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Lights Out in the 2023 Formula 1 Season

Regina Salinas

The 2023 Formula 1 season concluded with a doubleheader in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi. These last two races decided many positions in the drivers’ and constructors’ championships and gave an incredible ending to the season with their enthusiastic atmosphere and great battles.

Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images


The Las Vegas Grand Prix took place on November 18, it was the first Las Vegas race since the 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix. The old Caesars Palace race happened in the car park of the palace and was only 3.7 kilometers long. This was completely different to The Las Vegas Grand Prix this year which was the third race in the US in 2023 and the first Formula 1 street race in America. There was a lot of work put into the race because it was expected to be a big show. The track measured 6.2 kilometers and occupied the Las Vegas Strip.


The event started with free practices on Thursday. The first two practices were chaotic as, just nine minutes into FP1, Carlos Sainz went over a manhole cover, damaging the floor and engine of his car. This caused a red flag which led to the suspension of the session. After this accident the FIA decided to check all manhole covers around the track and delayed the start of FP2. This incident caused controversy with some fans because there was a lot of ongoing debate over this race with some fans feeling like it was rushed. People did not know if the race was really about the racing aspect or just about the spectacle. Carlos Sainz and Ferrari had to pay for the damages and received an undeserved penalty of 10 grid positions for replacing the damaged parts of the car.


This led FP2 to become crucial because now drivers needed to get used to the new track in just one practice session and teams needed to know how cars would react to the circuit. Since the event happened at night there were very low temperatures which both benefited some teams and harmed others. Qualifying on Friday was full of ups and downs, with some teams like Maclaren having had a challenging day and others like Williams having their best qualifying of the year getting P5 and P6 for the start of the race. Charles Leclerc got pole position for the fifth time this season and Max Verstappen got P2 due to Sainz’s penalty.

During the race on Saturday, Max Verstappen easily overtook Charles Leclerc on the first corner and got the lead of the race but Leclerc was eager to win so he did not rest and fought with Verstappen to try and overtake him again. There was some conflict over the overtake from Verstappen on Leclerc because he seemed to have pushed Leclerc out of the track when Leclerc was ahead coming into the corner. Verstappen got a five second penalty because of the incident but Leclerc was able to overtake him before he went into the pits to serve his penalty showing the competitiveness of Ferrari for this race.


The start of the race was chaotic with Fernando Alonso having no grip and causing a small collision between many cars. Later, on lap 3 Lando Norris had an unfortunate crash into the barriers because he lost the back of the car due to the cold temperatures causing a safety car.

While trying to overtake back to the front after his penalty, Verstappen had contact with George Russell and part of Verstappen's front wing and Russell's car were damaged. This caused a penalty for Russell and a second safety car in the race which allowed both Red Bull cars to do a pit stop without losing many positions. After a not so great qualifying, Sergio Perez was back in the fight for first place.


After many tries, Perez finally passed Leclerc on lap 32 but he got him back on lap 35. Max Verstappen was able to get back to third place to fight with Leclerc and Perez for the win and he passed Perez. Verstappen then overtook Leclerc and once again became the race leader. Lecerlc made one mistake at turn 12 and Perez was easily able to overtake him. With only seven laps of the race left it would be very hard for Leclerc to pass Perez again. There was almost no hope left for Ferrari fans but Leclerc did not give up and on the final lap of the race, on the last opportunity he had, he made a brave move and passed Perez taking the second place of the race and giving a thrilling end to the Grand Prix.

Thomas Maher/Planet F1

Despite Leclerc’s amazing drive he was still disappointed because this was one of the few races where Ferrari had a big chance of winning. Even though the fight at the front was very intense this race also brought many interesting fights throughout the whole grid. Oscar Piastri had a great drive where he started in 18th place and overtook his way up to third place but on lap 44 had to change tires because he had used hard tires twice and teams are forced to use at least two types of tires during a race so he finished in 10th place.


