The event, officially known as the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023, marked the fifteenth running of the race. Entering the weekend, Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing had already secured the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships, respectively. Verstappen held a 276-point lead over his teammate Sergio Pérez. However, several positions in the lower standings remained contested: Mercedes led Ferrari by only four points for second place in the Constructors' Championship, while Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz Jr. were tied for fourth in the Drivers' Championship.
The weekend served as a transition point for several team personnel and entities. It was the final race for AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost and the last appearance of the team under the AlphaTauri name before its 2024 rebranding to RB. It also marked the final race for Haas team principal Guenther Steiner and the conclusion of the partnership between Alfa Romeo and Sauber.
During the first practice session, nine teams fielded rookie or alternate drivers to satisfy Formula One regulations. These included Théo Pourchaire (Alfa Romeo), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Patricio O'Ward (McLaren), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Zak O'Sullivan (Williams), Robert Shwartzman (Ferrari), Felipe Drugovich (Aston Martin), Frederik Vesti (Mercedes), and both Isack Hadjar and Jake Dennis for Red Bull Racing. George Russell topped the first and third practice sessions, while Charles Leclerc led the second. The second session was interrupted by heavy crashes involving Carlos Sainz Jr. and Nico Hülkenberg.
Max Verstappen secured pole position during qualifying on 25 November. Logan Sargeant failed to set a time during the session but was permitted to start the race at the stewards' discretion.
At the start, Charles Leclerc challenged Max Verstappen for the lead into the first corner, but Verstappen maintained his position and gradually established a gap. Behind them, the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri pursued Leclerc. A variety of pit strategies saw Yuki Tsunoda briefly lead the race until lap 23, as he was the only driver among those starting on medium tyres to delay his first stop.
The closing stages of the race were defined by the battle for the Constructors' Championship between Mercedes and Ferrari. Sergio Pérez, recovering through the field, collided with Lando Norris while battling for fourth place, resulting in a five-second time penalty for Pérez. In the final laps, Leclerc sat in second place with George Russell in third. Knowing that Russell's position would secure second in the standings for Mercedes, Leclerc deliberately allowed Pérez to pass him for second on the track, hoping the Red Bull driver could pull a five-second gap over Russell to demote the Mercedes driver to fourth.
Despite Leclerc's tactical concession of the position, Russell remained within the five-second window. After Pérez's penalty was applied at the finish, Russell was promoted back to third place.
Max Verstappen's victory was followed by Charles Leclerc in second and George Russell in third. This result allowed Mercedes to secure second place in the Constructors' Championship by a margin of three points over Ferrari.
The race significantly altered the final Drivers' Championship standings below the top three. Fernando Alonso's seventh-place finish secured him fourth in the championship, his best result since 2013. Leclerc's second-place finish moved him from seventh to fifth, level on points with Alonso but losing the tiebreaker. Conversely, Carlos Sainz Jr. fell from fourth to seventh in the standings after finishing 18th, marking his lowest championship result since 2018. Lando Norris finished the season in sixth, equaling his career-best championship position from 2021.
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