Ferrari race report: Charles Leclerc P2, Carlos Sainz P15 at Yas Marina in 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi GP. Ferrari race report from 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi GP at Yas Marina.

Here is our full text transcript from the 2023 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:

Hello and welcome to the final race of the 2023 F1 season. We might not have a title decider to get excited for this afternoon, but there is still plenty on the line when the lights go out in Abu Dhabi at 1pm.

Max Verstappen starts on pole position and is looking for a record-extending 19th win this season. Alongside him on the front row is Charles Leclerc, who will be looking over his shoulder, particularly at George Russell. Why? That’s because Mercedes are only four points ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship in the battle for second.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz ahead of P16 start: “It hasn’t been the easiest last two weekends of the season, or at least the build-up to those two races have been tricky. Now it’s time to try to finish on a high, try to enjoy today’s race. It’s not going to be easy from 16th, but I’m just going to give it all and see where that takes me. I think if today I manage to nail a good start and a good first stint and we can get in the race quickly, then we can still have high hopes.”

Charles Leclerc on the big battle against Mercedes today in Abu Dhabi: “It was a big surprise. We did not expect it. It was a really good surprise and now we have 58 laps to do, which will be very difficult to keep the position. I will do absolutely everything because I have nothing to lose. The only thing that matters is second in the constructors. We have to focus on ourselves and if we do the best job possible with the car we have, we will do the counting later on. One thing for sure is if we are fighting Mercedes on track, I will go for it.”

Four different teams in the top four and eight in total in the top 10. With Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz out of position from where their cars should be, there’s plenty of ingredients through the field for a good race.

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The last two editions of the Abu Dhabi have been on the border of a one and two-stop race. It all depends on how hard the drivers push and whether Mercedes will go aggressive with George Russell to undercut Charles Leclerc, if he’s behind after the opening laps. Ferrari will likely do something different with Carlos Sainz from 16th – either going very long or very short in the first stint to jump multiple drivers in the pit lane phase. All the drivers apart from the Alfa Romeos have two sets of hard tyres left. The Aston Martin pair of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll have lightly used hards available. Most teams clearly think the hard tyre will be the best compound to be on.

It’s medium tyres for all of the leading drivers, which is no surprise. Lance Stroll, Carlos Sainz and Zhou Guanyu are on the hards though. Max Verstappen leads Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri and the rest of the field away on the formation lap to the grid proper.

It’s lights out and away we go for one last time in 2023! Max Verstappen swoops around Turn 1 to keep the lead and crucially Lando Norris gets ahead of George Russell to take fourth. Charles Leclerc is second and Oscar Piastri is third. Leclerc gets a big slipstream down both back straights and tries to go up the inside at Turn 6 but Verstappen stays ahead. He tries around the outside at Turn 8 but can’t get by. Verstappen survives the opening lap…just. Some great racing between Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez on the first lap, with the Mercedes up to ninth from 11th already. Carlos Sainz also gained two positions on the first lap.

Lap 3/58: Sergio Perez dives down the inside of Lewis Hamilton at Turn 6 and is into ninth place. Perez could be a factor for the podium battle later on. Onto the third lap and Max Verstappen, who saw off that fierce challenge from Leclerc on the first lap, moves out of DRS range for the first time in front of the Ferrari. He leads by 1.4s with Leclerc not yet clear of the first of the McLarens, Piastri, in terms of DRS. Lando Norris, up one to fourth, is right on his team-mate’s tail too. The McLarens swap positions as Norris breezes by on the back straight to take third from Piastri.

Lap 7/58: Verstappen is 1.5s ahead of the pack which has Leclerc leading a huge DRS train, remarkably, all the way down to Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz in 13th. Russell tries to go around the outside of Piastri at Turn 8 but can’t get by. This is important for the Constructors’ Championship fight. Daniel Ricciardo, whose weekend isn’t going especially well, now has to make an emergency pit stop with a tear-off having been caught in his AlphaTauri’s radiator duct. He runs 19th. In better news for the team, Yuki Tsunoda has held sixth through the first nine laps – which, were he to stay there, would be enough for AlphaTauri to leapfrog Williams for seventh in the standings…

Lap 11/58: That’s a crucial move for Russell. He sets it up at Turn 6 as Piastri locks up and goes deep, which puts him out of position for the next straight down to Turn 8. Russell gets by before the braking zone and is now in fourth, two seconds adrift of Norris.

Lap 13/58: Fernando Alonso, who was seventh, has just slipped out of that picture by pitting in the Aston Martin. Into the pits comes Oscar Piastri as tyre wear is clearly a problem this afternoon in Abu Dhabi. Piastri comes out just ahead of Alonso.

Norris and Russell pit together…and it’s a slow McLaren stop! Lap 15/58: The two Brits pit at the same time from third and fourth…but it’s a problematic McLaren service and Mercedes are able to leapfrog George Russell ahead of Lando Norris! Hamilton taps the rear of Gasly in the battle for sixth and damages his front wing. This is not good for Mercedes! He then pits but doesn’t change his wing and comes out behind those who have pitted once including Russell, Norris, Piastri, Alonso and Ricciardo.

