The final race of Max Verstappen’s 2023 world tour procession takes place at the Yas Marina Circuit this weekend. The Dutchman has dominated the 2023 Formula 1 season, and he is favored again at -350 to win the final race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix this Sunday. Can he be beaten? Probably not. But we’ll have a look and see if we can find some good value bets in our Formula 1 betting picks.
- What; 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Round 23
- Where; Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- When; Sunday, November 26th, 2023
- Time; 8 am ET
- Laps; 58
- Track Length; 5.281 km
- Race Distance; 306.183 km
The Las Vegas Grand Prix was a spectacle for several reasons last weekend, but ultimately, Max Verstappen won again, his 18th race win of an astonishing season for the Dutchman and his Red Bull team.
MAX VERSTAPPEN WINS IN LAS VEGAS! 🏆
The World Champion fought back hard to re-take the race lead, and never looked back 👏👏👏#LasVegasGP #F1 @redbullracing @Max33Verstappen pic.twitter.com/ZyQF8htNN1
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 19, 2023
This was a true F1 race, arguably the best of what has at times been a boring season. Max Verstappen may have won. But as he wasn’t in Pole Position, he didn’t get to dominate from the start, and the current World Champion had to endure a 5-second time penalty and also made an extra pit stop.
The lead exchanged hands on several occasions, but when the music stopped, it was Verstappen who was sitting on the final chair. Charles Leclerc finished second, and Sergio Perez was third.
Perez secures second place
The improved performances from Sergio Perez in the last couple of races have secured him the second-place finish in this year’s Drivers Championship. After pushing Perez hard until Brazil, Lewis Hamilton has had to settle for third.
Behind Hamilton, there is an intense battle to finish in fourth position. Heading into the final race, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso are both on 200 points, with Lando Norris on 195 and Charles Leclerc on 188. Any one of those four could clinch fourth place on Sunday.
Betting to win the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
After opening up to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix at -325, Max Verstappen is the favorite to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at -350. The best Formula 1 betting sites have also reacted to the performance of Lando Norris in Vegas by making him the second favorite at +1200. This time last week, Norris was +850 to win in Nevada.
Behind the two leaders in the betting are Sergio Perez (+1400) and Charles Leclerc (+1600), who have both opened up far shorter for the UAE race than they did for Vegas. This is on the back of impressive showings from both drivers last weekend.
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What’s the Abu Dhabi F1 Circuit like and who won here in 2022?
Abu Dhabi was the venue for the first day-night Formula 1 race in history, and this year’s race is following the same format with a 5 pm local time start.
The Abu Dhabi circuit has 16 turns, with the 1.2 km straight between the slow turns of corners five and six, making it ideal for overtaking with DRS. There is also a DRS detection zone between turns eight and nine.
Max Verstappen WINS the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to cap off a Championship winning season in style! 🥇 pic.twitter.com/iGcTAPCC4J
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) November 20, 2022
In 2022, Max Verstappen was the victorious driver. The Dutchman also started in Pole Position, with Charles Leclerc finishing second and Sergio Perez in third. Verstappen has won this race for the past three years, including the infamous victory in 2021 that led to his first Drivers Championship title.
Drivers to watch at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Over the 14 years the race has been held, Red Bull and Mercedes have won six races each. But in more recent times, there have been two Red Bulls and a Ferrari (Leclerc) on the podium in 2022, and one Red Bull, one Mercedes, and one Ferrari on the podium in 2021.
Over the past couple of races, there have been mixed results in Brazil and Las Vegas. Verstappen has won both races, but behind him, we saw two Aston Martins in the top five in Brazil and one finishing fifth in Vegas. Also flirting with the front runners were Lando Norris, who finished second in Brazil (DNF in Vegas), and Sergio Perez, who finished 4th in Brazil and 3rd in Vegas.
The two Ferraris were 6th (Sainz) and DNF (Leclerc) in Brazil and 2nd (Leclerc) and 6th (Sainz) in Vegas. As for Mercedes, they’ve been poor in Brazil and Vegas and look well worth avoiding at the moment.
Our Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Winner Picks
Max Verstappen is the obvious pick to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He is setting records that will probably never be bettered, and we can only see him winning again this weekend.
If you feel Max is too short to back to win, which is perfectly understandable, then a bet on Sergio Perez at +1400 could be the way to go. The Mexican is finishing the season strong and could need a win to keep his seat at Red Bull in 2024.
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