MAX SIGNS IT OFF IN STYLE WITH 15TH WIN OF THE SEASON
Eyes turned to the battle for second spot as Leclerc pipped Perez. By
World champion Max Verstappen says he has taken time to appreciate the efforts of his Red Bull Racing team after clocking up a recordbreaking 15 wins in one season by clinching the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Dutchman qualified on pole and was barely troubled on his run to victory, although Ferrari spoilt Red Bull’s party when Charles Leclerc clinched runner-up spot to deny Verstapen’s team-mate Sergio Perez second in the drivers’ championship.
Verstappen said: “It’s been a great team effort, especially after our tough start to the year. To turn it around like that I wouldn’t have ever imagined, I think nobody in the team [would have imagined], but it’s been really enjoyable to be part of the team.”
Verstappen was 46 points behind Leclerc after three races of 2022, but the Milton Keynes team hauled itself back into contention.
“We have a lot of fun – of course we focus on the performance, but you also really need to enjoy the moment, appreciate the moment, and I think we did that,” added Verstappen.
Arelatively easy 15th win in 2022 for Max Verstappen was the “perfect way to sign off the season” according to his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase.
From pole, Verstappen finished comfortably ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and his team-mate Sergio Perez under the floodlights at the Abu Dhabi season finale.
On the podium, Verstappen became the recipient of a new medal presented to the winner of a grand prix by the FIA, engraved to mark World Championship race number 1079.
In the closing stages, the main interest was in the fight for second place on the road – and in the points table. Perez was hunting down Leclerc but there was a certain amount of anxiety on the Ferrari pitwall, as the team fretted over the decision to one-stop in the 58-lap race was potentially the wrong one.
Perez had opted for a two-stop and in the final stint reduced a 18-second deficit to Leclerc on fresher rubber. But on this occasion, Ferrari did make the right call and Leclerc held on to deny Red Bull a 1-2 in the drivers’championship – and by some margin retained second over Mercedes in the constructors’race.
That was partly aided by Lewis Hamilton’s first mechanical retirement of the year. He too made one stop, and was equally concerned it wouldn’t pay off, as the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was closing in fast. But three laps from the chequered flag, Lewis suffered a problem with his shifts, was stuck in seventh gear, and had to pit to retire with hydraulic failure.
Hamilton and Sainz had earlier come together on the opening lap. Lewis managed to beat the Ferrari at the start, but on the run down to Turn 6 Sainz braked late and forced the British driver wide. The Mercedes cut across the chicane, bounced over a kerb into the air, and returned to the track ahead of the Ferrari. The stewards decided
Sainz was not at fault and when Hamilton returned the place back to the Spaniard on lap four, they took no further action in penalising Lewis either. It appeared the impact with the kerb upset the balance of Hamilton’s Mercedes and his tardy first stint enabled George Russell to pass his team-mate, but when the Norfolk man made his pitstop on lap 15, his right-rear was slow to be changed. In the hurry to get back into the race, he was released into the path of Lando Norris and as the McLaren driver was forced to lock-up his brakes in the pitlane to avoid the Mercedes, Russell was struck with a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release.
After the pitstops, the race settled down with Verstappen leading, Leclerc second with Perez trying to close the gap for that allimportant second place. Ironically – one year on from the controversial championship showdown in Abu Dhabi – Perez would have benefited from a safety car and for one moment it looked as if Nicholas Latifi would once again be responsible for deploying one.
On lap 39 his Williams was facing backwards in the Turn 5 barriers and
Mick Schumacher was also pointing in the wrong direction. Replays showed the Haas driver tapping the Canadian into a spin and while they both rotated, they were able to continue. No safety car this year…
Both Latifi and Schumacher were competing in what is anticipated to be their last-ever F1 races, but obviously would like to keep their options open for the future. The same is true of Daniel Ricciardo but, for one man, he’ll certainly hang up his helmet for good after Abu Dhabi.
With ‘The Final Lap’ writ large on his helmet, last weekend was an emotion occasion for four-time World champion Sebastian Vettel. There were glimpses of his old magic in the early stages of the race, but ultimately a one-stop strategy dropped him down the order.
Thanks to Hamilton’s retirement, Vettel was able to finish his 299th and final grand prix in 10th place and pick up one world championship point. But he finished just 0.63s behind Ricciardo. It was by that tiny margin that kept Aston Martin sixth overall and – although it was tied on 55 points with Alfa Romeo – it missed out on the extra millions of dollars of prize money and fifth place by the smallest of margins.
And that was that. Just the 105 days to wait until World championship race number 1080 next March…