These are all the 2023 F1 cars and teams
Alfa Romeo
After the end of the 2022 season, things remained all but quiet around Alfa Romeo. Team boss Frederic Vasseur snatched away by Ferrari and also came the news that Sauber is breaking ties with the brand at the end of this season. That also means the immediate end of Alfa Romeo in Formula One. It is now known that Audi has partnered with Sauber to have an F1 team on the grid starting in 2026. What will happen to the team in the period in between is not yet known.
As for the drivers, there are no changes for the 2023 Formula One season: Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu remain the drivers for the team. They both take a seat in the new Alfa Romeo C43. What immediately stands out is the new livery. The white/red on last year’s car has given way to black/red. We also frequently see “Stake” on the car, the team’s new partner. Like last season, Alfa Romeo’s goal is to finish the season steady in the middle of the pack.
AlphaTauri
Come next season, we will look at AlphaTauri a little differently. Our very own Nyck de Vries is starting his first official season in F1 at Red Bull’s “rookie team. He succeeds Pierre Gasly who joins Alpine. De Vries is Yuki Tsunoda’s teammate at AlphaTauri. The Japanese had a good start in F1, but made (too) many mistakes toward the end of the season. Fortunately for him, he was allowed to stay. It’s make or break for Yuki, because if he doesn’t start picking up points this season, chances are this will be his last year in the king class.
Nyck and Yuki take seats in the AT04, which is slightly modified from the AT03. Thus, the wheels are more forward to improve airflow. The adjustments should allow the Italians to connect with the middle of the pack in 2023, the place the team was so far from last season with the penultimate final ranking.
BWT Alpine
Alpine successfully concluded the 2022 season with a fourth place finish in the final standings. In doing so, it beat its biggest competitors McLaren and Aston Martin. For the 2023 season, Pierre Gasly comes over from AlphaTauri, joining Esteban Ocon and completing the French party. In fact, with the Alpine A523, the team plans to attack the top three. Whether that will work we will see soon.
Aston Martin
Aston Martin has had to say goodbye to Sebastian Vettel. The four-time world champion decided to end his Formula One career. His replacement is also an old hand in the business; none other than two-time world champion Fernando Alonso comes over from Alpine to take over the seat, becoming Lance Stroll’s teammate. Surely Aston Martin closed 2022 disappointingly. The British team is eager to compete with McLaren and Alpine, but finished in spot 7 just behind Alfa Romeo and just ahead of Haas. With Alonso and the new car, Aston Martin is hopeful that it can connect with the top three. The AMR23, as the car is called, is somewhat similar in design to Max Verstappen’s championship car.
Ferrari
Ferrari could resist Red Bull for a long time in 2022. Silly mistakes ultimately killed Ferrari, causing it to drop out of title contention. The Italians had to settle for second place in the championship. Mattia Binotto was held responsible for the mistakes made. He had to make way for Frederic Vasseur, who comes over from Alfa Romeo. The driver duo of Sainz and Leclerc remains unchanged.
The two will take their seats in the SF-23, which should produce less drag for the new season. Especially on the long straights, the Italians fell short of Red Bull. They also looked at tire wear and made improvements to ensure reliability. “We are competing for the title,” Vasseur said.
Haas F1
Haas has been the first team to present its new car to the general public. The VF-23 looks more dynamic than the previous design and is very similar to the design used by Ferrari. The livery has also been changed, where the predominant color is now black instead of white on the previous car.
Despite last season’s turbulent start, which included the dismissal of Mazepin and his father, Haas still put in a fine performance by finishing the season in 8th place, just ahead of AlphaTauri and well above Williams. Kevin Magnussen, who replaced the dismissed Nikita Mazepin, will also drive for the team this year. Nico Hulkenberg is Magnussen’s new teammate. Team boss Guenther Steiner says he has had enough patience with Mick Schumacher, who in his two seasons has not been able to break through in F1. Schumacher is now a test driver for Mercedes as well as McLaren.
McLaren
McLaren did disappoint a bit last season. Although Lando Norris mostly scored top ten marks, it was mostly his teammate Daniel Ricciardo who underperformed. The good-humored Australian could not live up to the high expectations and was sent packing for that reason. His replacement, also an Australian, Oscar Piastri makes the move from Alpine to McLaren. That transfer was piquant, to say the least. Indeed, Alpine wanted the talented Piastri to advance to Formula One to replace the departing Fernando Alonso. Only Piastri thought otherwise. Unbeknownst to Alpine, he signed a contract with McLaren. Alpine filed a lawsuit against McLaren. The judge saw nothing wrong with the switch and vindicated McLaren. Alpine then decided to attract Gasly. Furthermore, team boss Andreas Seidl left for Alfa Romeo. His duties have been assumed by Andrea Stella.
The recently presented MCL60 is very similar in looks to last year’s car. The papaya-orange color still predominates, complemented by blue and black accents. Surely it is a pity that the 60th anniversary was not turned out to celebrate, because apart from the number 60, we see little that is truly celebratory. Perhaps they will present a special livery sometime during the season.
Mercedes
Finishing in third place in the constructors’ championship with only one race victory is particularly painful for Mercedes. The Germans just could not get it together to send a competitive car onto the track. The new generation cars suffered from porpoising due to their modified floor, with the car having short up and down movements at high speed due to the downforce. While many teams quickly found solutions to minimize that, Mercedes just failed to eliminate the flaw. Hamilton in particular suffered greatly, unlike Russell who then finished above Lewis in the drivers’ championship.
Bouncing should be remedied in the new W14 before 2023. The new is car comes in an all-black livery. Not all black parts actually have black paint on them. Some parts have been kept in carbon color. This not only looks cool, but also saves weight.
Red Bull
Max Verstappen is gearing up for another F1 season. The two-time world champion and his teammate Sergio Perez will step into the RB19 next season. Only the presentation of that car is still pending. Red Bull is apparently waiting until the very last minute to show the car for Formula 1 season 2023 to the outside world. So do they have something revolutionary in store for the design? The car during the presentation in New York concerns last year’s car. With the new livery, though.
Also nice to mention is that Daniel Ricciardo, who you just read about leaving McLaren, will be working as a test driver for Red Bull this year. This brings the Australian back to the old nest where he was first rider from 2014 to 2018.
Williams
As in this review, Williams also finished at the bottom last season with only 8 points. Nicolas Latifi and Alexander Albon together amassed 6 World Cup points in 22 races: Albon scored four and Latifi two. The remaining two points were brought in by Nyck de Vries who finished handsomely 9th at Monza when he filled in for the team. Thanks to structurally mediocre performance, Williams said goodbye to Nicolas Latifi and replaced him for the talented Logan Sargeant. The American set high standards in Formula 2 by finishing on the podium several times, taking victories and pole position. The downside of sending Latifi away is that major sponsors will also be lost. Still, Williams says it will have no effect on the team’s performance. We are curious to see if Williams can find their way up this season with their new FW45.
