Max Verstappen Wins the Final Grand Prix Race at Abu Dhabi

Max Verstappen of Red Bull won the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi as Charles Leclerc of Ferrari defeated Sergio Perez of Red Bull to finish second overall.

Leclerc, who challenged Verstappen for the championship earlier this year until Ferrari’s season collapsed under a barrage of mistakes and reliability issues, held off Perez on different tactics to finish in second place.

The four-time champion Sebastian Vettel lamented what he felt was a bad strategy from Aston Martin as his final race came to a disappointing conclusion.

After Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes retired from fourth place with three laps remaining, Vettel earned the final point for tenth place. Because of his performance, Hamilton has never in his career concluded a season without a victory, breaking a record that only he had.

Verstappen’s victory was his 15th of 2022, breaking his previous record of victories in a single season. For Verstappen, it was a good race where the tyre management was great as the mediums were looked after well and the hard tyres were managed well until the end of the race.

“A 15th win of the season is unbelievable,” said Verstappen. “It’s been really enjoyable to work with the whole team and to be able to achieve something like this. I know it is going to be hard to replicate but it is also very good motivation to try and do well again next year.”

Vettel’s 299th and final race fittingly ended in the points, although it could and should have been so much better for the German after qualifying five places ahead of team-mate Lance Stroll but finishing two places behind the Canadian in the race.

Despite qualifying five positions ahead of teammate Lance Stroll and ending two positions behind the Canadian in the race, Sebastian Vettel’s 299th and final race concluded appropriately in the points.

At the end of a weekend filled with tributes to the 35-year-old retiring race champion, the point was at least some compensation for the 53-time race winner’s one-stop strategy.

“You know how it is. I wish I could have got a couple more points. I enjoyed the race. Bit of a different warm up to get to the race but when the lights went off, it was just the race,” Vettel said

Verstappen dominates the field once again

Verstappen dominated the race and never had to worry about losing, but the altercation between Leclerc and Perez made for a frantic finale.

Leclerc’s strategy was a one-stop strategy from Ferrari, similar to Verstappen’s from Red Bull, while Perez made two stops.

Since they were matched for points heading into the race, Perez had to overtake Leclerc in the final 24 laps after falling behind by a 23-second margin. Leclerc crossed the line 1.3 seconds ahead after Perez briefly closed in on the Ferrari for a few laps.

Many people will think he deserves to finish second in the championship since he has raced exceptionally well this season, winning three races to Perez’s two, and because he has had a worse car for the bulk of the year.

It was a tiny consolation for Leclerc in a season where he led Verstappen by 46 points after just three races before his chances to win the Championship faded when Ferrari went through a string of strategic mistakes and engine troubles.

However, Ferrari managed to get their strategy right for once in Abu Dhabi. After Perez encountered delays at his first stop and then traffic when he re-emerged, they resisted the urge to pit right away because doing so would have allowed Leclerc the opportunity to stop the next time around and overtake Perez for second position.

They adhered to their one-stop strategy pre-race plan, including faking a pit stop to trick Perez, and they succeeded in making the one-stop strategy work.

Leclerc’s nerves were on edge for a while, especially when Perez cut into his lead for several circuits following his second pit stop, but he remained composed and managed to hold on.

Despite his early issues, Hamilton was on track to place fourth using the same one-stop strategy as Verstappen and Leclerc until his hydraulic system failed in the final laps.

Even Russell encountered difficulties, suffering from a pit stop delay that resulted in a dangerous release during which he nearly collided with Lando Norris of McLaren and was penalised five seconds.

However, Hamilton’s late stoppage moved Sainz and Russell up to fourth and fifth passing Norris and Esteban Ocon of Alpine, securing Alpine’s fourth-place finish in the constructors’ championship, ahead of McLaren and behind Mercedes.

Williams Racing Performance

Nicholas Latifi had a disappointing end to his Williams career as he did not finish in Abu Dhabi as he was forced to retire due to electric issues. With no official announcement yet on his replacement it is now widely expected Logan Sargent will step up after he qualified for a super license in his final formula two race.

Williams ended the season bottom of the Constructer Standings with just 8 points collected in Australia (1), Miami (2), Belgium (1), Italy (2), and Japan (2).

Albon secured 4 points in the season (Australia, Miami and Belgium) , Latifi 2 (Japan), and Nick De Vries 2 (in his only race in Italy). Only Nico Hulkenberg scored fewer.

Jost Capito, CEO and Team Principal:

I’d like to say a huge thank you to every member of the team both at track and back at the factory. It’s been an intense, challenging year and each person put in maximum effort. We can be proud of the progress we made during the year and the points scoring results we achieved on pace and merit. Of course, tenth is never where we want to be in the championship and our focus is fully on progressing in 2023. We go straight onto the young driver’s test here in Abu Dhabi so there is no rest for the team quite yet, and we look forward to having a productive day on Tuesday. Finally, I’d like to say a huge thanks to Nicholas for his three years racing with the team. He’s a much-loved member of the team and will always remain a member of the Williams family – we wish him all the very best of luck for his future.

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance:

From the back of the grid, this was a very good race by the team. The tyres required careful management and knowing when to push and when to manage was not always obvious, but Alex did an excellent job, helped by advice from his engineers. Losing a place right at the end was a shame but at least showed that we pushed things to the limit in pursuit of the best possible result. It was another example of an aggressive but disciplined drive by Alex, which bodes well for the future.
Nicholas was very unfortunate that an electrical issue ended his final race with the team a few laps early. We are still looking at the problem, but it was clear that the power to the dash was intermittent and completing the race was not possible. He had suffered contact earlier in the race, which caused some damage to the rear of his car that both hurt his pace and led to a long pit stop whilst we inspected the car.
We have a few loose ends to tie up this evening and then we will turn our attention to the test on Tuesday. We go into the test with both Alex and Logan getting experience of the new 2023 Pirelli tyres. It is a rare opportunity to have both cars on the track at the same time, and one that will not be repeated until FP1 at the first race next year. With only three days of pre-season testing next year, this single day of running is very important, especially with a new driver in the car.

Alex Albon:

I’m really happy with my race today and I think with such a strong start, getting passed four or five cars in those first laps, it was great. There were moments in the race where we kept hitting a degradation point and would get to 15 laps and then suffer a loss of performance, so we were forced to pit quite early. We did fall short at the end finishing on warn tyres, but I think starting P19 and finishing P13 is a good job, so I’m really happy. This year has been a massive team effort and we’ve done our best in maximising the car. We haven’t had the easiest car to drive which is no secret but I’m really proud of everyone. We know our weaknesses and we’ve maximised our opportunities when we were struggling, and when the car was in a decent window, that’s when we scored points. This puts us in a good place for when we have a better car next year. All in all, thanks to everyone at the team for all their efforts this year.

Nicholas Latifi:

The incident with Mick [Schumacher] really put us out and then we suffered an electrical issue that forced us to retire. It’s not how I wanted to end my last one, but it is what it is. I’m very grateful for the three years I’ve had with Williams in Formula 1. I’m leaving the sport feeling like I wanted to achieve and accomplish more however it doesn’t always work out like that in motorsports. Along the way there’s been highs and lows with many strong bonds and friendships that I’ll cherish.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Results

[static_block_content id=”3803″]