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2022 F1 world champion Max Verstappen took a record-breaking 15th race win this weekend at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing off the season in great style.
Red Bull, after securing the constructors' title at the US GP last month, were hoping to take their first-ever 1-2 finish in the championship. Unfortunately for the team, Sergio Perez, who entered the race on equal points as Charles Leclerc, finished the race behind the latter in third. This meant that Leclerc, who was a serious contender for the title at the start of the season, finished second in the championship, making it his best result in F1 so far.
In a post-race media interaction, the Ferrari driver admitted that he truly hopes to fight for the title in 2023, whilst acknowledging that the team has already made plenty of progress over the last few years. He said:
"I was 110 per cent from the first lap to the last. We had the perfect race. I knew the only way for us to beat Checo was with a different strategy and playing with time management, which we did really well. We made the one-stop work so I am really happy. I really hope next year we can make a step forward and fight for the championship but considering where we were it is a step forward. We still need to work on race pace as we tend to struggle on Sunday but we will push during the winter break."
For the majority of the season, George Russell and Carlos Sainz have fought for fourth in the championship, with the Briton securing the spot towards the end of the year. Sainz briefly lost sixth to Lewis Hamilton but managed to finish the season ahead of the seven-time world champion in fifth after the latter was forced to retire from the Abu Dhabi GP following damage received on his car. This became the first season of Hamilton's F1 career, where the Mercedes driver failed to win a single race.
Lando Norris finished in sixth and comfortably remained seventh in the drivers' championship, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo had yet another underwhelming race and stands 11th in the standings. This was the Aussie's final race with McLaren. He is rumored to be joining Red Bull once again in 2023, but this time as a reserve driver.
The F1 Abu Dhabi GP marked the final race for four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who will be retiring from the sport. The German finished his ultimate F1 race in 10th, bringing home a lone point for Aston Martin and finishing 12th in the season.
Here are the 2022 F1 Driver Standings after the Abu Dhabi GP
