As quickly as the cars have gone around the track, the 2023 F1 season has come and gone. This F1 season was a memorable one to say the least. From rookies to records being broken, this season had it all.
3 Rookies Enter The Paddock This Season:
This season we saw the beginning of their F1 career for McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Williams’ Logan Sargeant, and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries. They might have all been rookies but Piastri surely proved that he was here to race. Piastri was the only rookie of the three to score a podium this season and was the first one to score points out of all three. He scored a sprint race win during the Qatar race weekend. Sargeant also showed some improvement throughout the season and he became closer and closer to reaching those first points. His time finally came at the Mexico Grand Prix when he finished the race in 12th place but due to a time penalty, he was given 10th place thus landing his first point in F1. However, luck was not on de Vries’ side. Sadly after the Hungarian Grand Prix, it was announced that de Vries would be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo. Although disappointing, that is the reality of this intense sport.
McLaren Are The Underdogs Of The Season:
It is no surprise that McLaren had a rough start to the beginning of the season but after the Monaco Grand Prix, it seemed like their luck was beginning to change. At the British Grand Prix, McLaren had achieved their first podium of the season with Lando Norris finishing the race in second place. The luck continued on to Hungary where Norris scored another second place podium. All pieces began to fall into place when Norris received yet another second place podium at the Singapore Grand Prix. Piastri must have felt left out of all the podiums because the following race weekend at Japan, he scored a third place podium making it second and third place podium for McLaren that weekend. The momentum continued to Qatar where Piastri not only secured a sprint win but also a second place podium along with Norris in third during the race. All the accomplishments allowed McLaren to finish in fourth place in the overall Constructor’s championships standings. Don’t count them out just yet, McLaren is the team to watch this upcoming 2024 season.
The Rise And Fall Of Aston Martin:
Aston Martin started the season with a bang! Fernando Alonso managed to score a podium or place in the top five spots for the first five races of the season but sadly the streak came to an end at his home race in Spain where he finished the race in seventh place. Many were surprised by this accomplishment and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner even referred to the car as “the green red bull” due to the similarities in design. Nonetheless, Aston Martin still managed to finish in fifth place in the overall constructor’s standings.
Records Are Broken And Red Bull Dominates…Yet Again:
The Oracle Red Bull Racing team became the Constructor’s champion yet again for the second year in a row. This accomplishment followed Max Verstappen’s accomplishment of becoming the world driver champion for a third year in a row. There is no doubt that Red Bull exceeded all expectations this year. The team had a total of 19 wins this year with Verstappen breaking the record of consecutive wins by winning 10 races in a row. Although he might not have won every race, Verstappen stood on the podium in 21 out of the 23 tracks this year. There is a lot to be expected by the team next year and a lot to live up to.
The 2023 season might be over now but we can be assured that next year will be full of surprises.