Abu Dhabi GP: Verstappen caps off dominant season in grand style as Mercedes fend off Ferrari in constructors battle

World champion Max Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to complete his historically dominant 2023 Formula 1 campaign, moving him to third on the sport's all-time list of race winners. Only Lewis Hamilton (103) and Michael Schumacher (91) have won more races.

Sergio Perez finished second for Red Bull on the road, but a five-second post-race penalty knocked him off the podium, trailing Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Mercedes' George Russell.

Leclerc had let Perez through on the penultimate lap in a calculated move to aid his team's bid for second place, which ultimately failed when the Mexican was unable to pull out a large enough gap.

Mercedes ended their first winless season since 2011 as the best of the rest, trailing only Red Bull, which scored 860 points to Mercedes' 409 and Ferrari's 406.

"It was an incredible season," Verstappen said after becoming the first driver to lead 1,000 racing laps in a single championship, scoring a record 575 points and finishing the year with an 86.4% win rate.

Along the way, he set a record with ten consecutive wins and 21 podium finishes, with Red Bull winning all but one of the races.

McLaren finished fourth overall, 22 points ahead of Aston Martin, with Lando Norris fifth and Oscar Piastri sixth in the best rookie season since Hamilton in 2007.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso finished seventh, edging out Leclerc, Norris, and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz for fourth overall in the championship, with AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda eighth.

Tsunoda led a race for the first time after Verstappen and Leclerc pitted on laps 17 and 18, respectively, providing a fitting send-off for retiring AlphaTauri team boss Franz Tost.

The points were not quite enough to overtake Williams in seventh place overall.

In a race with no retirements, Hamilton finished ninth, and Canadian Lance Stroll took the final point for Aston Martin.

At half distance, Verstappen was 6.2 seconds ahead of Leclerc, with the television cameras mostly focused on the tight battle between Mercedes and Ferrari, with the order changing throughout the evening.

The champion, who won his third title in Qatar last month with six races remaining, led cleanly into the first corner from pole position, with Leclerc close behind and twice attempting to pass him on the first lap.

Piastri and Norris were close behind, with the latter passing Russell early on and trading positions as Leclerc's challenge faded.

Russell passed Piastri for fourth place on lap 11 and then passed Norris in the pits four laps later after the McLaren driver's slow 5.1 second pit stop.

On lap 15, Hamilton and Gasly collided, with the Mercedes colliding with the back of the Alpine in a battle for sixth place.

Perez, who started ninth, was penalized for a lap 47 collision with Norris while attempting to pass the McLaren.

SportsLigue