Red Bull Racing blitzed the field in 2023, but its domination had knock-on effects all the way down the grid.
The now six-time constructors champion scored so many points that fewer were up for grabs for the other so-called frontrunners, which in turn left the backmarkers squabbling for even smaller scraps.
For some teams the optimism of the new regulations has faded fast. Some of them have faded into virtual nothingness in just the second year of the new rule book.
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Others, however, have turned the change in rules into an opportunity. Despite no-one getting close to Red Bull Racing, some teams will head into the off-season feeling like winners — or as close to winners as you can get in a season like 2023.
Here’s how the grid fared in 2023.
A note on the statistics: the gap to pole is the average deficit of the team’s fastest car to pole position in dry conditions over the whole season. The same has been calculated for the last five races, which for some teams is more instructive.
The development trend measures how much each team has improved or degraded in the fight for pole over the course of the season based on a theoretical 90-second lap time.
PIT TALK PODCAST: Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing sweep up a couple of extra records for single-season domination to wrap up one of the most one-sided seasons in F1 history, but after another straightforward race in Yas Marina, we ask whether Abu Dhabi is the right place to end the F1 season.
RED BULL RACING — A+
Championship: 1st, 860 points (2022: 1st, 759 points)
Wins: 21
Poles: 15
Average gap to pole: 0.106 seconds (1st)
Last five races gap to pole: 0.123 seconds (2nd)
Development trend: degraded by 0.208 seconds (9th)
The good
It took one of the most dominant seasons in Formula 1 history to get there, but Red Bull Racing has finally claimed its first one-two finish in the drivers championship. Max Verstappen carried the entire team to both titles, with enough points to win the constructors crown all on his own. The team set a new record for most successive wins and most wins in a season as a percentage, cementing the RB19 as one of the all-time great F1 machines.
All this was achieved despite the team being lumbered with a development penalty for having breached the cost cap in 2021, something team boss Christian Horner sometimes incredulously insists will hurt next season’s car. With the team evidently firing on all cylinders and having switched focus to 2024 months ago — which explains its incongruous development rate — its standout 2023 sets it up for an encore next season.
The bad
There’s very little to be critical of this season. Sergio Pérez came perilously close to losing second in the drivers championship but rallied in late October to secure the place, averting embarrassment. One could argue the team hasn’t handled Pérez’s struggles especially well, particularly in the context of Helmut Marko’s racist commentary in the middle of the year, which the team was slow to condemn. Rumours of a power struggle between Horner and Marko also simmer away, but evidently without enough vigour to disrupt the team.
McLAREN — A
Championship: 4th, 302 points (2022: 5th, 159 points)
Best finish: 2nd (7)
Best qualifying: 2nd (4)
Average gap to pole: 0.715 seconds (4th)
Last five races gap to pole: 0.574 seconds (4th) (excluding Las Vegas: 0.179 seconds (3rd))
Development trend: improved by 1.234 seconds (1st)
The good
McLaren rewrote the rules for what was possible to achieve with in-season car development, taking an almost unbelievable leap from being the slowest car in the opening races to challenging Red Bull Racing for victory in Brazil in the closing stanza of the campaign. On its current trajectory it can be hopeful of being a permanent thorn in RBR’s side next season.
Andrea Stella has impressed enormously in taking over the reins from Andreas Seidl over the off-season, and his technical restructure —sacking former technical director James Key to promote a combination of in-house talent and poached external big names — has made the team sharper and more responsive. There hasn’t been a misfired upgrade all year.
Oscar Piastri has been a revelation in his first season, justifying the team paying out the underperforming Daniel Ricciardo for an unproven rookie. The young Australian’s rate of progress has been immense to regularly challenge teammate Lando Norris, particularly in qualifying. He notably became the first of the two to win a race, albeit a sprint.
Norris has also revelled in the first genuinely competitive car of his career, notwithstanding his occasional Q3 mistakes, proving the hype about his F1 potential has been warranted.
The bad
It’s difficult to find too many dark spots in such a positive season. The team still has some operational weaknesses — its qualifying error in Las Vegas was an embarrassing example — but these are naturally ironed out as the team spends more time testing itself at the pointy end of the field after a long time in the wilderness.
The only question mark remaining after 2023 is whether the team can make the big mechanical changes required to dial out the peculiar driving kinks that Norris and Ricciardo had been noting for years and that Piastri has hinted at feeling without undoing all the progress of this season.
