Five F1® storylines to follow in 2023
Wednesday, 1 March 2023
Can Vasseur do what those before him could not?
The wait is almost over, with the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix taking us one step closer to F1® action returning at Albert Park for the FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023.
What storylines loom as the most intriguing in 2023, and which have potential season-shaping implications? These.
Less air and hot air for Red Bull?
What we do know: Red Bull Racing will have less wind tunnel time to develop their RB19 machine, thanks to aerodynamic restriction penalties (and a US$7 million fine) levied at the reigning constructors' world champions for being found to have breached the 2021 cost cap by 1.6 per cent. What we don't? Just how significant that lack of air time will be, with key figures like chief technology officer Adrian Newey ("won't make much difference") and team principal Christian Horner ("it's certainly a significant handicap") making contrasting public statements in recent months.
What's not for debate: if the end-of-season 2022 tension between teammates Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez persists after Verstappen defied a team order for Perez to pass him in Brazil, the noise about third driver Daniel Ricciardo potentially reprising his 2016-18 partnership with Verstappen will grow louder, hot air or not.
Black to the future to end blip for Mercedes?
Mercedes has admitted to reverting to the black livery it sported for reasons of social diversity and equality in 2020-21 to save weight on its 2022 challenger, but perhaps there's some symbolism attached to going back to the title-winning past while banishing the bad memories of last year's W13, a Silver Arrow that was a long way from being F1®'s gold standard.
Reverting to the past to pave the way for future success – visually at least – is what Mercedes hopes to achieve after its leanest season since 2013.
On a related note, Lewis Hamilton is 38 years old and comes into 2023 off his first winless F1® campaign – and off-contract at the end of the season. Hamilton and team boss Toto Wolff have done deals in short order and at the last minute in the past, but happy mediums are easy to find when a team is basking in a winning glow. What if 2023 is as bad or worse for Mercedes than 2022?
Tasty teammate tussles
It's one of F1®'s maxims – the first person you have to beat is your teammate. And while there are 10 partnerships to keep your eyes peeled for, we're particularly intrigued by two.
One, naturally, comes at McLaren, where Lando Norris has a new Australian in Oscar Piastri in the sister car after soundly defeating another one in Daniel Ricciardo. Can Norris maintain that same dominance? How long does Piastri need to get up to speed? And will his competitiveness against Norris make us reassess how we evaluate Ricciardo's tenure?
The other teammate tussle to watch is at the team who has been McLaren's main rival, Alpine. It's been well-documented that new driver pairing Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were friendly rivals in their junior careers before falling out; both drivers either rolled their eyes or verbalised their annoyance when the topic was repeatedly raised at Alpine's season launch. With Ocon having a history of tetchy relationships with teammates and Gasly keen to prove he can shine outside of the Red Bull stable, grab the popcorn and get comfortable.
Will Vasseur rent, or buy?
Food for thought: Horner was the new team principal for Red Bull Racing when the outfit debuted in Australia in 2005; he's still there 18 years later, a period where the team has won six drivers' world championships.
Six, incidentally, is the number of different team principals Ferrari has had in that same timeframe, where they've won one title, and that was 16 years ago. Correlation or causation? You be the judge, but it's hard to dismiss instability as a factor in that drought.
In former Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari has its successor to Mattia Binotto, who was the successor to Maurizio Arrivabene, who was the successor to Marco Mattiacci, who was the successor to Stefano Domenicali, who was the successor to Jean Todt (who, like Vasseur, is French).
Charles Leclerc, who worked with Vasseur in his F3® days and his rookie season at Alfa Romeo, said he's been "very impressed" with the 54-year-old's start at the Scuderia; as Binotto and a long line of predecessors will tell you, it's not how you start at Ferrari, it's where you finish …
Can anyone catch Max?
Verstappen's dominance last season – 15 wins in 22 races and a 146-point gap back to championship runner-up Leclerc – makes this the number one storyline of 2023.
F1® followed up the most dramatic/controversial season conclusion in its history in 2021 with a brand-new set of rules in 2022; as recent history has shown us, maturity in a set of regulations can make for closer racing as the grid converges on the same go-fast solutions, while rule resets can split the pack apart and take years to create a more competitive playing field (filed under 'Mercedes, 2014-20').
So, can anyone catch – let alone match – Verstappen? It's a process of elimination. Ferrari has its afore-mentioned management change, while Mercedes admit they have ground to make up. Are McLaren, Alpine – or anyone else – ready? Which brings us back to Verstappen, approaching the peak of his career, with a team firmly in his corner, with massive momentum and with a hunger for success that defines the true greats. If someone can step forward to be a season-long thorn in his side, F1® fans will be the biggest winners.
