Final Corner, Chequered Flag: The ultimate guide to F1 2023
A rundown of the lay of the land ahead of this weekend's opening Grand Prix in Bahrain
Reigning champion Max Verstappen will begin his defence of the F1 drivers championship this weekend in Bahrain.
It has been almost 15 weeks since the Dutchman capped off a historic season in Abu Dhabi with yet another victory, earning a 146-point gap to rival Charles Leclerc, having won a record 15 out of 22 races.
Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez proved a capable wingman in 2021, but was unable to bring the competition to Verstappen last year and will need to find greater consistency in 2023 in order to avoid any awkward questions over his future in the team.
While few expect him to match the speed of Verstappen, the gap between them needs to decrease and he cannot afford to go missing for several weekends at a time as he did last season.
This is because Ferrari expect to be hot on the heels behind the reigning champions, with Leclerc hopeful of a title bid.
Last year proved a disaster for the Italian team, with several great results thrown away by poor strategy calls, indecisiveness, driver errors and reliability issues.
A change in management has seen long-standing member of the team, and former team principal, Mattia Binotto depart after nearly 30 years with the Scuderia.
It was Red Bull who looked the more assured and confident during last week’s test in Bahrain, but Ferrari kept their cards close to their chest and certain comments from new boss Fred Vasseur have indicated a confidence that they have the pace to compete this season.
Meanwhile, last year was a disaster for Mercedes who will be looking to strike back with a vengeance in 2023.
Just one win in total was a huge let down for the eight-time champions who dominated the sport from 2014 to 2020.
It was the first year in the career of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in which he failed to win a race, which he will want to rectify this campaign as he looks to get back into the mix on a regular basis.
Teammate George Russell earned the first win of his F1 career in the penultimate Grand Prix in Brazil, and he too will be hoping for a more competitive campaign as they look to close the gap to the front two.
However, they may yet have to keep an eye over their shoulders with the threat from the midfield potentially looming.
Alpine had the strangest week in Bahrain during testing, with the French/English-team the only one not to improve on their times from last year’s test in the desert.
However, technical director Matt Harman revealed that the team is in fact quite confident going into the new season.
The Renault works outfit came fourth in 2022, which equalled the team’s best result since returning to the sport in such a capacity, albeit still last of the four engine suppliers currently in F1.
The partnership of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will certainly raise many questions given the tense history between the two.
Ocon’s previous relationships with teammates Perez and Fernando Alonso has been far from ideal.
This could prove to be the most explosive pairing on the grid this year, which could add a huge new element to the grid if Alpine can deliver the upgrade in performance that Harman expects.
“We have a level of confidence,” he said.
“Of course we do, because we're clearly not running the car at its full potential.
“I don't like to labour on that too much, because I have no idea where the others are running, to be quite honest.
“We do our analysis, we all know we are looking at each other, and where we are.
“There's a massive level of uncertainty in that. But from our point of view things are responding as we expected, our aerodynamics are working as we expected.
“We've tried some quite interesting different developments this week, and they've proved to be quite positive.
“So we're looking forward to the first race.”
But Aston Martin may prove to be their biggest threat this season in the battle for a top four spot.
The Silverstone-based team had a disappointing 2022, and have earned a reputation as the most underwhelming project in all of F1 given the level of funding they have received in recent years under billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll.
But testing saw Aston Martin come out as everyone’s tip to deliver the surprise package of the year.
The car looked quick, well balanced and predictable during the three days in Bahrain, especially in the hands of new driver Alonso.
The Spaniard has played down expectations going into the first week, amid several pundits tipping them to compete in the top three this season, but a jump into the battle for fourth will still be a big sign of progress for the team that finished seventh last year.
“We will give our best in the race, but that’s not the target for us, to be honest,” said Alonso.
“I think we need to keep learning about the car.
“Only one day-and-a-half or two days of testing in a completely new car, new package.
“I think the top three teams, they were in another league last year.
“They were lapping sometimes even the fourth team and basically only seven cars finished on the same lap.
“So we cannot make that kind of a step only in one winter.
“We are very happy with the car, but I think we have to have the feet on the ground and keep working on this good baseline.”
Meanwhile, the five other teams may find themselves scrapping away for the final points positions inside the top 10 with a clear divide between the top and the rest potentially set to separate half the grid.