ASTON MARTIN — B+
Championship: 5th, 280 points (2022: 7th, 55 points)
Best finish: 2nd (3)
Best qualifying: 2nd (2)
Average gap to pole: 0.750 seconds (5th)
Last five races gap to pole: 0.961 seconds (8th)
Development trend: degraded by 0.580 seconds (10th)
The good
Notwithstanding the team’s late-season slide, it’s impossible not to call this year a success. Aston Martin has taken a big step forwards, even if the ultimate size of that step was a little smaller than first thought, leaving it with a strong launching pad for future seasons.
Competing for podiums and occasionally wins has also done much to boost team morale and brand value. Having looked like a rudderless flight of fancy by billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll to keep son Lance in the sport, Formula 1 now takes Aston Martin seriously.
Fernando Alonso reckons he’s enjoyed the equal best season of his career, and there’s no better driver to have at the helm of the team, spurring on development.
The team has also moved into new facilities this season, investment that will be felt progressively over the coming seasons.
The bad
Aston Martin’s late-season decline is concerning, however, particularly as the team admitted it sacrificed several races in the Americas to troubleshoot a failed upgrade package. Principal Mike Krack insisted the team hadn’t lost its way, but it’s hard to read such an unusual approach to a race weekend as anything other than desperation.
While the Silverstone squad appeared to find its way again late, with Alonso stepping onto the podium in Brazil, it’s the only team that ended up further behind Red Bull Racing than it began, leaving us with questions about where exactly it should expect to start 2024.
Lance Stroll is also evidently not pulling his weight. Though he enjoyed a small resurgence late to match his reasonable start to the year, his straight comparison with Alonso has shown him up as not being on the level of other drivers racing for top teams — a group Aston Martin believes it belongs in. Surely a difficult conversation can’t be too far away.
FERRARI — B
Championship: 3rd, 406 points (2022: 2nd, 554 points)
Wins: 1
Poles: 6
Average gap to pole: 0.226 seconds (2nd)
Last five races gap to pole: 0.085 seconds (1st)
Development trend: improved by 0.114 seconds (7th)
The good
While some will argue Mattia Binotto’s forced exit this time last year was unnecessary, Frederic Vasseur has been an inspired choice as his replacement, and his approach to the team’s new objectives and struggles has been well judged. At no point has the weight of leading Ferrari looked heavy on his shoulders.
Vasseur’s changes to pit wall policy appear to have paid dividends in the strategy department, albeit the strategists are yet to be tested for regular wins.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz took turns in the ascendancy as the car progressed through phases of development, highlighting the strength of this complementary driver line-up and its ability to constantly driver the team forwards.
The SF-23 was regularly the second-quickest car in qualifying, and Leclerc’s run of poles late in the year was enormously heartening in proving that the Scuderia is on the right track, even if it just missed out on second in the standings.
Best of all for Ferrari is that by the end of the season it appeared to genuinely get a handle not only on its current car but on how to develop it effectively, with a late upgrade brought during the Americas leg of the campaign being a big boost — potential proof that one step back could lead to two steps forward next year.
The bad
There’s no doubt Ferrari lost some momentum at the start of the season as it adjusted to its new management structure, and it was slow to realise that next year’s car would need to be dramatically different to this year’s machine to take a bite out of Red Bull Racing’s lead. This in turn could leave it a step behind next season relative to Mercedes, which switched focus earlier to a new design.
But despite the step backwards in the title standings, this ended on balance as a better year than was expected in the opening months.
WILLIAMS — C+
Championship: 7th, 28 points (2022: 10th, 8 points)
Best finish: 7th (2)
Best qualifying: 4th (1)
Average gap to pole: 1.279 seconds (8th)
Last five races gap to pole: 0.908 seconds (6th)
Development trend: improved by 0.534 seconds (3rd)
The good
Alex Albon has flourished as the team leader at Williams, where he single-handedly delivered the historic squad its best constructors championship finish since 2017. The Thai driver has re-established himself as one of the sport’s slickest operators, and if Williams plays its cards right, he might be the man to lead the team into a strong new era.
The team has been rejuvenated under new principal James Vowles, whose calm and methodical demeanour has given a sense of security to the operation during a critical phase of its latest attempt at a rebuild. Vowles is applying lessons he learnt as a senior Mercedes manager to bring the team up to scratch, and on his watch heavy investment is pouring into Grove to bring it up to scratch after decades of financial difficulty.
