Formula 1

2023 F1 Driver Line-Up: The Drivers And Teams Confirmed For An Exciting Season

The 2023 season is fast approaching and as we countdown the days to the opening race in Bahrain on Sunday 5th March, we are taking a look at the driver line-up for the season ahead.

As well as driver movements and others losing their seats or retiring, the sport also has three rookie driver’s joining the grid. Here is a round-up of the 2023 line-up to get you prepared for the on-track action.

Red Bull

Red Bull is one of the teams keeping the same driver line-up as 2022. The team won the constructor’s championship at the Austin Grand Prix and had an incredible seventeen race wins across the 2022 season.

Max Verstappen

SUZUKA, JAPAN – OCTOBER 09: Race winner and 2022 F1 World Drivers Champion Max Verstappen of Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202210090606 // Usage for editorial use only //

The Belgian-Dutch driver dominated the 2022 season despite some reliability issues with the Red Bull. He took his second championship win at the Japanese Grand Prix as well as breaking the record for the number of race wins in a season, with fifteen.

Sergio Perez

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE – OCTOBER 02: Race winner Sergio Perez of Mexico and Oracle Red Bull Racing (C), Second placed Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Ferrari (L) and Third placed Carlos Sainz of Spain and Ferrari (R) stand on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Singapore at Marina Bay Street Circuit on October 02, 2022 in Singapore, Singapore. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images,) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202210020589 // Usage for editorial use only //

Perez showed a huge leap forward in performance in 2022 taking the win at the Monaco and Singapore Grand Prix. He was in a close battle with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for second place in the driver’s championship which carried on right until the end of the season. Perez ended up coming third with 305 points behind Leclerc with 308 points.

Ferrari

Ferrari are also keeping both of their driver’s from 2022, however they are going into 2023 with a new team principal, Frederic Vasseur. It was announced shortly after the 2022 season came to a close that Mattia Binotto would be leaving the team at the end of the year, and it was later confirmed that Vasseur would be moving from Sauber (Alfa Romeo) to take his place.

The team started the year off strong but encountered reliability issues with the cars as well as making several strategical errors.

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari F1 Press Image

Leclerc had a great start to the year achieving pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix and then going on to take the win. Over the whole season the Monegasque won 3 races, 9 pole positions, and 3 fastest laps.

Making his F1 debut in 2018 driving for Sauber, Leclerc has worked with Vasseur being his team principal before and they seemed to work well together, so many fans are hoping to see a more successful 2023. He did take second in the driver’s championship but seemed to bear the brunt of a lot of the teams strategical errors.

Carlos Sainz

GP SINGAPORE F1/2022 – DOMENICA 02/10/2022 credit: @Scuderia Ferrari Press Office

The Spanish driver managed to achieve fifth in the driver’s championship in 2022 and also bagged his first F1 career win at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone where he also started in pole position. Over the whole season Sainz had 1 race win, 2 pole positions, and two fastest laps.

Mercedes

Mercedes had a new driver line-up for 2022 and are carrying on into 2023 with the same driver’s. George Russell joined seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton at the start of the 2022 season and proved his place on the team. Overall, the team had a difficult year with multiple issues on the W13 cars, however, they made significant developments throughout the year and are ready to come back fighting in 2023.

Lewis Hamilton

2022 Mexico City Grand Prix 2022, Saturday – LAT Images

The seven-time champion had his first season with no race wins in his whole F1 career. However, as it was Russell’s first year with the team and he is in the early stages of his career, Mercedes revealed that Hamilton had instructed the team to carry out the majority of the tests and data collection on his car.

Hamilton narrowly missed out on his eighth championship win in 2021 and will be looking to be in the thick of the competition at the top of the grid in 2023 for fight for this. Hamilton’s contract is due to expire with the team at the end of 2023, however, we are expecting to hear that this will be extended.

George Russell

2022 Singapore Grand Prix, Sunday – Steve Etherington

The British driver had a great year in 2022 aside from the issues with the car. He was branded as ‘Mr. Consistency’ in the first half of the year for consistently coming in the top 5 race after race.

Despite the challenges with the car, Russell went on to take his first career win at the Brazilian Grand Prix with Hamilton coming in second. On top of his race win he also achieved 1 pole position and 4 fastest laps.

McLaren

McLaren is the first team to have a new driver line-up in 2023. The team announced during 2022 that they were parting ways with Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo at the end of the season. Ricciardo has signed with Red Bull as a reserve driver for 2023.

Lando Norris

Lando Norris seen during the FIA Formula One World Championship 2022 in Spielberg, Austria on July 8, 2022 // Philip Platzer / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202207080344 // Usage for editorial use only //

Norris has been with the McLaren team since his F1 debut in 2019. Both he and Ricciardo were quite open with their struggles with the 2022 McLaren’s but Norris was able to get just that bit more performance out of the car.

The Belgian-British driver signed an extended contract with the team last February until at least 2025.

Oscar Piastri

Piastri is the first rookie driver to join the grid in 2023. After the Australian driver won the Formula 2 championship in 2021, he was signed as a reserve driver for Alpine for the 2022 season. Prior to this the 21-year-old had been part of the Alpine Academy since 2020 (previously Renault Sport Academy).

Alpine

Alpine will be having a new driver line-up for 2023 and will be going into the season as an all-French team. Fernando Alonso left the team at the end of the 2022 season to go to Aston Martin and replacing him is Pierre Gasly.

