Max Verstappen and Francesco Bagnaia finish their season in indomitable fashion

The last Sunday of November (26-11-2023) saw motorsports’ premier four-wheeler (Formula One) and two-wheeler series (MotoGP) having their season finale in Abu Dhabi and Valencia, respectively.

While the F1 title had been sealed long ago by Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing, the fight for second in the constructor’s standings went down to the wire on the last lap between Ferrari and Mercedes.

However, the promise of a nail-biting title finish was on two wheels where Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin were battling for the MotoGP crown at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Martin, on the Prima Pramac Racing-Ducati, trailed Ducati’s factory rider Bagnaia by 21 points heading into the weekend with 37 to play for. The Spaniard delivered the first blow on Saturday, winning the Sprint Race starting from sixth to narrow the points gap to 14 points to the defending champion.

It meant Martin had to finish as high as third in Sunday’s main race and also hoped that Bagnaia had some misfortune.

In front of home fans, the Spaniard zoomed from sixth to second on the opening lap of the race and went chasing his title rival Bagnaia, who led from pole position. But it went pear-shaped for Martin when he ran wide and dropped down to eighth. In his pursuit to get back up the grid, Martin touched compatriot Marc Marquez’s rear with his front tyre, and both drivers crashed out of the race, handing Bagnaia his second straight MotoGP title.

To make this momentous occasion even better, the Italian rider also won the race in style to put the icing on the cake. Bagnaia also became the first MotoGP rider since Marquez in 2019 to win back-to-back titles.

It was a season of ups and downs where the Italian made many mistakes but was blindingly fast on other occasions, including a run of five races, in which he won three and finished second in the other two. He also had a scary crash in Barcelona but returned strongly the following weekend in San Marino to claim third.

With the fastest bike at his disposal, the 26-year-old did enough to triumph in the end, though he made things more challenging than they needed to be. On the other hand, Martin should be incredibly proud of what he achieved by giving the reigning champion a run for his money and will feel he can challenge for the title if he has the bike to do it.

Meanwhile, it was regular programming in Abu Dhabi as Verstappen bookended the season perfectly by winning it comfortably, just like he did in the season-opener in Bahrain. It was the Dutchman’s 19th win of the season from 22 races and the best-ever win percentage (86.36%) in a year.

However, the more exciting battle was behind him, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell fought to help their team take second place in the constructor’s title. Their respective teammates, Carlos Sainz, who had a scary crash on Friday and Lewis Hamilton, were largely anonymous during the race, struggling to match the pace of their teammates.

In the early part of the race, Leclerc ran comfortably in second behind Verstappen, with Russell in third position. In the second Red Bull, Sergio Perez came from the bottom of the top ten to slowly move up the pecking order and took third place from Russell. Had the result stayed this way, both teams would have finished level on points, but Ferrari would have taken second on countback thanks to Carlos Sainz’s Singapore GP victory.

However, earlier in the race, Perez got into a needless tangle with McLaren’s Lando Norris while trying to pass him and was given a five-second penalty to be added to his race time after the chequered flag.

This would have allowed Russell to get ahead to third and help the German team clinch second. Knowing this, Leclerc allowed Perez to pass him and take second place, hoping the Red Bull driver would build a five-second gap to Russell to ensure the Mercedes driver stayed fourth at the end of the race.

At the same time, he would also get back the runner-up spot on the podium after the penalty was applied. Unfortunately, Leclerc could not hold Russell enough on the last lap to keep the latter five seconds behind Perez. In the end, Mercedes pipped Ferrari by three points.

While Leclerc’s strategy eventually did not work, it did provide some excitement to bring the curtains down on a rather dull and predictable season. Formula One would hope that such an intriguing battle at the season’s last race in 2024 will be for the title like it was in 2021 and not for the best of the rest and other minor placings.

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