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The grid for the 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi GP is set and surprisingly we have the same two drivers on the front row as they were in Bahrain. Even in the first race of the season, it was these two drivers at the front of the grid and 22 races later they find themselves there again.
Max Verstappen will start the race from pole position with Charles Leclerc right alongside him. On the second row of the grid, we have Oscar Piastri and George Russell with Lando Norris rounding up the top 5.
In what is the last race of the season, what can we expect? Let's take a look.
#1 Max Verstappen wins the 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi GP
Looking at the short and long runs it's more than obvious that Red Bull seems to have more than decent buffer in hand over its competition. With Max Verstappen starting the race on pole position and more often than not having some great starts off the line, we're looking at the Red Bull driver winning the 2023 F1 Abu Dhabi GP.
#2 Charles Leclerc will struggle to secure a podium
Charles Leclerc's front-row start was as much the result of him putting together a strong lap as well as Lando Norris messing up his final effort. Having said that, one thing that was quite obvious from Charles after the session was his not being too confident of the team's chances for the race.
The Monegasque expects to struggle with the race pace and he might be proved right as well. Expect Charles to struggle to keep himself in the podium battle.
#3 A George Russell-Lando Norris podium is a possibility
Mercedes and McLaren tend to have a more streamlined correlation between the race pace and qualifying. Lando Norris has messed up his Qualifying and will start the race in P5. This should ideally hurt him and could see George Russell become a factor for the podium. We might be looking at a Lando Norris-George Russell duo joining Max Verstappen on the podium of the F1 Abu Dhabi GP.
#4 Strong points for AlphaTauri
The pace from AlphaTauri should not come as a surprise to anyone but it still does. The team brought a new floor to the car this weekend and when that happens to a team like this one, a performance boost is more than expected.
As it turns out, the car was perfectly set up for the F1 Abu Dhabi GP qualifying and hence that should make things interesting when it comes to the race. Yuki starts in P6 and that should put him in contention for strong points this weekend.
#5 Haas drops like a stone....again
Nico Hulkenberg will start the F1 Abu Dhabi GP inside the top 10 but after 21 races even he knows that's the highest point of his race weekend. If the season has taught anything then it is the fact that Haas has a poor race pace. It eats up its tires faster than everybody else as the season comes to an end, this is precisely what Hulkenberg will be going through.