Alfa Romeo looks the most capable of competing with the top five, with the team enjoying a successful testing period.
Valtteri Bottas has explained his confidence in the car, claiming a big step has been made compared to last year.
“It’s much better than last year, yes,” said Bottas following testing.
“Still there’s a tendency for the car to be a little bit neutral on the high-speed corners, but on the low-speed ones it’s stable.
“There’s still a bit of a difference between low and high speed but I would say it’s at least 50 per cent better than last year, so that opens quite a bit of set-up options for us.”
It was a hugely disappointing test at McLaren, with CEO Zak Brown admitting that several of the team’s targets were missed going into the new season.
New team principal Andrea Stella clarified that plenty of targets were met, but that the one the team failed to achieve was in aerodynamic efficiency, which is a pretty huge admission from the Italian.
"Last year, we had some clear objectives in terms of development, they had to do with aerodynamic efficiency, some development related to the exploitation of the tyres, and also some other objectives to improve the balance," said Stella.
"The reality is that most of these objectives have actually been met.
“But the objective in terms of aerodynamic efficiency of the car, that's the one where we are still shy of what was our target.
"So some of the objectives have been met.
“Aerodynamic efficiency is still not where we would like it to be, or where we would like it to be a top-four contender.
“So I would say that's the one in which we are still short.”
This could leave the team now led by Lando Norris stuck playing catch-up as their competitors are unlikely to remain standing still while the Woking-outfit turns around their current package.
Another step backwards will certainly call into question Norris’ commitment to the team, with a contract until 2025.
Rookie Oscar Piastri also comes with an impressive reputation from his feeder series exploits having won the F3 and F2 championships in his sole campaign competing at that level, a feat only repeated by Leclerc and Russell.
That driver pairing could spare the team’s blushes in the early races, as it is possible the eight-time constructor champions will be struggling for points until upgrades are brought to the MCL60.
They could even find themselves scrapping with Haas, Williams and Alpha Tauri, who look set to bring up the rear of this year’s F1 grid.
While the gap between the first and last team will likely decrease in 2023, someone still has to finish behind everyone else.
Haas had a positive test, with Nico Hulkenberg returning to the sport after departing in 2019 to partner Kevin Magnussen.
The car looked solid, and should be capable of earning some points finishes this year again after finishing with zero in 2021.
Williams have had a shakeup behind the scenes as Jost Capito has been replaced by Mercedes veteran James Vowels as team principal.
Logan Sargeant has also joined the team as a new partner to Alex Albon.
There is some optimism that the team can find its way back up the field after finishing tenth in 2022 with just eight points.
The car looked in a much healthier place than in recent years at pre-season testing.
Meanwhile, Alpha Tauri’s test was surrounded with rumours that the team is up for sale.
The loss of Gasly to Alpine has also left a vacuum, and it will be up to Yuki Tsunoda to step up into a leadership role this year or else he risks losing his seat in the sport altogether.
The threat from teammate Nyck de Vries will only add to the pressure that the 22-year old faces as he enters his third year in F1.
The long wait is almost over and the stage is set for what could be another remarkable and explosive F1 season.
Predictions corner
The order in which I’ve bolded the teams is the order I expect them to finish this year.
For simpler reading, that leads to a predicted order of: Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Alpine, Aston Martin, Alfa Romeo, McLaren, Haas, Williams, Alpha Tauri.
Fantasy F1
As part of this newsletter, I’ll be posting updates to my Fantasy F1 team (compete here) to correspond to the most recent race so with Bahrain this weekend, here is how I’ve set up into the new season:
(You can join a league for this newsletter by using the access code 78298955.)
Storyline to keep an eye on this week
Besides the obvious of it being a new season, it is also worth keeping an eye on the race director position.
Niels Wittich is expected to keep his role from last year as the man overseeing the entire weekend, but he will be doing it alone this year with Eduardo Freitas not set to come back for 2023.
With it being a new season, there may be some new guidelines introduced regarding track limits, racing penalties and so on.
Weekend timings
Qualifying on Saturday will take place at 3pm GMT.
Sunday’s race has the same start time, 3pm GMT.
Closing
The excitement of a new season is always quite fun and hopefully Bahrain lives up to expectations.
Bit of a bumper preview here, hope you all enjoyed and have a great weekend!