The 2023 F1 season comes to a close this weekend with the Yas Marina Circuit set to bring the curtain down on a campaign that was dominated by Max Verstappen and Red Bull.
The 2023 F1 season comes to a close this weekend with the Yas Marina Circuit set to bring the curtain down on a campaign that was dominated by Max Verstappen and Red Bull.
The battle for the top three positions on the Drivers’ Championship standings are done and dusted as well but there’s still a battle royale for second and third place on the Constructors’ standings with only four pints separating second-placed Mercedes and third-placed Ferrari as we head for the Yas Marina.
To Win Race
Max Verstappen 3/10
Lando Norris 13/1
Sergio Perez 15/1
Charles Leclerc 16/1
Lewis Hamilton 16/1
Previous Race
The jury is certainly out on Las Vegas with some pundits and drivers raving about the venue while others thought it was poorly managed and a threat to driver safety.
The weekend started off with a loose drain cover causing damage to
the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz which led to the cancellation of the first practice session.
Things got better from there on in, however, with the main race being something of a cracker.
Despite the odds being stacked against him, with a time penalty and a collision with George Russel, Max Verstappen still managed to produce the perfect set of cards to come up trumps and claim his 18th victory of the campaign.
The Red Bull one-two – which was my value bet for the weekend – was cut off on the river with Charles LeClerc piping Sergio Perez to second on the final lap leaving Red Bull’s number two man loathing in Las Vegas.
Vegas proved a lucky venue for some of the teams in the middle of the Constructors’ Championship pack with Esteban Ocon bringing his Alpine home in fourth place while Lance Stroll brought his Aston Martin home in fifth. The duo were joined in the top 6 by the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz.
Mercedes managed to maintain their narrow advantage over Ferrari in the race for the Constructors’ Championship runners-up berth with a seventh-place finish for Lewis Hamilton and an eighth-placed finish for George Russel, while the final two positions in the top 10 went to Fernando Alonso and Oscar Piastri.
Track
The final port of call for the field is the Yas Marina Circuit which is situated in the desert Metropolis that is Abu Dhabi. Like most things in the UAE, no expense was spared when it came to designing this circuit.
Designed as a permanent racing facility, the Yas Marina complex can hold a 41,093-strong crowd. The actual track distance measures 5.281 kilometres and contains 16 turns. Drivers will battle over 55 of these laps and will cover a total race distance of 306.183 kilometres.
The most challenging aspects of this track are the tight chicane through turns seven and six – which offers next to no traction – and the sequence between turns 12, 13, and 14 which are exceedingly slow.
Last year’s race was won by Max Verstappen while Charles Leclerc claimed second and Sergio Perez took third – which is, in a touch of irony, identical to the podium we saw in Las Vegas.
As is always the case in Abu Dhabi, we’re in for solid weather with no rain being forecast for the race weekend and temperatures ranging from lows in the early 20s to highs in the early 30s.
Value Bet
Lewis Hamilton Podium Finish – Yes BETTING TBA
The Mercedes ace may be struggling to live up to his high standards this term but boy does he have a good race record out in Abu Dhabi with Hamilton finishing on the podium in eight of the last nine grand prix staged at the Abu Dhabi Street Circuit.
Last year was his first time off the podium at the venue in a decade as a hydraulics issue saw him retire after 55 laps while he was in the run for a minimum of a podium finish.
I’m backing Hamilton to make nine podiums from ten starts at the Yas Marina this weekend.
To Win Race
Max Verstappen 3/10
No point betting against him here. He’s won the last three Grand Prix at the Yas Marina and the last six Grand Prix staged this season. I can’t see anyone stopping him from grabbing his 19th win of the campaign.
