Such F1 records were broken by Max Verstappen – Mercedes beat Ferrari in a tickling $10 million turn

The 2023 F1 season is at the finish line. The last race of the season in Abu Dhabi on the Yas Marina track was won by none other than Red Bull Max Verstappen. The Dutchman, who had an incredible season, ended the season spinning donuts with dedication on the starting line. Red Bull won almost every one of the 22 races of the season.

Verstappen broke many F1 records again this season. He won 19 races. Last year, the Dutchman took 15 first places. Next on the list are Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettelwho managed 13 winning seasons.

Verstappen won 86 percent of the season’s races. It is second in this statistic Alberto Ascari, who in 1952 won 6/8 races, or 75 percent. At his best, Schumacher could reach 72 percent when he won 13/18 races in 2004.

Verstappen won ten races in a row this season. He passed Vettel’s streak record. Vettel took nine wins in a row in the 2013 season.

In addition, Verstappen became the first driver to lead more than 1,000 laps in one season.

– An incredible season. The cool down lap was emotional as it was the last time in a car that has given me so much. It’s hard to do something like this again, but we definitely enjoyed this one. It’s hard to have another season like this, we know that. We are working hard next year to have a very competitive car and we are ready to fight. But now let’s enjoy this, Verstappen beamed at the finish line.

The second place in the race in Abu Dhabi was driven by Ferrari Charles Leclerc. Mercedes George Russell was third.

Red Bull Sergio Perez started 9th from the grid and finished second. However, he dropped to fourth after receiving a five-second penalty.

There was still enough fighting

Although Verstappen had secured the drivers’ championship and Red Bull the manufacturers’ title some time ago, there was still plenty to be excited about in Abu Dhabi. The value of one position in the manufacturer’s leaderboard is at least 10 million dollars, which in turn can have significant consequences for the following season.

Before the last race, Mercedes was second only four laps ahead of Ferrari. McLaren was fourth, but Aston Martin was 11 points behind.

Even in Häntäpää, the rankings could still have changed, when before the race Williams was seventh with 28 points, AlphaTauri had 21, Alfa Romeo 16 and Haas 12 points.

In the drivers’ points, Verstappen, Perez and Mercedes Lewis Hamilton was known as the top three, but Ferrain Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin Fernando Alonso were both fourth and fifth in 200 points. McLaren’s Lando Norris but in 195 surfaces.

Very cool race

The start was really clean and there was no dent in it. In the end, all 20 cars crossed the finish line.

At the start, Verstappen held on to the pole position, but Leclerc, who started from the second grid, challenged the Dutchman throughout the first lap. However, Verstappen succeeded in his defensive maneuvers and the battle calmed down quickly.

Even before the race, it was predicted that if Verstappen can clear the first laps, he will drive into the landscape, so to speak.

There was a little drama in the race on 16/58 laps, when Alpinen Pierre Gasly meant to drive the corner long, locked his brakes, and Hamilton hit the back of Gasly’s car. A piece came off Hamilton’s front wing, but Mercedes felt that there was no need to change the front wing.

Hamilton, who had problems with his car even before the bump, fell out of the top ten. At that point, Ferrari was moving past Mercedes into second place.

After 17/58 laps, Verstappen pitted, and the top three was AlphaTaurin Yuki TsunodaPerez and Aston Martin Lance Stroll. When Leclerc also pitted, the Japanese Tsunoda led the race for a while.

After 41/58 laps had been driven, a funny team radio discussion was heard regarding the most interesting battle of the day. Leclerc was third, Russell fourth, Sainz ninth and Hamilton 12th. So Ferrari was getting ahead of Mercedes.

Russell asked on the team radio that “how is Lewis doing?”.

– Yeah, he’s doing a good job at the moment. He is fighting on his own, was the answer from the Mercedes stall.

– What the hell does that mean? How are we doing in the World Series battle? Is everything okay? Russell shuddered.

– All we can do is run the best race we can. All good at the moment, Russell was reassured.

Hard tactics from Leclerc

On the 47/58 lap, a special situation was seen, when Perez, who fell to fifth at the pit stop, started to overtake Norris. Perez wedged into the inside corner and Norris, who was stuck outside, turned his car towards Perez. The front tires of the cars hit each other with force, but both were able to continue their journey.

Soon Perez succeeded and moved up to fourth. However, Perez was interpreted as guilty of crashing the duo, so Perez received a five-second time penalty.

At the end of the race, we still saw some interesting tactics. Leclerc, who was second in the race, deliberately let Perez pass. The idea was that Leclerc would finish within five seconds of Perez and take second place thanks to Perez’s time penalty.

At the same time, Leclerc thought that Perez would be able to make a difference of more than five seconds to Russell. This would of course have helped Ferrari in the points battle against Mercedes. However, it did not materialize and Russell remained third due to Perez’s time penalty.

Due to the tire rule, Sainz still had to pit the last lap. So in the end, Mercedes beat Ferrari by three points in the manufacturers’ runner-up battle.

Tsunoda drove a great race, but was unable to lift AlphaTauri past Williams, the difference was three points.

In the struggle of the drivers, it happened behind the top three. Alonso took fourth place thanks to the standings, although Leclerc was tied with him. Norris kept his sixth place, but Sainz’s dismal end to the season dropped him to seventh.

Valtteri Bottas was nowhere to be seen

Alfa Romeo Valtteri Bottas drove his last race under the Alfa Romeo name, as the team will return to the Sauber name next season. The weekend was difficult as usual, looking at the end of the season, and Bottas didn’t expect much before the race.

However, Alfa Romeo tried a different tactic for Bottas. The others started on the medium tire, but Bottas, Sainz and Stroll on the hard. Bottas was the last of the group to make a pit stop, on lap 30/58. It dropped him from last to last.

Bottas was not seen on TV during the race. He started the race from grid 18 and finished in 19th place.

Also a two-time rally world champion Kalle Rovanperä was vacationing for the F1 race, as he had said after the last World Cup rally, the race in Japan.

Representation work was also found for Rovanpera. He handed Verstappen the award for the best time trial driver of the season.

Below you can see the final points tables of the season and other statistics.