Lights Out: The 2023 F1 Season Is Here!

Formula 1 fans consider the sport’s winter break to be the most boring time of the year as they crave the adrenaline rush, passion, and excitement that the sport brings. Fortunately, the wait is almost over and the eagerly-awaited 2023 F1 season is upon us. All of the ten teams on the grid have been presented and a number of AUBG students have shared predictions and expectations for their favorite team's performance as well as this year’s drivers’ world champion.

Williams Racing

This year, the team has opted for the young American talent Logan Sargeant alongside Alexander Albon. During pre-season testing, Williams clocked the second-most laps out of any team, but their pace did not seem as impressive. They finished ninth out of ten overall and it seems as if the team is going to endure another arduous season.

Team Principal: James Vowles

Drivers: #2 Logan Sargeant and #23 Alexander Albon

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 10th Position

Scuderia AlphaTauri 

The 2022 season was below expectations for Red Bull’s sister team as it was the second-worst team on the grid. This wasn’t due to the fact that the team’s star driver Pierre Gasly decided to join forces with Alpine which left an empty seat, later filled by Nyck de Vries. In terms of pre-season testing, AlphaTauri completed the impressive 456 laps and had the fifth-fastest lap out of all teams. It is still yet to be seen if this is a sign of their improvement since last year.

Team Principal: Franz Tost

Drivers: #21 Nyck de Vries and #22 Yuki Tsunoda

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 9th Position

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team

Haas picked up the pace in 2022 after the shocking previous season when the team could not score a single point. They relied on the experienced Danish driver Kevin Magnussen who is staying on for another year and is partnering with former foe Nico Hülkenberg for the first time. 

When speaking of the driver line-up, first-year student Vasko Pohlupkov said he “does not have high expectations for the drivers themselves, in particular Nico Hülkenberg.” Results from pre-season testing may be considered positive as the team clocked 412 laps and was classified as sixth out of ten teams in terms of best lap times. Regarding his expectations for the team’s performance, Vasko said, “I believe the team and the engineers have done a good enough job for Haas to compete for higher places compared to last season.” 

Team Principal: Guenther Steiner

Drivers: #20 Kevin Magnussen and #27 Nico Hülkenberg

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 8th Position

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team

The British team was the one who initiated the driver market for 2023’s race seats when they secured a contract with two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso in place of the retiring Sebastian Vettel. Their second driver remains Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll. Aston Martin is expected to have a successful season as they completed 387 laps and recorded the seventh-fastest lap record overall in pre-season testing.

Team Principal: Mike Krack

Drivers: #14 Fernando Alonso and #18 Lance Stroll

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 7th Position

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake

The soon-to-be Audi works team is undergoing a significant restructuring on a managerial level. The 2022 season started successfully but ended up poorly with only four points scored in the last seven races of the season. Both drivers from last year have been retained as the Finnish Valtteri Bottas and Chinese Zhou Guanyu impressed. When considering pre-season testing, Alfa Romeo completed 401 laps and posted the third-fastest lap out of all ten teams which was surprising. 

Team Principal/Representative: Alessandro Alunni Bravi

Drivers: #24 Zhou Guanyu and #77 Valtteri Bottas

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 6th Position

McLaren F1 Team

The team is enduring tough times as pre-season testing results hint at a possible drop in the Constructors standings. First-year student Aleksandar Ivanov agreed and said, “this season won’t be as good for McLaren, I think they will be further back in the standings.” 

Aleksandar continued by saying, “I really hope that they can recover and fight for the top five in the Constructors championship.” The team registered the fewest laps compared to everyone else, only 312, and was the eighth fastest in lap time. This is not going to be good news for the team’s young drivers, established talent Lando Norris and Formula 1 rookie Oscar Piastri. 

Team Principal: Andrea Stella

Drivers: #4 Lando Norris and #81 Oscar Piastri

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 5th Position

BWT Alpine F1 Team

Another team that has seemingly not succeeded in building a competitive car as the pre-season testing results of the French-based team are shocking. They recorded the second-least laps and posted the worst lap time out of all teams which is a drastic difference from last season’s performance. The departure of the leading driver Fernando Alonso is not beneficial either, but his replacement Pierre Gasly may prove otherwise if he outperforms countryman Esteban Ocon. 

Team Principal: Otmar Szafnauer

Drivers: #10 Pierre Gasly and #31 Esteban Ocon

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 4th Position

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team

The 2022 season was poor according to Mercedes’ standards due to their domination in recent years. Pre-season testing results in 2023 look promising as the team posted the second-fastest lap overall, but did not complete too many laps. Fourth-year student Kristian Deyanov said that “the whole grid pretty much converges to three main ideas and main lines of design in terms of aerodynamics and it is kind of scary that only Mercedes took the route for really tight air intakes.” 

He continued by saying, “given the corporate culture, the past performance, the strong engine, and with two very talented drivers like Hamilton and George Russell, I actually have high expectations for the team this year around.” Kristian said, “knowing how good they are in terms of engineering and design, I actually believe that at least after the mid-season break, Mercedes will be very competitive even compared to Red Bull and Max Verstappen is gonna feel "the wrath of Sir Lewis Hamilton".” 

Team Principal: Toto Wolff

Drivers: #44 Lewis Hamilton and #63 George Russell

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 3rd Position

Scuderia Ferrari

After the unsuccessful feat for a title in 2022, the Italian team decided to split with Team Principal Mattia Binotto and appoint Frédéric Vasseur in his place. The driver line-up remains the same and both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are hungry for wins more than ever. Pre-season testing has been, according to first-year student Yoan Denchev, “pretty solid”, with the team completing the third-most number of laps and the fourth-fastest time overall. Yoan continued by saying ”they seem quite clear off Mercedes but definitely not on the level of Red Bull”.

Team Principal: Frédéric Vasseur

Drivers: #16 Charles Leclerc and #55 Carlos Sainz

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 2nd Position

Oracle Red Bull Racing

The reigning Constructors Champions are determined to defend their title and look capable of doing that based on pre-season testing. First-year student Daniel Todorov said, “I think that Red Bull would still win this season’s Constructors Championship.” He said that “it will be much closer than last year because I am impressed by Mercedes’s performance and we also shouldn’t count Ferrari out.” The fastest lap of all three days was posted by Mexican driver Sergio Perez, even though he will most likely be outperformed by two-time World Champion Max Verstappen.

Team Principal: Christian Horner

Drivers: #1 Max Verstappen and #11 Sergio Perez

Last Year’s Constructors Standing: 1st Position

All of the five interviewed students mentioned Max Verstappen as one of their predictions for the Drivers’ World Champion during this season. Everyone stated different reasons. For example, Ferrari supporter Yoan said “I have been waiting for 16 years now so my expectations are quite low.” That is the reason why he expects the Dutch driver Verstappen to retain his title in 2023.

Vasko said, “I think Max Verstappen will retake his throne which is rightfully his, and all will be normal.” Aleksandar said that “If Ferrari stops making silly mistakes, Leclerc is also capable of winning it.” 

Kristian agreed by saying “I think it’s gonna be either Max Verstappen or on the off-chance, Ferrari have good strategies this year, maybe Leclerc.” He added that he “doesn’t really expect Mercedes to be really strong in terms of Drivers’ Championship, because for the Drivers’ Championship, you need a very strong car for the whole season so that one person can accumulate all those points.” 

Lastly, Daniel named Lewis Hamilton “a severe competition this season” for Max Verstappen.