# 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023) was a Formula One motor race held on 26 November 2023 at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was the twenty-second and final round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship. The race was won by Max Verstappen ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell. Russell's podium placing allowed the Mercedes team to secure second position ahead of Ferrari.

## Background

The event was held across the weekend of 24–26 November. It was the twenty-second and final round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship and the fifteenth running of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

### Championship standings before the race

Coming into the weekend, Max Verstappen led the Drivers' Championship with 549 points. He led his teammate Sergio Pérez by 276 points and Lewis Hamilton by a further 41 points. Hamilton was ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. in fourth by 32 points, tied with Fernando Alonso. Red Bull Racing led the Constructors' Championship with 822 points, 430 points ahead of Mercedes and a further four points ahead of Ferrari. McLaren, in fourth, was behind Ferrari by 104 points and ahead of Aston Martin, in fifth, by 11 points.

### Entrants

The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with the exception of Daniel Ricciardo, who replaced Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri starting at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
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:
* Théo Pourchaire for Alfa Romeo in place of Zhou Guanyu.
* Jack Doohan for Alpine in place of Esteban Ocon.
* Patricio O'Ward for McLaren in place of Lando Norris.
* Oliver Bearman for Haas in place of Nico Hülkenberg.
* Zak O'Sullivan for Williams in place of Alexander Albon.
* Robert Shwartzman for Ferrari in place of Charles Leclerc.
* Felipe Drugovich for Aston Martin in place of Fernando Alonso.
* Frederik Vesti for Mercedes in place of Lewis Hamilton.
* Isack Hadjar and Jake Dennis for Red Bull Racing in place of Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen, respectively.
O'Sullivan and Dennis made their Formula One practice debut.
The Grand Prix marked the last race for AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost, who was replaced by Laurent Mekies, as well as the last race for his former team under the AlphaTauri name, as they were renamed RB in 2024. It was also the last race for Alfa Romeo, who ended their partnership with Sauber ahead of their forthcoming partnership with Audi set to start in 2026. This Grand Prix also marked the last race for Haas' team principal Guenther Steiner, who was replaced by Ayao Komatsu.

### Tyre choices

Tyre supplier Pirelli 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.

## Practice

Three free 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). It was topped by George Russell ahead of Felipe Drugovich and Daniel Ricciardo.
The second free practice session was held on the same day, at 17:00 local time (UTC+4). It was topped by Charles Leclerc ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. The session was stopped twice: Carlos Sainz Jr. lost control of his car into turn three suffering a heavy crash, and Nico Hülkenberg spun into the wall. The third free practice session was held on 25 November 2023, at 14:30 local time (UTC+4). It was topped by George Russell ahead of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

## Qualifying

Qualifying was held on 25 November 2023, at 18:00 local time (UTC+4).

### Qualifying classification

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Qualifying times | Final grid |
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Final grid |
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 1:24.160 | 1:23.740 | 1:23.445 | 1 |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:24.459 | 1:23.969 | 1:23.584 | 2 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.487 | 1:24.278 | 1:23.782 | 3 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:24.337 | 1:24.013 | 1:23.788 | 4 |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:24.368 | 1:23.920 | 1:23.816 | 5 |
| 6 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | 1:24.286 | 1:24.207 | 1:23.969 | 6 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 1:24.501 | 1:24.131 | 1:24.084 | 7 |
| 8 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 1:24.425 | 1:24.213 | 1:24.108 | 8 |
| 9 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 1:24.209 | 1:24.116 | 1:24.171 | 9 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 1:24.600 | 1:24.078 | 1:24.548 | 10 |
| 11 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.437 | 1:24.359 | N/A | 11 |
| 12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 1:24.565 | 1:24.391 | N/A | 12 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 1:24.405 | 1:24.422 | N/A | 13 |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 1:24.298 | 1:24.439 | N/A | 14 |
| 15 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | 1:24.461 | 1:24.442 | N/A | 15 |
| 16 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 1:24.738 | N/A | N/A | 16 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 1:24.764 | N/A | N/A | 17 |
| 18 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1:24.788 | N/A | N/A | 18 |
| 19 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 1:25.159 | N/A | N/A | 19 |
| 107% time: 1:30.051 ||||||||
| — | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | No time | N/A | N/A | 20 |
| Source: ||||||||
Notes
* ^1 – Logan Sargeant failed to set a time during qualifying. He was permitted to race at the stewards' discretion.

## Race

The race was held on 26 November 2023, at 17:00 local time (UTC+4), and was run for 58 laps.

### Race report

At the start of the race, Charles Leclerc challenged Max 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. Later in the race, every car that started on the medium tyre pitted except for Yuki Tsunoda, who briefly led the race until he pitted on lap 23. George Russell continued to hold on to third place behind Leclerc. In the final ten laps of the race, Sergio Pérez battled with Lando Norris for fourth place. The drivers banged wheels, and Pérez subsequently received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.
Leclerc was comfortably in second place, but Russell's third place and Lewis Hamilton's ninth place were enough to keep Mercedes ahead of Ferrari by three points in the Constructors' Championship. Although Carlos 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. 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.
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. 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 from 2021, whilst Sainz's eighteenth place finish meant he fell from fourth to seventh in the drivers championship, his lowest finish since he finished tenth in 2018. 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.

### Race classification

| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 58 | 1:27:02.624 | 1 | 26 |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 58 | +17.993 | 2 | 18 |
| 3 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 58 | +20.328 | 4 | 15 |
| 4 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT | 58 | +21.453 | 9 | 12 |
| 5 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | 58 | +24.284 | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | 58 | +31.487 | 3 | 8 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 58 | +39.512 | 7 | 6 |
| 8 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | 58 | +43.088 | 6 | 4 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 58 | +44.424 | 11 | 2 |
| 10 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 58 | +55.632 | 13 | 1 |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri-Honda RBPT | 58 | +56.229 | 15 | |
| 12 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine-Renault | 58 | +1:06.373 | 12 | |
| 13 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | 58 | +1:10.370 | 10 | |
| 14 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | 58 | +1:13.184 | 14 | |
| 15 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas-Ferrari | 58 | +1:23.696 | 8 | |
| 16 | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams-Mercedes | 58 | +1:27.791 | 20 | |
| 17 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 58 | +1:29.422 | 19 | |
| 18 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 57 | Engine | 16 | |
| 19 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo-Ferrari | 57 | +1 lap | 18 | |
| 20 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas-Ferrari | 57 | +1 lap | 17 | |
| Fastest lap: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT) – 1:26.993 (lap 45) ||||||||
| Source: ||||||||
Notes
* ^1 – Includes one point for fastest lap.
* ^2 – Sergio Pérez finished second, but he received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Lando Norris.
* ^3 – Carlos Sainz Jr. was classified as he completed more than 90% of the race distance.

## Final championship standings

| | Pos. | Driver | Points |
| | 1 | Max Verstappen* | 575 |
| | 2 | Sergio Pérez | 285 |
| | 3 | Lewis Hamilton | 234 |
| 1 | 4 | Fernando Alonso | 206 |
| 2 | 5 | Charles Leclerc | 206 |
| Source: ||||
| | Pos. | Constructor | Points |
| | 1 | Red Bull Racing-Honda RBPT* | 860 |
| | 2 | Mercedes | 409 |
| | 3 | Ferrari | 406 |
| | 4 | McLaren-Mercedes | 302 |
| | 5 | Aston Martin Aramco-Mercedes | 280 |
| Source: ||||
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
* Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk are the 2023 World Champions.