2023 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix highlights

My race was okay; I don’t think it was the best following a bad start, but we seemed to recover for the second and third stints. Unfortunately, Yuki [Tsunoda] was too fast for us to have any involvement in his race. However, the hard work across the year has allowed us to seal P7 in the Constructors’ Championship. Congratulations to the Team, including everyone at the track and the factory. Looking at the progress we’ve made, it’s an outstanding achievement. I’m also very proud of my performance, so I’ll credit myself for my strongest year in Formula 1. My connection with the Team has allowed us to execute the season well, even when we’ve been fighting race after race to hold our positions. We have a challenge next year, but I’m already excited about what’s to come.

Firstly, congratulations to the entire Team at the track and Grove for claiming P7 in the Constructors’ Championship. Everyone has worked incredibly hard all year round to earn this achievement. I was unfortunate not to get a position or two off the start. Other than that, we missed a bit of pace. Purposely, we didn’t optimise our strategy to hold back Daniel [Ricciardo] as long as possible. I was proud of the defence I put up against him for a few laps to contribute to helping the Team today. I enjoyed the end on fresh Hard tyres, coming back through the field doing Quali lap after Quali lap.

From a personal point of view, it’s been another strong weekend. Yesterday was unfortunate with the track limits, but once again, I’ve had the pace of what the car was capable of, and I’m proud of that. There’s been tough times and good times during my rookie season. In the back half of this season, I’ve found some momentum. My race pace has been on a very upward trajectory, and my Qualifying pace is starting to come together. I’m proud of the resilience I’ve had all year. I’ve never given in. I kept pushing and improving and couldn’t have spent this season with a better group of people.

The race was difficult today, especially after Alex suffered a poor start and lost five places immediately. Fortunately, he recovered and completed a strong strategy, showing a good pace on the Hard compound. Logan followed a similar strategy and was able to fight with Daniel [Ricciardo] before pitting and finishing strong with a series of good overtakes. We weren’t able to race directly with AlphaTauri today. Still, since we haven’t updated the car since mid-season, keeping them at bay over the last eight races is a testament to us scoring well when the car was competitive. We continued to compete during the flyaway events even as they brought upgrades to their car. It is always difficult to defend a lead and allow yourself to be outdeveloped by rivals, but this was a conscious decision that will reap rewards over the coming years.

The fact that we were able to hold 7th place in the Constructors’ Championship is down to the continued hard work and attention to detail from the whole Team, both at the track and throughout the entire Company back in Grove. Today was not spectacular, but as the culmination of a strong season, it marks a clear upturn in our performance and lays the foundations for the coming years. We now look forward to the final day of testing on Tuesday. Alex and Logan will share one car with Franco and Zak, splitting the day in the other car. The trackside Team will rest well before we complete the preparations for the Bahrain test and the launch of FW46.

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