The 2023 Formula 1 season ended as it began, with a victory for Max Verstappen. With a touch of déjà vu and a relentless manner, the Dutchman achieved his 19th win of the season in 22 races. The three-time reigning world champion fended off Charles Leclerc’s tentative attacks on the first lap and remained in control of the race. Verstappen didn’t build a big lead in the first stint, but then pulled away in the second stint and took a quiet victory while leading by more than 1,000 laps.
Red Bull also gave Sergio Perez wings in this race. From 9th on the grid, the Mexican was able to steadily improve to second place through numerous overtaking maneuvers. Everything changed on the 47th lap when Lando Norris was attacked a little too aggressively in Turn 6 and a small collision between the two drivers resulted in him being given a five second penalty by race management. A penalty that had an impact on the final standings, as Perez dropped to 4th place, but also on the end of this race.
Mercedes vice-constructor champion
One of the challenges of this final race of the season was the battle for 2nd place in the Manufacturers’ World Championship, and this battle enlivened the final laps of the Grand Prix. In a somewhat desperate attempt to overtake Mercedes, Leclerc let Perez pass on lap 58 to give him the opportunity to limit the impact of his penalty and potentially come between him and Russell in the final standings. However, without success, as the Brit finally took 3rd place.
Before the race, Mercedes had a brief lead (4 points), which narrowed further after the 58 laps of the Yas Marina circuit as Ferrari fell 3 points behind the star company. While Hamilton finished 9th and scored two points in favor of Mercedes, the Italian team could not rely on Carlos Sainz to achieve his goal. The Spanish driver, who started 16th, was hoping for a safety car to fine-tune his strategy and hope for a comeback, but that never happened.
Gasly might regret it
Pierre Gasly started tenth and was hoping to score points in this last race of the season. The Frenchman got off to a good start and quickly found himself in 8th place, but a duel with Hamilton went badly. With a diffuser at the rear of his car damaged, Gasly found his good pace slipping and estimated that he was losing around 4 to 5 tenths per lap as a result.
In addition to this mishap, the Alpine team was unable to perform at full performance and also lost time due to pit stops. Gasly ultimately finished 13th, just behind Esteban Ocon, who remained in the same position (12th) as on the starting grid, but had to accept a second endless stint of 43 laps.