The bad
The second Williams seat has been a problem for more than half a decade, and Logan Sargeant is no exception after his first year. True, he’s a rookie, and Albon’s high level of performance means he was always going to come off second-best, but the fact he’s yet to sign on for 2024 despite there being few alternatives says much about how unconvincing his maiden season has been.
With Williams in a delicate phase in its rebuild, it’s up for debate whether the American is the right driver to be maximising the team’s opportunities in the coming seasons as it builds the groundwork for the new regulations in 2026 — and safeguards against the potential of Albon being poached in future campaigns.
ALPHATAURI — C
Championship: 8th, 25 points (2022: 9th, 35 points)
Best finish: 7th (1)
Best qualifying: 4th (1)
Average gap to pole: 1.566 seconds (10th)
Last five races gap to pole: 1.589 seconds (10th) (excluding Las Vegas: 0.844 seconds (6th))
Development trend: improved by 0.455 seconds (4th)
The good
AlphaTauri’s strong progress in the second half of the year was a glimmer of hope after what appeared to be another step backwards at the start of the season. The new floor it brought to the car in the final round, which was targeted at the 2024 machine, also appeared to continue that positive trajectory — notwithstanding some rival teams harbour suspicions that Red Bull Racing is somehow deriving benefit from its sister team’s late resource spend.
AlphaTauri had its future secured by Red Bull this year after questions about ongoing backing following the death of CEO Dietrich Mateschitz late last year. From next year it will enjoy a closer technical relationship with Red Bull Racing, which can only be positive. It will also welcome Laurent Mekies as team principal, who along with CEO Peter Bayer will lead a new team structure following the departure of former team boss Franz Tost.
Daniel Ricciardo’s return to Faenza has also been a boost, with the eight-time race winner’s reintroduction being the first time the team has fielded such an experienced driver in its modern history. Ricciardo isn’t just a morale boost but a development one as well, helping to lead the team back to competitiveness sooner.
Yuki Tsunoda has also impressed with his step forwards this year despite constant changes in the next garage. He led the team all year and was far less error prone than in previous campaigns, even if consistency remains an area for improvement.
The bad
The Nyck de Vries experiment at the start of the year obviously flopped, even if a 10-race stint wasn’t exactly the fulsome opportunity the Dutch Formula E champion would’ve expected. It spoke to a broader indecisiveness in the Red Bull driver program, which has been partially solved only because Liam Lawson got his unexpected chance when Ricciardo broke his hand.
It also remains to be seen whether AlphaTauri’s expanded hybrid Italy-UK team structure will work. There’s no good history of teams splitting design operations across nations — Adrian Newey himself has talked down its potential — and given AlphaTauri is already starting from a low base, it’ll have much to prove next season.
MERCEDES — D
Championship: 2nd, 409 points (2022: 3rd, 515 points)
Best finish: 2nd (3)
Poles: 1
Average gap to pole: 0.441 seconds (3rd)
Last five races gap to pole: 0.266 seconds (3rd)
Development trend: improved by 0.386 seconds (6th)
The good
Securing second in the constructors championship was an important morale boost for a team used to winning, as will have been occasional glimpses of Lewis Hamilton’s blistering form, confirming the talismanic Mercedes driver still has what it takes to lead the team if and when it delivers a car to match his talent. The team’s decision to throw its 2023 car in the bin at the first round of the season may well come to be reflected upon as a good thing, but this was otherwise a barren season for positives.
The bad
It’s hard not to conclude 2023 was a monumental waste of time for Mercedes, which erroneously doubled down on its troubled 2022 car only to discover the W14 was a massive flop during pre-season testing. Hamilton has frustratedly revealed several of the key changes he’d asked for were left out of this year’s design, leaving him unable to regularly access the car’s already limited potential.
The depth of the team’s despair is illustrated in the need to manage Mike Elliott out of the technical directorship to bring back his predecessor, James Allison, to try to right the ship. Though undoubtedly a good move, it just reframes the last two campaigns as having been squandered.
Even George Russell, who was such a 2022 standout, couldn’t quite reach the same heights and was comprehensively beaten by Hamilton over the year — not by enough to cast any aspersions on the young Briton but enough to underline how flat this year has been.
ALPINE — D-
Championship: 6th, 120 points (2022: 4th, 173 points)
Best finish: 3rd (2)
Best qualifying: 4th (2)
Average gap to pole: 0.934 seconds (6th)
Last five races gap to pole: 0.719 seconds (5th)
Development trend: improved by 0.106 seconds (8th)
The good
Esteban Ocon’s excellent qualifying and race performance in Monaco was Alpine’s undoubted highlight, particularly given it came a week after the team copped a spray from then boss Laurent Rossi for being too unserious to bear the badge of the French constructor.
