A rather uneventful though intriguing race in terms of how strategy panned out at the Yas Marina Circuit. And not to forget that there were stakes for the battle for P2 in the driver’s championship. With Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc tied on 290 points each, it was a clear battle of who beats the other in the Abu Dhabi GP. While Max Verstappen took another comfortable win, Sergio Perez missed out by just 1.3 seconds off Charles Leclerc, which cost him the P2 in the championship.

The race under the lights at Yas Marina was shaping up to be a mixed affair on tire strategies. Some teams and drivers opted for a 2-stopper while others opted to stretch a one-stop strategy. Ferrari and Charles Leclerc were the latter who stayed out on a one-stopper, while Red Bull pitted Sergio Perez a 2nd time to attack Leclerc and overtake him for taking P2.

As the gap was closing in between Checo and Charles, Max Verstappen was cruising in front to win another race in 2022. Although he did not get a chance to directly help his teammate, Perez still lost the P2 to Leclerc by 3 points as he finished P3 in the Abu Dhabi GP. The Mexican could not close the gap to Leclerc and finished the race 1.3 seconds behind him.

Fans react to Max Verstappen winning the Abu Dhabi GP and his post-race Team Radio Message

Fans have reacted to the Abu Dhabi GP winner and his radio reaction post the race. Verstappen reacted on the radio after the race to ask if Checo got the P2 or not. He said, “How did Checo end up?” His engineer replied, “Just 1.3 behind. 1.3 behind LEC.” To this Max said, “A **** that’s close.”

Many have cited that the 2 points in Brazil, that Checo lost to Max, could have been handy for Perez’s runner-up spot in the championship. Well, it may have added an advantage to the Mexican, instead of being on tied points with Leclerc.

Now mathematically speaking Perez lost 2 points to Verstappen in the Sao Paulo GP. So it’s just not that team order swap could have made the difference for Checo getting the 2nd in the championship.

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So yes, it still would have been the same equation for Leclerc and Perez to finish ahead of each other. However, some argued that those points could have helped.

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In either case, since the Brazilian GP team order fiasco, many fans are condemning Max Verstappen on social media. What do you think? If Perez had a 2-point advantage over Leclerc before the Abu Dhabi GP, could Perez have got the P2 in any scenario?