The outlook for the 2023 Formula One season is bright. Pre-season announcements highlighting important personnel changes in a number of teams, new changes to the technical regulations to address the “porpoising” problem and key driver movements have set the stage for an exciting season.
By Graham Duxbury
Could it be one of the most competitive in recent years with three teams battling at the head of the field?
Mercedes-Benz will be without its talented strategist James Vowles who has been appointed team principal at Williams. Could this move weaken Mercedes or will the team’s resurgence in the latter half of 2022 give Lewis Hamilton and George Russell supporters hope of repeating earlier seasons’ dominance?
While the Red Bull team management remains unchanged, the pressure on legendary designer Adrian Newey will ramp up as he will have to content with a lower level (70% off baseline) of aerodynamic development mandated as a result of Red Bull winning the 2022 constructors’ title.
There is also a further 10% reduction meted out as punishment for the team’s breach of the cost-cap in 2021.
Nevertheless, expect the target to be the one-two championship finish for world champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez that eluded them in 2022.
Ferrari will be hoping to put previous strategy disasters behind it with the appointment of former Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur as team principal in place of Mattia Binotto.
Ferrari fans – especially the tifosi – are hoping that the team’s 2023 engine will give it a performance edge. Although constrained by the agreed engine freeze preventing development except for reliability purposes, word is that a more reliable Ferrari powerplant will be able to run harder and faster. Expect Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to fully exploit it.
Vasseur’s replacement at Sauber-run Alfa Romeo is former McLaren boss Andreas Seidl who, as Sauber CEO, is expected to lay the ground work for the arrival of Audi as team owners and engine suppliers in 2026. While Alfa will continue with its regular driver pairing of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas in 2023, the team principal position is still vacant at time of writing.
After losing Seidl, McLaren promoted from within, appointing Andrea Stella as team principal. Described as a “feet-on-the-ground, highly intelligent engineer”, he will now be given an opportunity to prove himself in a bigger role. On the driver front, Lando Norris will be joined by rookie Oscar Piastri, the former Alpine reserve driver.
Of the teams that made changes to key personnel, Williams arguably made the biggest move, with owners Dorilton Capital parting ways with both team principal Jost Capito and technical director FX Demaison.
That Vowles slotted into the team principal role without the usual “gardening leave” waiting period is a clear indication of the closeness of the Williams-Mercedes technical partnership and Vowles’ role as an ally of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
On the driver front, Alex Albon has a new teammate in the form of American rookie Logan Sargeant, who got the nod after an outstanding performance in the F2 championship.
Changes in mid-field teams have centred on driver changes with Alpine creating somewhat of a media stir late last year as both Fernando Alonso and Piastri headed for the exit door. This left incumbent Esteban Ocon with AlphaTauri refugee Pierre Gasly as partner in an all-French line up for 2023. Evidently these two did not get on in their junior years and many fans expect sparks to fly this year.
Alonso has replaced the retiring Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin and it will be interesting to see how the old warhorse melds into what is, in effect, a family team run by Lawrence Stroll whose son Lance will be Fernando’s teammate.
AlphaTauri replaced Gasly with Formula E champion Nyck de Vries whose success as a Williams “sub” in 2022 presented him with the necessary springboard into a fulltime drive. Yuki Tsunoda, in his third season in F1, will step up as team leader.
With Mick Schumacher falling out of favour at Haas, his position has been filled by returnee Nico Hulkenberg who, after a significant three seasons on the side lines, joins Kevin Magnussen in a team hoping to better its eighth place in the title chase and perhaps even bag another pole position in 2023.