Pierre Gasly’s acclimatisation to his new team has been pleasingly smooth, and the former Red Bull protégé delivered a podium in the middle of the year to ensure he ended the campaign a nose ahead of Ocon in the individual standings. Fears of a blow-up with childhood friend-turned-foe Ocon proved unfounded.
The bad
What had looked like tentative progress in previous seasons has stalled — or in fact reversed.
Alpine started the year with the objective of finishing a more “robust” fourth and closing in on the top three teams. Instead it ended up being jumped by two former midfield squads and languishing in no man’s land in sixth, safely ahead of the backmarkers but never close enough to compete with the leaders.
That led to Rossi being shuffled off to “special projects” and then a chaotic round of bloodletting in the middle of the year, with team principal Otmar Szafnauer and legendary sporting director Alan Permane sacked from the team during the Belgian Grand Prix weekend shortly before the mid-season break. Chief technical officer Pat Fry also left to join Williams.
There had been an assumption that vice-president Bruno Famin, who instigated much of the change, had someone lined up to take over the positions, but so far he’s left himself in the interim role, giving the distinct impression of a team going nowhere.
Alpine has ended up worse off for 2023.
ALFA ROMEO — E
Championship: 9th, 16 points (2022: 6th, 55 points)
Best finish: 8th (2)
Best qualifying: 5th (1)
Average gap to pole: 1.410 seconds (9th)
Last five races gap to pole: 1.017 seconds (9th)
Development trend: improved by 0.546 seconds (2nd)
The good
Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas continued to perform well in a difficult season. Zhou in particular established himself in his second year, though with fewer opportunities to impress nearer to the front.
The team also welcomed former McLaren technical director James Key to Hinwil, though he will have limited impact on next year’s car given he couldn’t start work until September.
The bad
What had started so promisingly under the new rules last year faded to practically nothing this year, which is worse than the result alone. The team’s alarming slide confirms that 2022’s good form was largely thanks to being the team to get closest to the weight limit, but that head start wasn’t converted into any meaningful aerodynamic gains subsequently.
The team will revert to its original Sauber name for the next two years, having given up its Alfa Romeo title sponsorship in anticipation of Audi taking full control of the historic Swiss squad from 2026. But the German giant is taking control in phases, meaning the next two campaigns risk becoming years of just treading water hoping for more in future seasons.
Perhaps investment being laid down in anticipation of the VW brand’s arrival will start to show in 2025, but there’s little to be optimistic about in the short term after 2023.
HAAS — E
Championship: 10th, 12 points (2022: 8th, 37 points)
Best finish: 7th (1)
Best qualifying: 2nd (1)
Average gap to pole: 1.196 seconds (7th)
Last five races gap to pole: 0.926 seconds (7th)
Development trend: improved by 0.440 seconds (5th)
The good
While some will argue Mick Schumacher was hard done by to lose his seat to a drive who hadn’t raced for three seasons, Nico Hülkenberg has been a valuable asset to the American team alongside Kevin Magnussen. The returning German has given Haas its sparse qualifying highs this year, including a front-row start in Canada, even if the car’s diabolic tyre wear has meant he could almost never convert those lofty starting positions to points.
Team boss Guenther Steiner is reportedly locked in a deal with American television network CBS for a scripted workplace-based comedy show. Meanwhile…
The bad
Haas went nowhere fast in 2023. Similar to Alfa Romeo, the green shoots of 2022 withered away rapidly. The car’s tyre problems remain its biggest inhibition to a respectable race performance, and the team has consistently proved unable to cure them.
Its research and development program — such that it is, with much of the work outsourced — again came up blank. The team scheduled one major development this year despite every other team bar Red Bull Racing bringing a regular stream of updates.
That upgrade didn’t arrive until October, with five races to go, and it flopped big time. Nico Hülkenberg reverted to the old-spec car in the final two rounds, and Kevin Magnussen admitted after Abu Dhabi that he wished he’d done the same.
The final word on the state of the team goes to Hülkenberg himself to Sky Sports Germany.
“I have demonstrated that the new car is not faster. and that is quite clearly a problem,” he said.
“It’s a message to our factory, to the engineers and mechanics.
“Next year we have to do things differently. That has been our problem this year. Our development was at a standstill and we have been brutally overtaken.”
But with no structural change on the horizon, there’s little hope for better for Haas.
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