Max Verstappen rounds off one of the most dominant seasons in F1 history with victory in Abu Dhabi, taking his 19th win of the season.
Both Verstappen and Leclerc managed to get off to equally good starts, though it would be the former who came out of turn 1 on top. Leclerc would stick by and pull alongside the world champion down the straight to turn 6, though was unsuccessful in taking the lead.
Hamilton and Perez were battling early on for the lower points places. Hamilton had initially overtaken Perez on lap 1, though the Mexican was able to retake the position on lap 3. Further up the field and the two McLarens swapped positions as Norris overtook Piastri into turn 6.
Piastri did not have the same level of race pace as his teammate, and was quickly put under threat by Russell, but was putting up a stern defence to keep 4th place. Multiple times Russell attempted a move round the outside of the sweeping turn 9, which would all be rebuffed until the move was finally completed on lap 11.
A few laps later and Russell would overtake the other McLaren in the pitlane, owing to a poor stop from the McLaren pit crew. This would allow Russell to now try and make a charge towards Leclerc in 2nd place, with the Mercedes looking stronger on the hard tyres.
Lewis Hamilton had ran into the back of Pierre Gasly after the latter had locked up into turn 6, with Hamilton just getting too close. The incident would give Hamilton some minor front wing damage, though not enough to drastically impact performance, whilst Gasly’s damage would be a little more severe, as he would struggle for pace for the rest of the grand prix.
Most drivers were attempting a two stop strategy, though a driver opting for a one stop was Yuki Tsunoda, who was aiming to score big points to bring Alpha Tauri up to 7th in the Constructor’s Championship. As those ahead of him pit, we were left in a scenario where he would lead a grand prix for the first time in his career. However this was not to last, as he would eventually make his one pitstop of the race on lap 23.
Perez looked more lively following the first round of pitstops, and would find his way up to 5th by lap 28, having been 8th just six laps prior. By the halfway point, the race began to settle down a little once more as drivers looked to manage their cars until the next round of stops.
Lando Norris would pit on lap 34, which would trigger stops from Russell and Leclerc over the next two laps in response, just to cover off any threat the undercut may have posed. Norris and Russell found themselves coming out behind Lance Stroll on an alternate strategy, whilst Leclerc was able to crucially get out ahead of the Aston Martin driver. Russell would be able to overtake Stroll, but Norris wouldn’t be able to immediately follow him through, building a crucial gap for Russell to protect his position.
A bizarre incident occurred between Alonso and Hamilton on lap 37, as the Spaniard appeared to purposefully slow down to try and force Hamilton to overtake him into turn 5 before the DRS detection point, a move that Hamilton was unhappy with, though would not be further investigated by the stewards.
Pit stops from Hamilton, Alonso and Piastri would bring Tsunoda up to third position, though this would not be for very long. The Japanese driver would first be overtaken by Leclerc, quickly followed by Russell and Norris. Tsunoda’s dying tyres meant that he was beginning to fall back rather dramatically, and whilst he would need to finish 6th to bring Alpha Tauri up to 7th, this would be dashed away once Piastri overtook him on lap 48.
Carlos Sainz was also a driver falling down the order, this being as a result of his poor starting position and unorthodox strategy from his team. He had been put onto a second set of hard tyres during his first stop, and whilst he would initially have track position over other drivers, he was guaranteed to need another stop, with Ferrari relying on a safety car that would never come. This would make him a non-factor during the race in Ferrari’s fight for 2nd in the Constructor’s Championship, though with Leclerc in 2nd and Hamilton only in the lower points paying positions, there was still a chance they move up the table should Russell fall to 4th.
It looked like Ferrari’s hopes were coming true as Sergio Perez was on a charge in the final stint of the race, looking on course for a podium finish. However, he would have a run in with Lando Norris whilst trying to overtake him on lap 47, and the stewards would deem that he forced the McLaren off track, and gave Perez a 5 second penalty. This changed the complexity of the fight for the podium, as whilst Perez was able to get past Norris and then Russell rather easily, there was not enough laps for him to build that 5 second gap. Leclerc would even purposefully fall back in order to give Perez DRS on the final lap in a hail Mary effort to give him enough of a straight line boost, but it would not be enough. Perez would fall back to fourth, Russell would be promoted back to 3rd, and Mercedes would take 2nd in the Constructor’s.
Verstappen’s win is his 4th in a row at the Yas Marina Circuit, and the 19th of the season, obliterating the record for most wins in a season. He also became the first driver to lead 1000 laps in a single season during the race. He also becomes overtakes Sebastian Vettel to win the third most grand prix in F1 history with 54 victories.
Formula 1 will return in 87 days time with pre-season testing, with the Bahrain Grand Prix taking place a week afterwards from 29th February to 2nd March.
