Both the Drivers' and Constructors' titles had been settled before Abu Dhabi. Max Verstappen led the championship with 429 points; Leclerc and Pérez were tied on 290 points going into the weekend, making the race a direct decider for second place. Red Bull Racing led Ferrari by 195 points and Mercedes by 214 in the Constructors' standings.
Several young drivers made their Formula One practice debuts during the opening session. Among them were Felipe Drugovich, Patricio O'Ward and Logan Sargeant, alongside other substitutes for race drivers.
Red Bull Racing secured the front row, with Verstappen taking his seventh pole position of the season and aiding Pérez with a slipstream during the final segment of qualifying. It was the team's first front-row lockout since the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel, who reported being impeded by Pérez and Verstappen in earlier segments, qualified ninth. Lewis Hamilton failed to score a pole position during the season for the first time since 2007, ending a multi-year streak.
Daniel Ricciardo carried a three-place grid penalty for a collision with Kevin Magnussen at the preceding São Paulo Grand Prix.
Verstappen led from the start and was never seriously threatened, winning by a comfortable margin for his fifteenth victory of the season and his third consecutive Abu Dhabi Grand Prix win. Leclerc ran a one-stop strategy and held off the two-stopping Pérez to finish second, securing the runner-up position in the Drivers' Championship by three points.
George Russell received a five-second time penalty for an unsafe pit-lane release that forced Lando Norris to brake, dropping Russell to sixth. Fernando Alonso retired on lap 27 with a water leak, his fifth technical retirement of the season. On lap 39, a collision between Mick Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi at turn 5 resulted in Schumacher receiving a five-second penalty. Hamilton retired late in the race when his hydraulics system failed, locking the car in seventh gear. His retirement also confirmed the first winless Formula One season of his 16-year career.
The race was the 300th Grand Prix entry and the 299th and final start for four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who scored a championship point in tenth place in his final appearance. Daniel Ricciardo made his last start for McLaren, Nicholas Latifi his last for Williams, Mick Schumacher his last for Haas, Fernando Alonso his last for Alpine, and Pierre Gasly his last for AlphaTauri before the respective team changes that took effect from 2023.
Verstappen retained the Drivers' Championship. Leclerc finished second and Pérez third. Red Bull Racing won the Constructors' title, with Ferrari second and Mercedes third. In the lower reaches of the standings, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo finished level on points; Alfa Romeo claimed sixth on countback by virtue of a best single-race result of fifth against Aston Martin's best of sixth.