The standings after the Abu Dhabi GP 2023 are also the final standings. Read everything you need to know about the last race here.
Unlike the 2021 Dhabi GP, this year’s edition was a formality. Just a race that is still on the calendar and where there is not much at stake. At least, not at the front of the field. There was still plenty to fight for in the middle and at the back.
This weekend, no fewer than 10 test and reserve drivers were allowed to show off their skills. So it really was a bit of a mustard-after-meal race. But, for enough teams and drivers, there was a lot at stake. A slightly higher position means much more income for the teams.
Six things that struck us about the race
Before we go through everything with you for the last time this year, we have some things we delivered from the last race.
The RB19 was not specifically developed for Max Verstappen
Well, let’s start with yesterday’s article. The consensus – outside the Netherlands at least – is that the RB19 was developed for Verstappen. Yesterday two reserve drivers were allowed to drive for an hour and they did it right. Yes, their fastest laps were not at the level of Max and Sergio, but the entire field was neatly within one and a half seconds.
The adjustment also turned out to be a problem, because it took a while before the Red Bull drivers – especially with Max – got the speed up. However, according to RB substitute Jake Dennis, the car was great and there is no question that the car was developed and tuned specifically for someone. Teams build the fastest cars possible and the drivers can distinguish themselves by extracting the most out of it.
What. A. Start.
The Abu Dhabi GP is rarely an exciting race (yes, except in 2021), but the start was of unprecedented beauty. It was clean, it was exciting and it was very close. Leclerc’s divebomb was of unprecedented beauty. Now we know that Leclerc (and Sainz) were in a battle with Mercedes GP, so Leclerc couldn’t get away 100%. He doesn’t do that enough anyway and we would like him to do that more often. The start was – to be honest – also great because the rest of the race was intensely boring.
Verstappen also wins on a bad day
“Never bet against me.” Was signed, Max Verstappen. For a while it looked like it was going to be a mediocre weekend for the Dutchman. Helmut Marko bet 500 euros on MV33 not taking pole. Verstappen still had a tough time in the free practice, but he still managed to take pole in qualifying. Three laps into the race it looked like things might get exciting, but after the first series of stops all hope was to continue a fun race like alcohol from the mulled wine at a Christmas market in Colmar.
Fernando laughs, Fernando cries
It was a huge surprise 23 races ago that Aston Martin Racing and especially Fernando Alonso was so fast. Very cool, of course. Fernando also let everyone know over the on-board radio. Unfortunately, they were unable to continue. The last race it was clear again that Alonso was not in the mood. That was also about the on-board radio. He remains a cunning fox, because the brake test on Alonso was not very neat, but typical.
Red Bull needs a challenger.
Or take away Red Bull. But in principle it is no longer of any concern to the neutral viewer. In fact, at the start a few editorial members (including the undersigned) were cheering for Leclerc. If you don’t count Red Bull this year you have a very cool battle between McLaren, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Mercedes. It is a shame that those big names are now fighting for the poodle prize. So hopefully these teams will be able to make a big step next season.
Verstappen needs a challenger
You know, Christian Horner should have just joined the conversation with Hamilton. The best driver of all time against the current three-time world champion. Because we can say that Red Bull needs stronger competitors, but a car is only as good as the second driver, says Kees van der Grint. Won 19 of the 22 races, led 1,000 laps and for the first time a driver has double the number of points compared to number 2.
Drivers Championship
Sainz and Alonso were both on 200 points, while Sainz’s qualifying was dramatic (although his Ferrari was considerably faster). A lot changed in the final score, by the way. Sainz went from 4 to 7, Alonso from 5 to 4 and Leclerc from 7 to 5. None of the Alpines got points, so Gasly remains ahead of Ocon.
The standings after the Abu Dhabi GP 2023 in the Drivers’ Championship are as follows
Position | Driver | Team | Points |
1 | Verstappen | Red Bull | 575 |
2 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 285 |
3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 232 |
4 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 206 |
5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 206 |
6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 205 |
7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 200 |
8 | George Russel | Mercedes | 175 |
9 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 97 |
10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 74 |
11 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 62 |
12 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 58 |
13 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 27 |
14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 17 |
15 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 10 |
16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Hare | 9 |
17 | Daniel Ricciardo | AlphaTauri | 6 |
18 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 6 |
19 | Kevin Magnussen | Hare | 3 |
20 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | 2 |
21 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 1 |
22 | Nyck de Vries | AlphaTauri | 0 |
Constructors’ Championship
Here the battle between Ferrari and Mercedes was the most exciting. There were only four dots between them. The battle between AlphaTauri and Williams was also an interesting one. In qualifying, the AT drivers performed much better than Williams. Ultimately, Mercedes managed to hold on to the lead. Despite the mediocre performances of Albon and Sargeant, Tsunoda’s eighth place was not enough to take seventh position from Williams.