Esteban Ocon

Ocon is in contract with the team until the end of 2024. He finished 2022 ahead of Alonso and came eighth place in the driver’s championship with 92 points. The 26-year-old was involved in great midfield battles but also had some on-track friction with Alonso.

Pierre Gasly

LE CASTELLET, FRANCE – JULY 24: Pierre Gasly of France and Scuderia AlphaTauri prepares to drive on the grid during the F1 Grand Prix of France at Circuit Paul Ricard on July 24, 2022 in Le Castellet, France. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202207240274 // Usage for editorial use only //

Gasly is joining the team from AlphaTauri, which is the first time he has left the Red Bull umbrella since his F1 debut in 2017. The Frenchman came in 14th in the championship and also picked up a number of penalty points so he will be looking to come back with a better performance in 2023.

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo will be going into 2023 with the same driver line-up as 2022. Valtteri Bottas was joined by rookie Zhou Guanyu at the start of the 2022 season. The team came sixth in the constructor’s championship with 55 points.

Valtteri Bottas

Jun 19, 2022; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland walks on the starting grid before the Montreal Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

The Finnish driver managed to stay out of the drama in 2022 and came tenth in the driver’s championship with 49 points. Bottas made the move from Mercedes at the end of 2021 and is reportedly in contract with Alfa Romeo until the end of 2024.

Zhou Guanyu

Oct 22, 2022; Austin, Texas, USA; Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver Zhou Guanyu (24) of Team China is interviewed after the qualifying session for the U.S. Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu joined the team at the beginning of 2022 for his rookie season. He was the only rookie on the grid last year and came eighteenth in the driver’s championship. He also managed to get a fastest lap at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin are heading into the 2023 season with a new line-up after four-time champion Sebastian Vettel retired at the end of 2022.

Fernando Alonso

The two-time champion is the newest addition to the team. Alonso has moved from Alpine where there was some friction between the Spanish driver and Esteban Ocon. Alonso came ninth in the driver’s championship with 81 points.

Lance Stroll

– Aston Martin Press Office

Stroll has been with the team since 2019 when they were called Racing Point. The Canadian driver had an on-track collision with Alonso in 2022 which sent Alonso flying up into the air. Hopefully the pair can move past this incident as they move forward as teammates.

AlphaTauri

AlphaTauri are bringing on another of the rookie drivers for the 2023 season, Nyck de Vries, after Pierre Gasly left to go to Alpine.

Yuki Tsunoda

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – OCTOBER 30: Yuki Tsunoda of Japan and Scuderia AlphaTauri prepares to drive in the garage prior to the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on October 30, 2022 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images ) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202210300615 // Usage for editorial use only //

Tsunoda has been with the team since 2021. He came seventeenth in the 2022 driver’s championship with just 12 points, however, the team did struggle with some car issues throughout the season. Tsunoda has since said that he feels that he has personally improved significantly.

Nyck de Vries

SUZUKA, JAPAN – OCTOBER 09: Nyck de Vries of Holland and Scuderia AlphaTauri meets the press during the F1 Grand Prix of Japan at Suzuka International Racing Course on October 09, 2022 in Suzuka, Japan. (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202210090071 // Usage for editorial use only //

De Vries is set for his first season in F1. The Dutchman has been a Mercedes reserve driver since 2021 and is a Formula E and Formula 2 champion. De Vries made his F1 debut at the Italian GP in 2022 where he stepped in for Alex Albon very last minute after he was rushed to hospital. He showed fantastic performance and came in the top ten scoring his first points in the sport.

Haas

Haas are another team with a new line-up for 2023. They announced shortly after the 2022 season that they were not extending Mick Schumacher’s contract and that they were bringing Nico Hulkenberg on in his place.

Kevin Magnussen

Nov 2, 2019; Austin, TX, USA; Haas Ferrari driver Kevin Magnussen of Denmark walks through the crowd after qualifying for the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Magnussen had been dropped by the team at the end of 2020 but was called back last minute for the start of 2022 when the team cut ties with Nikita Mazepin after Russia invaded Ukraine. The Danish driver quickly proved the team right when he came fifth in the Bahrain Grand Prix. He also went on to get the teams first pole position, and is own, for the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race.

Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg is making his return to the sport after being the reserve driver for Aston Martin since 2021. The German driver holds an unfortunate record of the most race starts with no podium finishes. Hopefully, he will be able to come back this season and get on the podium.

Williams

The last rookie driver for 2023 has joined Williams after Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi struggled to show the performance needed to keep his seat in the sport. Latifi has since confirmed he has moved to IndyCar.

Alex Albon

MONZA, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 11: Alexander Albon of Thailand and Red Bull Racing looks on in the Paddock during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo di Monza on September 11, 2021 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202109110334 // Usage for editorial use only //

Albon has been with the Williams team since 2022 after losing his seat at Red Bull. The Thai-British driver only came nineteenth in the 2022 driver’s championship, with Latifi coming twentieth, but is on a multi-year deal with the team.

Logan Sargeant

Sargeant is the first American driver to join the grid since 2015 and is sure to bring in more American fans to the sport as F1 rises in popularity in the US. The team announced that they has offered Sargeant a seat on the team at the Austin Grand Prix so long as he was able to secure enough points on his super licence points.

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