Why F1's 2023 Abu Dhabi GP finale wasn't a better race

A record-extending 19th victory of the year for Max Verstappen brought down the curtain on the 2023 Formula 1 season, as the Red Bull driver staved off three opening lap challenges from Charles Leclerc to cap his season of dominance in style. Amid calls for Las Vegas to take the final round slot in the future, several factors explain why the Yas Marina circuit didn't produce a thrilling showdown

Formula 1 has now had 10 successive season finales in Abu Dhabi. But so few of these races have been thrillers. And when they have been exciting, this came via tense affairs such as Nico Rosberg hanging on as Lewis Hamilton backed him into threatening traffic in 2016, or 2021’s jaw-dropping off-track drama.

So, a week on from Max Verstappen’s wild Las Vegas win, his latest Abu Dhabi triumph in 2023’s conclusion – and the devastatingly dominant circumstances in which he secured the year’s final victory – raises quite the question. With Sin City’s race sitting pretty in the rear-view mirror, is it time to seriously entertain what some were already saying: how about Vegas as the climax instead?

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Author Alex Kalinauckas

Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.