Formula 1 Season 2023 Preview

Part 1 of 2.

By Chelsea Wintle, Gavin Huet, Kiwi Kali and Aiden McLaghlin

Season 5 of Drive To Survive, the OG fly-on-the-wall Netflix doco, has dropped, which must mean that the 2023 Formula 1 season is upon us. This time, Chelsea and Kali are joined by Aiden McLaughlin and Gavin Huet for their predictions, which will of course be revisited at the end of the year.

To remind you, Chelsea is a longstanding Formula 1 fan who manages to keep herself spoiler-free every Monday before she watches the latest race, while Kali is one of those new, post-Drive To Survive fans that old school fans love to hate (and she reads the Daily Mail for added scorn). Aiden’s earliest memory of F1 was in 1982 when Keke Rosberg won the driver’s championship and he remains disappointed that Keke’s son Nico failed to wear a similar moustache during his own F1 career. When asked to provide a brief bio of his F1 fandom, Gavin replied with “my preview would be ‘Ferrariiiiiii’  and that about sums it up, and we all know how that ends”.

What are you looking forward to in season 2023?

Chelsea:

A season that lives up to its potential! Remember how excited we all were this time last year, with Ferrari showing early signs of dominance, and we thought we might actually have a three-way fight? I want that. A three-way. You heard me.

Aiden:

Hopefully a more competitive season. After some early promise, 2022 turned into a Verstappen/Red Bull procession. The Mercedes run came too late and the Ferrari team failed to build on a decent start and worse than that, their series of grid wall mistakes turned the team into a bit of a laughing stock . Both those teams need to be much closer this year.

Gavin:

Fast cars zooming around circuits, as simple as that. Apart from the porpoising last season I think the new car designs make for better racing, there is more overtaking and therefore more action. There will also be new circuits for the drivers to get their heads around so there could be a couple of surprises but, spoiler alert, I think it will end up pretty much the same as last season.

Kali:

The new drivers on the grid – de Vries and Sargeant, for starters, and Alonso at Aston Martin.

What was your favourite storyline of the off-season?

Chelsea:

Valtteri Bottas’ mullet. @kiwi_kali stalking him all the way to Waiheke Island.

Aiden:

Valtteri Bottas travelling around Australia and New Zealand over Christmas and New Year was unexpectedly good social media content. Awesome facial hair, good humour and bonus Brendon Hartley photos.

Gavin:

Not so much favourite, but more interesting – the whole driver protesting ban palaver. Historically drivers have had a huge say in how the sport has been run and safety issues. Over recent seasons there have been driver protests, whether it is Sebastien Vettel talking about the environment, or Sir Lewis Hamilton standing for Black Lives Matter. Now this is under threat, and with Formula 1 taking the money from controversial sources can we expect that the money demand the rules be enforced, or will the drivers be allowed freedom of expression? Coupled with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem taking a step back from day to day running of Formula 1 due to some controversies over recent months we certainly have an interesting political undercurrent in the sport.

Kali:

In my defence, Valtteri and his pro cyclist girlfriend, Tiffany Cromwell, were pretty inescapable on their social media tour of Aotearoa, and I did not actually see him on the one day we were both on Waiheke. Just as well, because I would have fangirled. Over Lewis Hamilton.

Thank you Gavin, for taking the question seriously.

As for me, the team principal musical chairs was all just a bit bonkers, and Mattia Binotto was the one left without a seat when the music stopped. I will miss him for the fact that he insists on speaking Italian which is then subtitled on Drive To Survive, in spite of speaking perfectly fluent English. I’ll also be keeping an eye on ex-Mercedes man James Vowles (“Valtteri, it’s James”) stepping up to be team principal at Williams.

If asked at gun point, could you name all the driver pairings and team principals on the 2023 grid? 

Chelsea:

I actually tested myself on this, and no. Missed Logan Sargeant and three team principals. Ask me again in December!

Aiden:

Drivers yes, team principals not quite.

Gavin:

No way, give it a few rounds then come back to me!

Kali:

I’m still mourning Sebastian Vettel’s retirement, which along with “What will become of Danny Ric?” triggered this whole hot mess. So, no.

Driver to watch

Chelsea:

Nyck De Vries. No matter what Public Enemy says, I can’t help but believe the hype. He’ll be fun to watch at any rate, especially paired with Yuki Tsunoda, who has the benefit of experience but still that inherent scrappiness.

Aiden:

George Russell. Although I wasn’t surprised at how well he did in 2022, now comes the difficult second album… With Lewis finding his mojo towards the end of last season, George needs to find even more to stay ahead of the seven time world champion. I think he has the ability and will do just that – but it’ll be close and their ability to push each other will see Mercedes have an improved season.

Gavin:

Oscar Piastri, the new Australian on the grid for McLaren. This is someone that pundits have been talking about for a couple of years now and it looked certain he would be joining Alpine as he was part of the Renault academy, and indeed he was announced as their driver only for it to end up with the lawyers. Now he is a McLaren driver. So a bit of baggage, with a reputation to uphold, he will definitely be under pressure from all sides.

Kali:

Lewis Hamilton. This really feels like his last chance to push for that record-breaking eighth World Drivers’ Championship. Everything points to him still having the hunger and hopefully Mercedes have sorted out the issues with last year’s car, to give him a fighting chance in a return to the black livery.

Team to watch

Chelsea:

Aston Martin. I can’t wait to see Stroll and Alonso jockeying for position and ranting about each other on team radio.

Aiden:

I would love to say McLaren as I’m a big fan of Lando Norris, but I’m a bit worried about how they are looking in testing. Instead, I’m going to choose Aston Martin who seem to be progressing nicely. In fact, I’ll predict a 33rd Grand Prix win for Fernando Alonso will come along some time in 2023.

Gavin:

As they are every year, Ferrari are the team to watch for no other reason than to see what dramas will engulf the team. No other team has the level of expectation and fanaticism associated with them, for many they are Formula 1. Who else can make wearing a red shirt and trousers look cool? They have a good driver lineup, a decent car, but if they can find a way to not make use of it they will. A new team principal will also change the dynamics, remind me to check if they got any new strategists.

Kali:

Head says Aston Martin, for the reasons Chelsea and Aiden have outlined above. But I can’t go past the cautious optimism that Mercedes might have learnt enough lessons from a disastrous (by their standards) 2022, and created a car that is worthy of the talent of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. So far the teammates (master and apprentice, as it were) have been very respectful of each other, but if they’re fighting for the title, all bets are off.

Follow Gavin  Chelsea  Kiwi Kali  Aiden on Twitter