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FACTS AND STATS: Verstappen becomes first driver in history to lead 1,000 laps in a season
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Anyone thinking Max Verstappen was going to lift off the gas at the season finale in Abu Dhabi was left sorely disappointed. Instead the world champion dominated proceedings to end a record-breaking year with – suitably enough – yet more records…
• Verstappen won in Abu Dhabi for the fourth year in a row – he had never previously won four consecutive races at the same track.
• Verstappen’s 54th career win means he surpasses Sebastian Vettel for third on the all-time win list, behind only Michael Schumacher’s 91 and Lewis Hamilton’s 103.
REPORT: Verstappen beats Leclerc to victory in Abu Dhabi to end record-breaking year on top
• Verstappen ends the year with records for the most single-season wins (19), most consecutive race wins (10), most podium finishes (21), highest points total (575) and largest championship-winning margin (290).
• Verstappen's 11th hat-trick weekend (win, pole position and fastest lap) ties him with Jim Clark, with only Hamilton (19) and Schumacher (22) on more.
• Verstappen today became the first driver in history to surpass 1,000 laps led in a single season.
Another second place means Charles Leclerc ends the season without a win
• Verstappen’s 1,003 laps led this season exactly equals the total led by McLaren in their 1988 season with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
• Verstappen was the only driver to complete every racing lap in the 2023 season.
• Red Bull will begin the 2024 season only one win behind Williams (113-114) for fourth on the all-time win list.
• Charles Leclerc finished second behind Verstappen in Abu Dhabi for the second consecutive year.
• Leclerc is now winless in three of his last four seasons with Ferrari.
• George Russell took his second podium finish of the season (both third places).
• Russell’s result helped Mercedes clinch second in the constructors' championship by three points over Ferrari.
• Sergio Perez was classified in P4 for Red Bull after he lost positions following the chequered flag because of a five-second time penalty (he also lost positions on the final lap of the previous two races).
Yuki Tsunoda became only the second Japanese driver to lead a Grand Prix
• After taking P5 for McLaren, Lando Norris finishes sixth in the drivers’ championship, one point away from finishing fourth.
• With Oscar Piastri adding to their points tally with P6, McLaren finish fourth in the constructors' championship, one place up on 2022.
• Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took P7 and finishes fourth in the drivers’ championship, his first top-five finish since being runner-up in 2012-13.
• AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda finished in P8 and led a Grand Prix for the first time, becoming only the second Japanese driver to do so after Takuma Sato at the Nurburgring in 2004.
DRIVER OF THE DAY: Tsunoda gets your Abu Dhabi vote after superb strategic drive to P8
• Hamilton finished in P9, meaning he has only scored two points at Yas Marina in the last two years.
• Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished P10 in the race and P10 in the drivers' championship.
• This was the first season-ending race ever to end without a single retirement.
• There are 97 days until the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
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