Abu Dhabi GP: Max wins, Charles P2
Max Verstappen takes another flawless win at Abu Dhabi to make it 15 in 2022 season. Charles came P2 and keeps 2nd in Drivers Championship
Max Verstappen : Sublime in Abu Dhabi
It is a season Max will remember for a long long time. His dominance has been absolute. Starting P1 at Abu Dhabi race, he got a good start and just didn’t look back. This was his 15th win in the season, a World record. After a good start we literally did not see him on the television till the end when he crossed the chequered flag.
Fight for P2 : Charles came on top
A more interesting battle was between Checo and Charles who were level on points on entering Abu Dhabi. Starting P2 Checo did well in the beginning but Charles was catching up soon as his Ferrari was more tuned for race than Quali. Red Bull decided to go for a two-stop strategy with Checo and Ferrari went the other way, opting for one-stop for Charles. Luckily for Charles his tyres held up right till the end. Checo did a good job chasing LeClerc but eventually ran out of laps to overtake. Lewis Hamilton and the backmarkers also made life difficult for him. Charles would be happy to get P2 in Driver’s Championship, some consolation in a season where he started as a favourite. His team-mate Carlos had a decent race but couldn’t match the pace of Red Bull or LeClerc and ended up finishing P4.
Mercedes : A Long Way to Go
The W13 is one car which the Silver Arrows would be eager to throw in the dust-bin. The car just did not have the race potential, despite the relative highs of Brazil. Lewis Hamilton went in the air going over the sausage kerbs as he went off-track, nudged by Carlos in the opening laps. His car suffered damaged but still managed to have a good pace. But that jump caused hydraulic issues and he had to retire his car in the final stint. This was his first and the only retirement of the season. Credit to Mercedes for building a reliable car but they need to work on the race pace. George Russell similarly did not have the race pace to match the Red Bulls or the Ferraris. He finished P5 in the race but would be happy to beat the 7-time World Champion team-mate in the season.
Lots of Goodbyes at Abu Dhabi
Last race of the season at Abu Dhabi meant that there will be farewells. Daniel Ricciardo, Nicholas Latifi and Mick Schumacher will not be on the grid next year. But the biggest name missing on the 2023 grid would be the 4-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel. Seb has a big fan following and is well respected in the paddock. Everyone was very emotional with him leaving the sport. There were Driver Dinners dedicated to him, track walks and he even did a few donuts in the end along side the top 3. Aston Martin did not give him a good car the last two years nor a good strategy this race but he still managed to score one final point, finishing 10, and that should be fine.
In the end, Charles finished ahead of Checo for P2, George was ahead of Lewis and Lando was the best of the rest. For teams, Ferrari got their P2, Alpine was ahead of McLaren and Alfa Romeo was ahead of Aston Martin despite being on same points.
This brings the 2022 season to an end and we have to wait for 105 days for the new season to begin.
2022 Season : Team and Drivers Rankings.