Lap 16/58: So it’s Red Bull who blink first up front against second-placed Ferrari and bring Max Verstappen in for his first service. Charles Leclerc continues for now and inherits the lead. Verstappen re-emerges in seventh place for now with none of the six cars ahead having pitted.

Lap 18/58: Charles Leclerc comes into the pits and comes out ahead of Valtteri Bottas and more important, in front of George Russell.

For the first time in his career, Yuki Tsunoda leads a Grand Prix! On his medium tyres, the AlphaTauri is onto his 20th lap of his opening stint with no sign of an opening service yet. A nice little present for outgong team boss Franz Tost for some laps in the limelight. Lance Stroll is second for Aston Martin, 4.3s behind, having also not yet stopped

Lap 21/58: Sainz gives Leclerc a handy slipstream and DRS to put the Monegasque driver in fourth place. Russell is closing in on Sainz now, so this could get very interesting. Meanwhile, Verstappen overtakes Stroll to take second place and Tsunoda still leads. Lap 22/58: Sainz can’t do anything about stopping Russell and the Mercedes driver cruises past on the back straight to take fifth place. If Russell can just stay behind Leclerc, that might be enough for Mercedes to finish second in the constructors’.

Lap 23/58: Tsunoda finally pits which gives Verstappen the lead. He’s four seconds ahead of Leclerc, with Russell another two seconds further back. Sainz loses another place to Norris, so is now fifth and will surely come into the pits soon.

Lap 24/58: Another set of hard tyres go onto Sainz’s car, which means he will definitely be pitting again because you have to use two different compounds and the Ferrari driver started on the hards. Sainz is down in 16th but should come back through in this phase of the race.

Lap 26/58: A snapshot of how it looks up front. Since moving on to the hard tyres, Max Verstappen has steadily opened his gap out to Charles Leclerc and now leads this Abu Dhabi GP on 5.6 seconds. Charles Leclerc, who stopped one lap later, is holding a gap of around 1.5s to George Russell, who is fractionally faster than the Mercedes generally right now. Lando Norris is fourth but 2.9s behind Russell and not looking as big a threat to the podium as expected.

Lap 28/58: After a tough start, Sergio Perez’s race is coming together nicely from his latest disappointing qualifying. He now makes short work of overtaking Oscar Piastri’s McLaren with DRS to move into fifth place. He’s four seconds back on Norris in the other McLaren now. He’s lapping about half a second faster so should catch up quickly.

Lap 33/58: The race settles after a frantic opening half of the season-finale. Verstappen leads by seven seconds from Leclerc, Russell is following Leclerc at two seconds behind. Then comes Norris, Perez, Piastri, Alonso and Hamilton. Sainz is only 13th and not making the progress Ferrari need.

Lap 35/58: Into pits comes George Russell and he’s out ahead of Lando Norris but only by half a second. Can Norris do something here? Lap 36/58: Leclerc comes into the pits and is out ahead of Stroll, who hasn’t pitted for a second time, Russell and Norris. Massive moment for Ferrari.

Lap 37/58: We’re quickly getting through this second round of pit stops. Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri and Fernando Alonso have all been in in the last two laps. Hamilton is within DRS of Alonso as the Aston Martin rejoins the track…

Lap 38/58: Leclerc gets past Tsunoda to take third with Russell not too far behind. Tsunoda might be going to the end here, which would be a mammoth stint of 35 laps. Russell gets through a lap later.

Lap 41/58: Verstappen leads Perez by 16 seconds and Leclerc is another 13 seconds back. It’s possible both Red Bulls are going to the end.

Lap 45/58: Well, well, well. An incident involving Lewis Hamilton has been noted. Leclerc is second, Russell is third, Sainz is eighth and Hamilton is 10th, so Ferrari will finish ahead of Mercedes in the standings. But, Sainz is under pressure from Alonso and Hamilton.

We’ll have at least one more post-race investigation this season as the stewards will look at that Lewis Hamilton incident in the pits after the chequered flag.

Lap 46/58: And Alonso dives down the inside at Turn 5, where Verstappen overtook Hamilton in 2021. That puts Sainz down to ninth and Hamilton is right behind him in 10th.

Lap 48/58: Sainz’s Ferrari is struggling badly on its worn tyres now and Lewis Hamilton sweeps past in what could be a crucial move for Mercedes. He’s into ninth now.

Lap 52/58: Perez has been given a five-second time penalty for contact with Norris. This is great news for Russell because Perez is closing and now the Mercedes driver just needs to finish within five seconds of him, if he gets by.

Lap 56/58: So Perez has found the first two seconds of the five he needs to secure third place. He was 0.7s quicker last time round! This could be all rather close for third in this race – and for second in the Constructors’ Championship!!

Final lap: And Leclerc lets Perez through on the track to try. But Russell is still within five seconds of Perez!

A dominant win to end the most dominant season in the sport’s history for the triple world champion.

Mercedes beat Ferrari to second in the Constructors’
Mercedes take second place in the Constructors’ Championship by three points from Ferrari. WOW.

Leclerc is second, Russell is third, Hamilton is ninth and Sainz out of the points.

If Perez didn’t have the penalty, Ferrari would be second on countback as the two teams would be tied.