercedes from getting 2nd in the Constructors’ Championship with George Russell finishing 3rd, Lewis Hamilton 9th and Carlos Sainz retiring.

That was enough for Mercedes to finish 3 points ahead of Ferrari.

“It means a huge amount [to secure P2]. It’s been a really challenging season, I’ve let the team down a couple of times this season, so it was nice to contribute,” said Russell.

“I thought Charles was going to back me up but credit to him for keeping it clean. It was really tense at the end, the tires were dropping off. Massive relief to have brought the car home P3, can’t believe it’s only the second podium of the year!”

“It was all in the last few minutes, with Checo’s penalty we had to help him in a way so I tried to give him the DRS and slipstream, but it wasn’t enough,” said Leclerc.

“There was nothing we could have done better, we did everything right – strategy, qualifying. It’s all that mattered to me at the end, but we didn’t achieve [P2]. But the team has done an incredible job pushing to the final race.”

Sergio Perez came from 9th at the start to finish 2nd on the road, but he picked up a 5-second penalty for a collision with Norris and dropped to 4th at the finish.

They had collided at Turn 6 on lap 47 in what was a low-speed clash where each driver blamed the other.

The next time by at the same spot, Perez got Norris to move up to fourth, but the Mexican was soon handed a five-second time penalty for causing the clash in the eyes’ of the stewards.

The Mexican pulled away to still beat Norris by more than 5-seconds, but the penalty robbed Perez from 2nd on the podium.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were 5th and 6th for McLaren-Mercedes.

Fernando Alonso took seventh ahead of the one-stopping Tsunoda, who put in a determined drive trying getting AlphaTauri ahead of Williams in the battle for seventh place in the constructors’, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Hamilton actually passed Tsunoda at Turn 9 on the last lap, but slid wide having just slipped ahead through the long left-hander to allow Tsunoda back through to eighth.

Lance Stroll claimed the final point for Aston Martin in 10th.

Red Bull finished with more than double the amount of points that Mercedes managed in second. Ferrari were third, ahead of McLaren and Aston Martin.

Alpine were a distant sixth, ahead of a brilliant Williams who beat AlphaTauri by just three points. Alfa Romeo and Haas rounded out the constructors’ championship.

It is just 97 days until the cars take to the track in Bahrain in the opening race of the 2024 season, and before that, we’ll have live coverage of pre-season testing too. But for now, it is farewell to what has been an unforgettable season.

Max Verstappen has taken his third straight title, but can he keep his championship streak going and make it four from four like his Red Bull predecessor Sebastian Vettel? The form he’s in, anything is possible.

2023 Abu Dhabi GP Results

* Provisional results. Note – Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.