The standings after the Abu Dhabi GP 2023 in the constructors’ championship are as follows:
Position | Team | Points |
1 | Red Bull | 860 |
2 | Mercedes | 409 |
3 | Ferrari | 406 |
4 | McLaren | 302 |
5 | Aston Martin | 280 |
6 | Alpine | 120 |
7 | Williams | 28 |
8 | AlphaTauri | 25 |
9 | Alfa Romeo | 16 |
10 | Hare | 12 |
Qualifying match
At Mercedes it was a matter of exchanging pennies for a long time. As a result, Hamilton and Russell are exactly equal. It is also striking that for most teams there is a clear number 1 in terms of qualifications. Ultimately, Albon is the only one who was faster than his teammate in every qualifying session. This overview shows how the drivers perform compared to their teammates, but not to what extent. For example, Ricciardo did not get further than P15 in last qualifying and Tsunoda was in P6.
The standings after the GP Abu Dhabi 2023 in the qualifying match are as follows:
Driver | Driver | ||
Verstappen | 20 | Pérez | 2 |
Alonso | 18 | Stroll | 4 |
Russell | 11 | Hamilton | 11 |
Leclerc | 14 | Sainz Jr. | 8 |
Norris | 15 | Piastri | 7 |
Ocon | 9 | Gasly | 13 |
Hulkenberg | 15 | Magnussen | 7 |
Guanyu | 5 | Bottas | 17 |
Tsunoda | 8 | DeVries | 2 |
Tsunoda | 4 | Ricciardo | 3 |
Tsunoda | 4 | Lawson | 1 |
Albon | 22 | Sargeant | 0 |
Fastest race lap
It’s almost no fun anymore, like that. Because Verstappen is also at the top in this overview. However, you can clearly see that Red Bull and Verstappen focus on victories, and not so much on pole positions and fastest laps.
The mutual standings after the GP Abu Dhabi 2023 in terms of fastest race laps are as follows:
Driver | Team | Number of fastest race laps |
Verstappen | Red Bull | 9 |
Hamilton | Mercedes | 4 |
Pérez | Red Bull | 2 |
Piastri | McLaren | 2 |
Russell | Mercedes | 1 |
Zhou | Alfa Romeo | 1 |
Alonso | Aston Martin | 1 |
Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1 |
Norris | McLaren | 1 |
Driver of the Day
It is very nice that Yuki Tsunoda was able to treat his departing team boss Franz Tost to lead for three laps. This means he has led the same number of laps as Fernando Alonso this season. It gave him the Driver of the Daytrophy.
The mutual standings after the Abu Dhabi GP 2023 in terms of Driver of the Day nominations are as follows:
Driver | Team | Number of nominations |
Lando Norris | McLaren | 5 |
Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 3 |
Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 3 |
Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 2 |
Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 2 |
Carlos Sainz Jr. | Ferrari | 2 |
Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1 |
Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1 |
Alex Albon | Williams | 1 |
Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1 |
Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1 |
Did the Autoblog editors predict the race correctly?
Well, this was the most exciting! Because here too it could have gone either way. Reason for @jaapiyo to take a chance, while @michaelras and @wouter went more on the safe side. For a moment it looked like Michael was going to win, as his prediction was spot on. However, Pérez’s time penalty (5 seconds) threw a spanner in the works. Jaap wins this group for the first time. He is therefore obliged to hand out pink cakes in the editorial office.
The standings after the GP Las Vegas 2023 in the editorial rankings are as follows:
Editor | Points |
Jaap (HAM, NOR, VER) | 114 |
Michael (VER, LEC, PER) | 110 |
Wouter (VER, PER, SAI) | 99 |
1 point for correct guessing in the top 3, 5 points for correct position.
These Grands Prix have already been held:
- March 5 | GP of Bahrain
- March 19 | GP of Saudi Arabia
- April 2 | Australian GP
- April 30 | GP of Azerbaijan
- May 7 | GP of Miami
- May 28 | Monaco GP
- June 4 | GP of Spain
- June 18 | Canadian GP
- July 2 | GP of Austria
- July 9 | GP of England
- July 23 | GP of Hungary
- July 30 | GP of Belgium
- August 27 | GP of the Netherlands
- September 3 | GP of Italy
- September 17 | Singapore GP
- September 24 | GP of Japan
- October 8 | GP of Qatar
- October 22 | GP of America
- October 29 | GP of Mexico
- November 5 | GP of Brazil
- November 19 | GP of Las Vegas
- November 26 | Abu Dhabi GP
The first meters of the free practice of the Bahrain GP will be held on February 29 at 12:30.
This article Standings after GP Abu Dhabi 2023 and 6 things that struck us first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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