| 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 22 of 22 in the2023 Formula One World Championship
| ||||
 Layout of the Yas Marina Circuit | ||||
| Race details[1] | ||||
| Date | 26 November 2023 | |||
| Official name | Formula 1 Etihad AirwaysAbu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023 | |||
| Location | Yas Marina Circuit Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | |||
| Course length | 5.281 km (3.281 miles) | |||
| Distance | 58 laps, 306.183 km (190.253 miles) | |||
| Weather | Clear | |||
| Attendance | 170,000[2] | |||
| Pole position | ||||
| Driver | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | |||
| Time | 1:23.445 | |||
| Fastest lap | ||||
| Driver |  Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | ||
| Time | 1:26.993 on lap 45 | |||
| Podium | ||||
| First | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | |||
| Second | Ferrari | |||
| Third | Mercedes | |||
Lap leaders | ||||
The2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (officially known as theFormula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023) was aFormula One motor race held on 26 November 2023 at theYas Marina Circuit inAbu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates. It was the twenty-second and final round of the2023 Formula One World Championship. The race was won byMax Verstappen ahead ofCharles Leclerc andGeorge Russell. Russell's podium placing allowed theMercedes team to secure second position ahead ofFerrari.
The event was held across the weekend of 24–26 November. It was the twenty-second and final round of the2023 Formula One World Championship and the fifteenth running of theAbu Dhabi Grand Prix.[1]
Coming into the weekend,Max Verstappen led theDrivers' Championship with 549 points. He led his teammateSergio Pérez by 276 points andLewis Hamilton by a further 41 points. Hamilton was ahead ofCarlos Sainz Jr. in fourth by 32 points, tied withFernando Alonso.Red Bull Racing led theConstructors' Championship with 822 points, 430 points ahead ofMercedes and a further four points ahead ofFerrari.McLaren, in fourth, was behind Ferrari by 104 points and ahead ofAston Martin, in fifth, by 11 points.[3]
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with the exception ofDaniel Ricciardo, who replacedNyck de Vries atAlphaTauri starting at theHungarian Grand Prix.[4][5]
During the first practice session, nine teams fielded alternate drivers who had not raced in more than two Grands Prix, as required by the Formula One regulations:[6]
O'Sullivan and Dennis made their Formula One practice debut.[4][7]
The Grand Prix marked the last race forAlphaTauri team principalFranz Tost, who was replaced byLaurent Mekies, as well as the last race for his former team under the AlphaTauri name, as they were renamedRB in2024.[8][9] It was also the last race forAlfa Romeo, who ended their partnership withSauber ahead of their forthcoming partnership withAudi set to start in 2026.[10][11] This Grand Prix also marked the last race forHaas's team principalGuenther Steiner, who was replaced byAyao Komatsu.[12][13]
Tyre supplierPirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively), the three softest compounds in their dry tyre range, for teams to use at the event.[14]
Threefree practice sessions were held for the event. The first free practice session was held on 24 November 2023, at 13:30 local time (UTC+4).[1] It was topped byGeorge Russell ahead ofFelipe Drugovich andDaniel Ricciardo.[15]
The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time (UTC+4).[1] It was topped byCharles Leclerc ahead ofLando Norris andMax Verstappen. The session was stopped twice:Carlos Sainz Jr. lost control of his car into turn three suffering a heavy crash, andNico Hülkenberg spun into the wall.[16] The third free practice session was held on 25 November 2023, at 14:30 local time (UTC+4).[1] It was topped by George Russell ahead of Lando Norris andOscar Piastri.[17]
Qualifying was held on 25 November 2023, at 18:00 local time (UTC+4).[1]
Notes
The race was held on 26 November 2023, at 17:00 local time (UTC+4), and was run for 58 laps.[1]
At the start of the race,Charles Leclerc challengedMax Verstappen for the lead going into the first corner, Verstappen held on to first place. Verstappen slowly built a gap between himself and Leclerc, leaving Leclerc to hold off the McLaren pair close behind.[20] Later in the race, every car that started on the medium tyre[who?] pitted except forYuki Tsunoda, who briefly led the race until he pitted on lap 23.George Russell continued to hold on to third place behind Leclerc.[20] In the final ten laps of the race,Sergio Pérez battled withLando Norris for fourth place. The drivers banged wheels, and Pérez subsequently received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.[20]
Leclerc was comfortably in second place, but Russell's third place andLewis Hamilton's ninth place were enough to keepMercedes ahead ofFerrari by three points in the Constructors' Championship. AlthoughCarlos Sainz Jr. was running in tenth place near the end of the race, he had only used a single tyre compound and needed to pit again, dropping him out of the points.[20] With the race finish nearing, Pérez passed Russell but Russell continued to maintain a gap of under five seconds to hold on to third place after Pérez's penalty was applied. Leclerc deliberately slowed down to give Pérez a slipstream and eventually conceded second place, hoping it would push Russell out of third place. Still, Russell managed to stay close enough behind Leclerc, and finish in third after Pérez's penalty was applied.[21]
The final podium consisted of Verstappen, Leclerc, and Russell; Russell's third place plus his teammate Hamilton finishing ninth and Carlos Sainz finishing 18th secured second place in the Constructors' Championship for Mercedes.[20][22] Alonso's seventh-place finish was enough to secure fourth in the Drivers' Championship, his first top five finish in the championship since he was runner up in 2012 and 2013. Leclerc's second place promoted him from seventh to fifth for the season, level with Alonso on points, losing only by tiebreaker rules. Lando Norris's fifth place finish meant he equaled his best Drivers' Championship position of sixth from2021, whilst Sainz's eighteenth place finish meant he fell from fourth to seventh in the drivers championship, his lowest finish since he finished tenth in2018. Verstappen also became the first driver to surpass 1,000 laps led in a single season and the only driver to complete every racing lap in the 2023 season.[23]
Notes
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| Previous race: 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 2023 season | Next race: 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Next race: 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix |
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