It’s been just over a week since the 2022 Formula 1 season ended, with a final battle between Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez for the second spot in the championship leader board. The Monegasque driver pulled off an incredible race in Abu Dhabi, getting the edge over the Mexican, who still recorded the best season of his career to date.
The 2022 Formula 1 season started in a great way, promising an intense duel between the reigning defending champion, Max Verstappen, and Charles Leclerc, who looked like a solid candidate to dethrone the Dutch driver until many issues derailed his good campaign.
After a couple of reliability issues, Verstappen and Red Bull bounced back, looking unbeatable in nearly every single race on the calendar. Max won his second consecutive championship while breaking the record for the most wins in a single season with the unstoppable RB18.
But now it’s time to move past this season and focus on the next one, where the rest of the grid will try to catch up with Red Bull and Verstappen. Today, we’re going to take a way-too-early preview for the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Who’s in?
We’ll have to wait until March for the new season to start, but many fans are already talking about what we could see next year. Every team has big aspirations ahead of the second year with the new regulations, and today, we’ll walk you through all the teams, mentioned here.
Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu
Alfa Romeo paired up an experienced driver with a rookie, which worked well for them. They looked ready to challenge for a top-5 spot in the early stages of the season, but things changed as the races went by. Bottas and Guanyu formed a very good tandem that is expected to take another step forward next season.
The Finnish driver showed that he’s one of the most consistent in the championship, constantly taking his car to new levels, racking up valuable points. As for the Chinese talent, he looked a lot better than people expected, and even after suffering one of the most dramatic crashes in recent history, he continued doing well for his team.
AlphaTauri: Nyck de Vries, Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri is one of the teams that will have a new member this upcoming season. After Pierre Gasly’s divorce from the Red Bull stable last season, the French driver left AT, signing with Alpine, as he tries to get more chances to compete for the top spots in the championship.
To replace Gasly, AlphaTauri brought in Nyck de Vries, who priorly had short-lived stints with Mercedes and Williams. To complement the other Dutch driver on the grid, Alpha Tauri will keep the outspoken Yuki Tsunoda. This team was a great surprise in 2021, but last season they struggled a lot to be consistent. Hopefully, this new season can bring something different for them.
Alpine: Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly
Even though they were the best of the rest thanks to Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, Alpine didn’t have the best ending of the season, with the fights between the two drivers getting more serious with every race.
The Spanish legend is now gone and Alpine have brought in Pierre Gasly to replace him, but if the relationship between the two Frenchmen doesn’t improve, this project could go from near the top to the bottom in just one season. Alpine beat McLaren in a fight that ended up being easy for them, but next season the situation can change, and if they don’t work together, the rest of the teams will try to cash in.
Aston Martin: Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin were a very ambitious project when Lawrence Stroll took over a couple of years ago, but after all this time, they haven’t been able to compete for the top spots in the competition, which was the original plan for them.
After Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from the category, the English team signed Fernando Alonso, who could be a great addition or could create more problems for the team. Lance Stroll needs to show that he’s ready to compete in the biggest stage of all or confirm that this whole plan by his father is a total failure.
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari, as usual, had a rollercoaster season in 2022. They started the campaign with huge expectations and lived up to them in the first part of the season. However, after some reliability issues hit them and the mistakes they made with their strategy, the Italian powerhouse had to see Red Bull overtake them and become champions with extreme ease.
The 17-time Formula 1 champions keep their line-up for next season, with Charles Leclerc ready to challenge Max Verstappen for his championship, just like Carlos Sainz, who showed interesting things last season but also made big mistakes that cost him valuable points.
Haas: Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hülkenberg
Just like Alpine, Haas could face many issues between their drivers. Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg had no love for each other during their first stint in the competition, and now that they’re teammates, things could go really wrong for them.
After having two pay drivers in 2021, Haas parted ways with Nikita Mazepin ahead of the 2022 season and opted not to re-sign Mick Schumacher for the 2023 campaign. This could be a master plan for the American team or a complete disaster that will make Guenther Steiner lose his cool once again.
McLaren: Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri
Just like AlphaTauri, McLaren saw their level of competitiveness decrease in the 2022 Formula 1 season. The historic team only had Lando Norris doing anything meaningful and they looked really bad at the beginning of the season. Daniel Ricciardo is now gone, and they have brought in a bright young talent that could help them fight for a top-4 finish next season.
Lando Norris keeps showing his quality behind the wheel, taking his car to compete against the top teams in the competition. Oscar Piastri will make his long-awaited debut after the controversy between Alpine and McLaren last season, which could be good for the Woking-based squad.
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton, George Russell
The German team saw how their reality changed in a matter of months between December 2021 and March 2022. They couldn’t continue their dominance with the new regulations and struggled a lot with the porpoise. This all resulted in them only getting a win this season, and losing a spot on the leaderboard.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell repeat as drivers this season, as Mercedes get ready to challenge Red Bull and Ferrari after a disappointing campaign. Lewis Hamilton is still fast, and capable of getting big points. George Russell is looking like a threat to his compatriot, and these two could star in big duels next season.
Red Bull: Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez
The complete dominator of the 2022 Formula 1 season, Red Bull didn’t end the campaign on a high note, although Max Verstappen got the 15th win of the season in Abu Dhabi. Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez couldn’t beat Charles Leclerc in their fight for the second spot in the leader board, and their prior controversies make fans believe that the good relationship between the two Red Bull drivers has ended.
Still, this doesn’t change the fact that Red Bull are the team to beat in the competition, and Ferrari, Mercedes or whoever wants to challenge them will have to really step up to dethrone them. Then again, perhaps their inside issues could hurt their chances of retaining both the drivers’ and constructors’ championship, but we’ll have to wait and see how this situation develops.
Williams: Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant
With a rich history, Williams are one of the most iconic teams in Formula 1, but their current moment isn’t the best of all. After several seasons in the bottom of the competition, they hope to see some changes in this upcoming campaign. Alex Albon got the edge over Nicholas Latifi in 2022 and will stay with the team for 2023.
They’re bringing rookie Logan Sargeant to team up with the Thai driver, hoping to get good results that allow them to compete for a top-6 finish. This is unlikely right now, but perhaps this new duo can make what the new ownership has been waiting for since they took over.
