Max Verstappen ended the 2023 F1 season with a victory at the Abu Dhabi GP, his nineteenth victory this season.
“It was an incredible season, it gives me a great feeling. I am very proud to win the last race here. I would like to thank everyone at Red Bull for what we have achieved this year. It will be difficult to repeat something like this, but we certainly enjoyed this year,” said Max Verstappen afterwards, as can be read on his official website.
During the race, Verstappen was only briefly threatened at the start by Charles Leclerc, but otherwise he mainly controlled the race and Max Verstappen drove unthreatened to his nineteenth victory this season, which is of course a record.
“I think everything went well. There was a bit more to it, but of course it wasn’t necessary. We managed everything well. We wanted to be in the lead for the thousandth lap and I stayed out extra long to keep the lead. During the last few laps I started to look around the cockpit a bit and turn, knowing that this would be the last time in this car. That does something to me and I became a bit emotional during the run-off lap. I’m 26 and you hope to do a little better every season, but this can hardly be better.”
Verstappen and Red Bull are going into the winter period with a particularly good feeling, although they will of course have to work hard to defend their lead over the competition as best as possible and also become champions in 2024.
“You always want to do better,” said Verstappen. “Sometimes doing better isn’t just getting wins and winning championships, but we’ll see. We are working hard to have a competitive car again next year. Of course the other teams want to beat us. We are ready to fight, but in the meantime we will enjoy this year.”