The final Grand Prix of the Formula One 2023 season took place in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday with Red Bull's Max Verstappen capping off a season in which he utterly dominated; taking the win from the pole position at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit.

Verstappen, now a three time World Champion, has had 54 victories, 32 pole positions and 30 fastest laps in his career. In addition to being the youngest Grand Prix winner, he holds several Formula One records, including the most wins (19), most points (575) and the most consecutive wins (10) in a season.

"It's been an unforgettable season. It was emotional on the in-lap driving the RB19 for the last time, this car and Team has given me so much," said Verstappen. "I have to say a big thank you to everyone at Red Bull, we've had an incredible year."

"It will be hard to replicate a year like this but we always want to do better and to improve so let's see what we can do next year," said the Belgian-born driver who races under the Dutch flag.

"Well that brings the curtain down on a year that can only be described as incredible," said Christian Horner, Red Bull Team Principal. "[The RB19] is going to go down in the history books as a very, very special car. To have won 21 races out of the 22 is an achievement we never thought possible."

Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez, crossed the line in second but a five-second time penalty for a previous encounter with McLaren’s Lando Norris demoted the Mexican native to fourth place leaving Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to finish where he started (P2) and letting Mercedes Racing's George Russell fill out the final position on the podium.

Perez was also given a formal warning following comments he made over the team radio in reference to the stewards decision in reference to the conflict with Norris.

"My honest opinion is it was just a racing incident with Lando but unfortunately, the stewards didn't agree with that and I got the penalty and lost second place in the final race of the season," said Perez.

Perez lost the second place position in the final lap of the two previous Grand Prix's at Las Vegas and Sao Paulo.

In a Grand Prix which was relatively static, the main story line came down to the final order of the 2023 Constructor's Championship.

At race start, it was predicted that Ferrari would move ahead of Mercedes for the second position in the Championship but small position pickups by Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton edged out a slight pick up by Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz to let Mercedes hold the second place position in the Constructor's Championship.

"It was a fight for P2 in the Constructor's Championship up until the very end and so close and today feels like we've won," said Toto Wolff, Mercedes Racing's Team Principal & CEO, adding, "The fight for P2 in the Constructor's in a way was so positive for us and a huge reward for the whole team to be vice champion, but it's also a big motivation to do better next year and that's what we will focus on now."

Carlos Sainz had been running in the points in the closing stages, but his alternative strategy required a late pit stop; giving the Spaniard, who started 20th, an 18th place finishing position. Sainz suffered a hard hit into the Turn 4 barriers on Friday, significantly damaging his SF-23.

"Unfortunately, Carlos' weekend took a turn for the worse starting from Friday and it's a shame he was unable to bring home the three points but it's not today that we lost second place in the Constructors," said Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari Team Principal.

Potential flips in the Constructors Champsionship points battle between McLaren and AlphaTauri as well as Alpine and Williams also failed to materialize on Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	58	1h 27:02.624
2	Leclerc		Ferrari		58	+ 0:17.993
3	Russell		Mercedes	58	+ 0:20.328
4	Perez		Red Bull	58	+ 0:21.453
5	Norris		McLaren		58	+ 0:24.284
6	Piastri		McLaren		58	+ 0:31.487
7	Alonso		Aston Martin	58	+ 0:39.512
8	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	58	+ 0:43.088
9	Hamilton	Mercedes	58	+ 0:44.424
10	Stroll		Aston Martin	58	+ 0:55.632
11	Ricciardo	AlphaTauri	58	+ 0:56.229
12	Ocon		Alpine		58	+ 1:06.373
13	Gasly		Alpine		58	+ 1:10.360
14	Albon		Williams	58	+ 1:13.184
15	Hulkenberg	Haas		58	+ 1:23.696
16	Sargeant	Williams	58	+ 1:27.791
17	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	58	+ 1:29.422
18	Sainz		Ferrari		57	+ 1 Lap
19	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	57	+ 1 Lap
20	Magnussen	Haas		57	+ 1 Lap

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media)