Verstappen sees off early challenge before sealing CRUSHING Abu Dhabi GP win

As he has done for the majority of 2023, Max Verstappen cruised to a comfortable victory in the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP.

The world champion scampered away from the start and slowly edged away from the chasing pack lap after lap, completing what has been a nearly perfect season as he led over 1000 laps across the whole campaign.

His 19th win of the season meant he finished the season with over double the points of anyone else.

His closest challenger on a calm evening in the United Arab Emirates was Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who tried his utmost to hang onto the coattails of the RB19 early on but could not sustain Verstappen's supreme speed.

Sergio Perez crossed the line in second after Leclerc let him past to try and hold up George Russell and get second in the constructors' for the Scuderia with Perez having a five-second penalty.

His smarts did not work, however, as Russell stayed close enough to finish third and earn Mercedes the silver medal.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri claimed fifth and sixth to round off a good season for McLaren while Fernando Alonso pipped the Brit in the drivers' standings thanks to a late pass on Yuki Tsunoda.

The most dominant season of all time

19 wins from 22 Grand Prix is a simply ludicrous record that we might never see again in F1.

Add to that a pair of second places in Saudi Arabia and Australia means it was only Verstappen's fifth in Singapore where he was beaten by a non-Red Bull driver.

Many will call it boring but you cannot deny the brilliance of the driver and the incredible car and team supporting him.

For F1's sake, there needs to be a team or team-mate challenging the three-time world champion in 2024 when Red Bull's wind tunnel penalty really hurts them.

Will it be Ferrari? Mercedes? McLaren? It really doesn't matter as long as someone does it.

Abu Dhabi GP Results

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull): 1:28.545

2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari): +17.993

3. George Russell (Mercedes): +20.328

4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull): +21.453

5. Lando Norris (McLaren): +24.284

6. Oscar Piastri (McLaren): +31.487

7. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin): +39.512

8. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri): +43.088

9. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): +44.424

10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin): +55.632

11. Daniel Ricciardo (AlphaTauri): +56.229

12. Esteban Ocon (Alpine): +66.373

13. Pierre Gasly (Alpine): +70.360

14. Alex Albon (Williams): +73.184

15. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas): +83.696

16. Logan Sargeant (Williams): +87.791

17. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo): +89.422

18. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari): RET

19. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo): +1 LAP

20. Kevin Magnussen (Haas): +1 LAP

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