This race secured Perez’s second place in the championship after being pressured by Lewis Hamilton for the past few races threatening to take his position in the drivers’ standings. Red Bull officially was the constructor champions and now they had first and second in the drivers championship. The first race in Las Vegas did not disappoint, giving fans one of the most entertaining, chaotic and pure races this season.


The final race of the season finally came. The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix happened on November 26. This race would determine many things in both championships. Four drivers, including Alonso, Norris, Leclerc and Sainz were competing for the 4th place in the championship. There were also eight places undecided in the constructors championship, with the focus being on the second place which was between Mercedes and Ferrari which were both hoping to end their rollercoaster of a season with this high. This was the last race for Alfa Romeo since it is going to be replaced by Sauber in 2024.

Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

Carlos Sainz and Hamilton had disappointing qualifying sessions, starting in P16 and P11. Lando Norris with the pace to take pole position made a mistake in the last corner of his qualifying lap and ended up P5 for the start of the race. Geroge Russel got P4, Oscar Piastri P3, Charles Leclerc P2 and Max Verstappen got pole.


On Sunday the race started with mixed emotions of excitement and sadness of a historic season coming to an end. Charles Leclerc's priority was to secure second place in the constructors championship so he was impatient to overtake Verstappen in the first few laps of the race. Lando Norris was able to overtake George Russell at the race start leading Mclaren to switch their drivers positions and let Norris pass Piastri. After a good fight, Piastri was not able to keep Russell behind him and Russell took the 4th position. In lap 15 Lando Norris had a slow pit stop of 5.1 seconds which allowed Russell to come out of the pits before Norris, giving him the third place which would at the moment give Mercedes second place in the championship. Carlos Sainz was in the middlefield having trouble defending and overtaking other cars, not doing much to help Ferrari with the second place in the championship.


Norris was the first car to go into the pits for the second pitstop. This forced George Russell to go into the pits too but he was able to come out before Norris. Once they made their way back to the front of the grid, Perez was fighting intensely with Norris to overtake him and in one of the corners Perez tried to pass through the inside and made contact. Perez finally passed Norris but was given a five second time penalty for the incident. Many fans did not agree with this penalty as it seems to have been a racing incident. Perez then went on to overtake Russell which risked Mercedes second place in the championship.


Leclerc made the tactical and genius move to let Perez overtake him to open up the gap between Perez and Russell and give less points to Mercedes so Ferrari could get second in the championship. Unfortunately there was not enough time for Perez to extend his gap to Russell to more than 5 seconds so Mercedes got the position.


Carlos Sainz finally made his pit stop until the last lap which made him end in 18th place not helping Ferrari with the constructors championship. Ferrari was ambitiously hoping to get a safety car which never came so Carlos Sainz could do his pit stop without losing many positions to get his second type of tires for the race. Yuki Tsunoda was drier of the day with an amazing weekend qualifying in his career best of P6 and finishing the race in 8th after leading the race for 5 laps.

Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

Even with Leclerc's incredible effort and drive to get his team the second place in the constructors championship Mercedes ended up achieving better overall results in the race. Alonso took the 4th place in the championship barely saved by his amazing start of the season. The top ten drivers of the championship were Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez, Lewis hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, George Russell, Oscar piastri and Lance Stroll. The 8 undecided positions in the constructors' standing ended with Red Bull at the top followed by Mercedes, then Ferrari, Mclaren, Aston Martin, Alpine, Williams, Alpha Tauri, Alfa Romeo and Haas.

The 2023 season showed complete dominance of Red Bull, throughout the season many teams made upgrades to try to compete with Red Bull but no team was able to do it. Red Bull won 21 out of 22 races with an unbelievable historic 95.5% win rate. The only non-Red Bull win was from Ferrari with Carlos Sainz in Singapore. The season marked history with many records being broken and leaving fans wondering if there will be a team next year that will be able to bring more competition for Red Bull.


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