Things we learned from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Max Verstappen claimed his nineteenth victory of the season in dominant vogue, however behind him an in depth battle raged for each place at the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó delivers his race evaluation.

Records – Max Verstappen introduced his dominant record-breaking 2023 F1 season by setting new information. The Dutchman scored his 54th F1 victory which meant that he surpassed four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and finds himself in P3 on the all-time listing of F1 wins solely behind Michael Schumacher (91) and Lewis Hamilton (103).

Verstappen scored his nineteenth win in 2023 which is a brand new all-time report for the most single-season wins. The second-highest variety of wins in a single season additionally belongs to Verstappen after he clinched 15 victories final yr. The earlier all-time report, which is now the third-highest variety of wins in a single yr belongs to Sebastian Vettel, who received 13 races in 2013.

Verstappen grew to become the first driver in historical past to surpass 1,000 laps led in a single season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix the place he clinched his eleventh hat-trick weekend (win, pole place and quickest race lap).

Fastest pit cease – Ferrari was not solely quick on the monitor at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, however the Scuderia was extraordinarily quick in the pit lane. The Scuderia carried out the quickest pit cease at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, servicing Carlos Sainz’s SF23 in 2.16s.

Having displayed some eye-catching performances in the pit lane in the second half of the 2023 F1 season and setting a brand new all-time report with a 1.80-second pit cease, McLaren have been fast in Yas Marina. The Woking-based outfit carried out the second-quickest tyre change, servicing each Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s automotive in simply 2.22s.

Red Bull and AlphaTauri have been the solely two different groups to get under the 2.5s mark with the Milton Keynes- and Faenza-based outfit finishing a 2.27s and a couple of.32s tyre change.

Winless – Having received a complete of 5 F1 races, Charles Leclerc ended the season in Abu Dhabi with no single win in 2023. His huge rival from 2019 Lewis Hamilton failed to attain a single victory for less than the second time in his lengthy F1 profession after ending down in P9 in Abu Dhabi. Despite having taken a complete of 5 wins in Abu Dhabi, the Yas Marina Circuit has not been a scene of success for the seven-time world champion after he was pressured to retire from the motion on account of technical points final yr.

Fastest lap – Max Verstappen not solely received his nineteenth grand prix in Abu Dhabi, however he accomplished the quickest race lap with a time of 1m26.993s. The Dutchman set that point on Pirelli’s onerous compound and was nearly half a second faster than his team-mate Sergio Perez, who posted the second-fastest lap of the race on the identical white-walled compound. Despite failing to attain any factors in the season-closing race, Alexander Albon set the third-quickest time at the Yas Marina Circuit with a time of 1m27.845s.

His ninth-quickest race lap of 2023 additionally noticed Verstappen safe the DHL Fastest Lap Award, with Lewis Hamilton (4) and Perez ending behind.

No time set – Exceeding the monitor limits on his sizzling laps, Logan Sargeant did not set a time throughout qualifying. However, he was permitted to race at the stewards’ discretion after having proven the required velocity in the earlier a part of the weekend.

Disappointment – It was but once more a disappointing race for the Haas outfit after a promising qualifying outcome from Nico Hulkenberg, who put his automotive P8 on the grid with an eye catching effort in the closing qualifying section. However, Haas’s woes with tyre put on continued in the 57-lap race and the Emmerich-born German racer slid again to P15 on Sunday.

Tsunoda – AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda took his finest ever beginning place in the Abu Dhabi qualifying session, securing the sixth quickest lap. The Japanese driver accomplished the race distance with an formidable one-stop technique that noticed him lead the race at one level simply earlier than his necessary tyre change. It meant that Tsunoda grew to become solely the second Japanese driver to steer an F1 race after Takuma Sato at the Nurburgring in 2004.

Point-scorers – Four groups scored with each vehicles in Abu Dhabi with Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin all ending in the prime ten with each their vehicles. Ferrari scored eighteen factors courtesy of Charles Leclerc whereas Yuki Tsunoda took eighth following an formidable one-stop technique.

For Alpine, the season-closing Abu Dhabi changed into a disappointment, because it marked the first time since the Italian Grand Prix that they failed to attain a single level in a race.

Rookie drivers – The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend began off in bizarre vogue as 9 groups fielded alternate drivers who had not raced in additional than two Grands Prix, as required by the Formula One laws.

These drivers have been 2023 Formula 2 Champion Théo Pourchaire for Alfa Romeo rather than Zhou Guanyu; Jack Doohan for Alpine rather than Esteban Ocon; Felipe Drugovich for Aston Martin rather than Fernando Alonso; Robert Shwartzman for Ferrari rather than Charles Leclerc; Oliver Bearman for Haas rather than Nico Hülkenberg; Patricio O’Ward for McLaren rather than Lando Norris; Frederik Vesti for Mercedes rather than Lewis Hamilton; Jake Dennis and Isack Hadjar for Red Bull Racing rather than Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez, respectively; and Zak O’Sullivan for Williams rather than Alexander Albon.

Penalty – Sergio Perez’s depressing season continued in Abu Dhabi. The Mexican solely certified himself P9 on the grid after dropping his finest lap time in qualifying. In the race, he displayed encouraging velocity in his dominant RB19, however acquired a five-second penalty for inflicting a collision in a battle with Lando Norris.

The Guadalajara-born driver fought his manner as much as P3, overtaking George Russell in the closing laps of the race, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc even let Perez by with two laps to go in the hope that the Mexican may construct up sufficient of a spot to remain in entrance of Russell regardless of the five-second penalty which might have been useful for Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.

Qualifying – Despite having struggles for one-lap tempo earlier in the weekend, all three qualification classes have been topped by Max Verstappen, who would take the pole place forward of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri. Such was the insecurity inside the Red Bull camp that motorsport advisor Helmut Mark wager in opposition to Verstappen, believing that the three-time world champion wouldn’t put his RB19 on the entrance row of the grid.

Ferrari’s Monégasque driver additionally triggered a stir on his final lap of qualifying, which noticed him take P2 on the grid as he had been struggling for tempo on the mushy tyres forward of qualifying.

No retirement – The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the first season-ending race ever to finish with no single retirement. In fact, Carlos Sainz was known as into the pits on the final lap for what gave the impression to be an influence unit associated concern, however he was nonetheless categorised 18th.