MOTORSPORT: Verstappen claims Abu Dhabi GP

Max Verstappen’s remarkable Formula 1 season came to a close with his 15th victory for 2022 early this morning in the Middle East, where the Red Bull driver dominated the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Elsewhere, Ferrari claimed second in the final driver standings, with Charles Leclerc narrowly overcoming a challenge from Sergio Perez in the dying stages.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo meanwhile finished his final race for McLaren in the points, after battling with the Aston Martin of the retiring Sebastian Vettel during the closing stages.

“It was a good race – it was all about tyre management,” said Verstappen.

“I think we looked after the mediums quite well and then on hard tyres, I was literally managing from lap one to the end.

“Incredible to win again here and the 15th win of the season is unbelievable.

“It’s been really enjoyable to work with the whole team and to be able to achieve something like this, this year.

“I know it’s going to be hard to replicate something like this, but it is also motivation to try and do well again next year”

Starting from pole position, Verstappen led away from his fast-starting teammate Perez, while in the battle for fourth Lewis Hamilton went off track in his efforts to fend off Carlos Sainz.

By the fourth lap of 58, the Mercedes team ordered Hamilton to give the position back despite no directive from race officials, however, he swiftly overtook the Ferrari again.

Sainz returned serve on the eighth circuit, while Hamilton dropped a further position to his stablemate George Russell one lap later, who gained fifth.

Perez was the first of the leaders to pit on lap 16, with Leclerc the last to stop six tours later, with a messy stop for Russell seeing him rejoining the fast lane in the path of Lando Norris (McLaren), which earned the former a 5sec penalty.

Stopping again for hard compound tyres on lap 34, Perez set himself up for a chase to the finish, while in their final race starts for the foreseeable future, Mick Schumacher (Haas) and Nicholas Latifi (Williams) tangled on lap 39, with resulting damage seeing the latter retire.

Perez battled hard to gain the ascendancy on Hamilton on laps 46 and 47, while the seven-time world champion would ultimately fall out of the running with a hydraulic issue with three laps remaining.

The charge for Perez was somewhat hindered by the lapped car of Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri), with the Mexican simply running out of time to retake second.

At the finish, it was Verstappen victorious by 8sec over Leclerc, who held a 1sec advantage over Perez.

Sainz was fourth from Russell, Norris, Esteban Ocon (Alpine), and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), with the top 10 rounded out by Ricciardo and Vettel. That battle was significant as it gave Alfa Romeo sixth in the final constructor’s points over Aston Martin on a countback.

For the latter duo, it appears that Ricciardo will spend next season in a reserve role at Red Bull Racing, while Vettel rounded out his four-time world championship-winning career with celebratory donuts and being voted the driver of the day.

In the final constructors run down, Red Bull led home Ferrari, Mercedes, Alpine, McLaren, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Haas, AlphaTauri and Williams.

Next up for the teams is post-season testing in Abu Dhabi, with several drivers set to line up for their new squads, including Australian Oscar Piastri at McLaren and Pierre Gasly at Alpine.

The 2023 Formula 1 season is set to kick off at the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 5, with the championship slated to visit the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit for the Australian Grand Prix on April 2.

2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix results:

2022 Formula 1 championship standings:

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