The main attention in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale was the fight runner-up spot in the constructors’ championship between Ferrari and Mercedes. It was decided in favour of Mercedes by three points – and their battle went down to the very last lap.
The placings behind the top three in the drivers’ championship were also decided as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso just pipped Charles Leclerc of Ferrari on countback, after they tied on points.
2023 F1 World Championship standings for Drivers
| Cla | Driver | Points | Grands Prix | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | |||
| 1 | Max Verstappen | 575 | 25 | 19 | 25 | 24 | 26 | 25 | 26 | 25 | 34 | 26 | 26 | 33 | 25 | 25 | 10 | 26 | 33 | 33 | 25 | 33 | 25 | 26 |
| 2 | Sergio Pérez | 285 | 18 | 25 | 11 | 33 | 18 | - | 12 | 9 | 22 | 8 | 15 | 18 | 12 | 18 | 4 | - | 1 | 16 | - | 18 | 15 | 12 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | 234 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 18 | 15 | 4 | 15 | 12 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | 206 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 18 | 6 | 18 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 19 | 2 | - | 4 | 9 | - | - | 15 | 2 | 6 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | 206 | - | 6 | - | 22 | 6 | 8 | - | 12 | 18 | 2 | 6 | 19 | - | 12 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 6 | 15 | 4 | 18 | 18 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | 205 | - | - | 8 | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | 12 | 18 | 18 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 18 | 18 | 21 | 23 | 10 | 26 | - | 10 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | 200 | 12 | 8 | - | 14 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 25 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 12 | 9 | 8 | - |
| 8 | George Russell | 175 | 6 | 12 | - | 10 | 12 | 10 | 15 | - | 7 | 10 | 8 | 9 | - | 10 | - | 6 | 17 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 15 |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | 97 | - | - | 4 | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | 12 | 10 | 7 | 2 | - | 6 | 15 | 26 | - | 4 | - | 2 | 8 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | 74 | 8 | - | 12 | 7 | - | - | 8 | 2 | 7 | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | 10 | 10 | 1 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | 62 | 2 | 2 | - | - | 4 | 6 | 1 | - | 1 | - | - | 6 | 15 | - | 8 | 1 | - | 10 | - | 6 | - | - |
| 12 | Esteban Ocon | 58 | - | 4 | - | - | 2 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | - | 4 | 1 | - | - | 2 | 6 | - | 1 | 1 | 12 | - |
| 13 | Alexander Albon | 27 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | 4 | - | - | 4 | 6 | - | - | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | 17 | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | - | 5 | - | 4 |
| 15 | Valtteri Bottas | 10 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 16 | Nico Hülkenberg | 9 | - | - | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 17 | Daniel Ricciardo | 6 | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | - | - | ||||||||||||||
| 18 | Zhou Guanyu | 6 | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | 3 | - | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 20 | Liam Lawson | 2 | - | - | 2 | - | - | |||||||||||||||||
| 21 | Logan Sargeant | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| 22 | Nyck de Vries | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||||||||||
How the Abu Dhabi GP impacted the 2023 F1 Drivers' points
Verstappen scored another 26 points at Yas Marina to end the season 290 clear of his team-mate Sergio Perez (his margin over Leclerc was 146 in 2022) at the top of the standings.
Behind Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes in third, Leclerc’s runner-up spot in Abu Dhabi wasn’t quite enough to beat Alonso to fourth.
They tied on 206 points but Alonso prevailed on countback of highest finishes. Leclerc had done enough to claim the place until Alonso passed AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda for seventh position in the closing stages to ensure his fourth spot.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was just a point behind them in sixth, as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz slumped from fourth to seventh in points during the finale due to his non-score after a wretched weekend compromised by a poor qualifying. Meanwhile, Leclerc jumped from seventh to fifth.
George Russell’s podium finish for Mercedes didn’t help him move up from eighth, but he finished ahead of Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Lance Stroll (Aston).
2023 F1 World Championship standings for Constructors
| Cla | Constructor | Points | Grands Prix | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | |||
| 1 | Red Bull/Honda RBPT | 860 | 43 | 44 | 36 | 57 | 44 | 25 | 38 | 34 | 56 | 34 | 41 | 51 | 37 | 43 | 14 | 26 | 34 | 49 | 25 | 51 | 40 | 38 |
| 2 | Mercedes | 409 | 16 | 22 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 23 | 33 | 15 | 11 | 25 | 20 | 24 | 8 | 18 | 16 | 16 | 21 | 18 | 27 | 11 | 10 | 17 |
| 3 | Ferrari | 406 | 12 | 14 | - | 36 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 22 | 32 | 3 | 10 | 24 | 10 | 27 | 37 | 20 | 13 | 24 | 27 | 13 | 26 | 18 |
| 4 | McLaren/Mercedes | 302 | - | - | 12 | 2 | - | 3 | - | - | 12 | 30 | 28 | 16 | 8 | 4 | 24 | 33 | 47 | 23 | 14 | 26 | 2 | 18 |
| 5 | Aston Martin/Mercedes | 280 | 23 | 15 | 27 | 22 | 15 | 18 | 14 | 20 | 21 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 19 | 2 | - | 4 | 9 | 6 | - | 25 | 12 | 7 |
| 6 | Alpine/Renault | 120 | 2 | 6 | - | - | 6 | 21 | 5 | 4 | 3 | - | - | 10 | 16 | - | 8 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 12 | - |
| 7 | Williams/Mercedes | 28 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | 4 | - | - | 4 | 6 | - | - | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 8 | AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT | 25 | - | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 2 | - | - | 5 | 6 | 5 | - | 4 |
| 9 | Alfa Romeo/Ferrari | 16 | 4 | - | 2 | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | 6 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | Haas/Ferrari | 12 | - | 1 | 6 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
How the Abu Dhabi GP impacted the 2023 F1 Constructors' points
Red Bull’s final margin of victory was 451 points over Mercedes (up from 205 over Ferrari last year).
Mercedes’ runner-up spot was only confirmed on the final lap, as Ferrari’s Leclerc allowed the penalised Perez past into second on-the-road to attempt to deny Russell the points that Mercedes needed. But a five-second penalty put Perez back to fourth, behind Leclerc and Russell – the latter crossing the finish line just 1.1s to the good.
Ferrari finished three points shy of second place but it was 103 ahead of McLaren in fourth. Behind them, Aston and Alpine were always assured of fifth and sixth positions.
AlphaTauri came close to deposing Williams of seventh, thanks to Yuki Tsunoda’s storming drive in the finale, but it fell three points short. Alfa Romeo and Haas F1 Team rounded out the positions.
