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PREVIEW: 2023 F1 season

The start of the 2023 F1 season is fast approaching and we’ve got you covered with our F1 scribes season preview, which features the schedule for the year, an overview of pre-season testing and his verdict on who will take Drivers’ and Constructors’ championship honors.

Bahrain GP

The start of the 2023 F1 season is fast approaching and we’ve got you covered with our F1 scribes season preview, which features the schedule for the year, an overview of pre-season testing and his verdict on who will take Drivers’ and Constructors’ championship honors.

Jamie Moore's Diary - jockey talks Goshen and Ascot rides

Schedule

Race 1: March 03-05, 2023, Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023  

Race 2: March 17-19, 2023, Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023 

Race 3: March 31-April 02, 2023, Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix 2023

Race 4: April 28-30, 2023, Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2023 

Race 5: May 05-07, 2023, Formula 1 Crypto.Com Miami Grand Prix 2023

Race 6: May 19-21, 2023, Formula 1 Gran Premio

Race 7: May 26-28, 2023, Formula 1 Grand Prix De Monaco 2023 

Race 8: June 02-04, 2023, Formula 1 Aws Gran Premio De España 2023 

Race 9: June 16-18, 2023, Formula 1 Pirelli Grand Prix Du Canada 2023

Race 10: June 30-July 02, 2023, Formula 1 Grosser Preis Von Österreich 2023

Race 11: July 07-09, 2023, Formula 1 Aramco British Grand Prix 2023 

Race 12: July 21-23, 2023, Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2023

Race 13: July 28-30, 2023, Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix 2023

Race 14: August 25-27, 2023, Formula 1 Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023

Race 15: September 01-03, 2023, Formula 1 Pirelli Gran Pr

Race 16: September 15-17, 2023, Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix 2023 

Race 17: September 22-24, 2023, Formula 1 Lenovo Japanese Grand Prix 2023

Race 18: October 06-08, 2023, Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix 2023 

Race 19: October 20-22, 2023, Formula 1 Lenovo United States Grand Prix 2023 

Race 20: October 27-29, 2023, Formula 1 Gran Premio De La Ciudad De México 2023 

Race 21: November 03-05, 2023, Formula 1 Rolex Grande Prêmio De São Paulo 2023 

Race 22: November 16-18, 2023, Formula 1 Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023

Race 23: November 24-26, 2023, Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2023

New Additions

The 2023 F1 season will get underway in Bahrain on the first weekend of March. There are a total of 23 races this year with the season set to come to a close out in Abu Dhabi on the 26th of November. 

There is a new circuit on the block with 2023 seeing the addition of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. With the inclusion of the Vegas Grand Prix, the circuit will now have three stops in North America with the Miami Grand Prix and the traditional American Grand Prix both still on the schedule. 

Team Line-Ups

Red Bull Max: Verstappen, Sergio Perez 

Ferrari: Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz

Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton, George Russell

Alpine: Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly 

McLaren: Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri

Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu 

Aston Martin: Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso 

Haas: Kevin Magnussen, Nico Hulkenberg 

AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda, Nyck de Vries 

Williams: Alex Albon, Logan Sar

Rule Changes

As is the case with most seasons, there have been a multitude of rule changes made for 2023. 

  • Car set-up: The car will have their floor edges raised by 15 millimetres. This, along with the diffuser throat height being raised, will hopefully correct the propoising issue that caused cars to lose downforce.
  • Cars will now need rounded hoops at the top of the roll hoop. This is for the safety of drivers and comes about after Zhou Guanyu’s horrendous crash at the 2022 British Grand Prix.
  • The weight of cars without fuel in them will move down two kilograms from 798 kgs to 796 kgs. This will have been rather frustrating for the car designers who now need to knock an extra two kilograms off of the cars.
  • The cars will now see an increase in the size of their mirrors from 50mm from 150mm to 200mm. This actually came into play at the Dutch Grand Prix last year with a number of teams running cars outfitted with 200mm mirrors. The change has been written into law for the 2023 season, however.
  • There will now be six sprint events as opposed to last year’s three with Azerbaijan (Baku), Austria (Red Bull Ring), Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps), Qatar (Lusail), the United States (Circuit of The Americas) and Sao Paulo (Interlagos) are the venues chosen to host these events.
  • Paddock working hours will now be cut rather significantly. This is going to really irk the team technicians who will now have to work a lot quicker than in the past.
  • Revised qualifying formats will be tested at at least one of this year’s Grand Prix. This is the official quote from the FIA on what these revisions will entail “This will see tyre compounds mandated for each stage of F1’s usual three-part qualifying session: hard tyres only in Q1; mediums tyres only in Q2; and, finally, soft tyres only in Q3. Intermediates and wets will be allowed if the RQF sessions are declared wet.

    At RQF events, each driver may use no more than 11 sets of dry-weather tyres, four sets of intermediate tyres and three sets of wet-weather tyres. This compares to the normal weekend allowance of 13 sets of dry-weather tyres, four sets of intermediate tyres and three sets of wet-weather tyres”
  • Teams will now be able to make slight modifications to their gearboxes during the season but these changes wll be heavily monitored by the FIA with all changes needing to be documented.
  • With a number of drivers taking grid penalties on purpose last term and differing penalties being dished out, the FIA have moved to simplify this and avoid confusion over grid penalties. Grid penalties will now be dished out according to this “Classified drivers who have accrued more than 15 cumulative grid position penalties, or who have been penalised to start at the back of the grid, will start behind any other classified driver. Their relative position will be determined in accordance with their qualifying classification.”

Pre-Season Testings

Red Bull were the dominant force during the final sessions of pre-season testing in Bahrain. The reigning Drivers’ and Constructors’ champions set the quickest lap time and also produced a solid effort in a race simulation. 

Ferrari and Mercedes look like they will be playing catch-up to Red Bull this season with both sides recording lap times which were significantly slower than the Red Bulls. The good news for the two traditional F1 heavyweights is that they didn’t encounter too many technical issues during pre-season testing. 

Aston Martin were the real surprise package of pre-season as they were by far and away the quickest of the mid-table competitors. Their car looked really good out in Bahrain with Fernando Alonso putting in a brilliant drive during their race simulation on the final day of testing in Bahrain. 

While Alpine were not setting the lights out when it came to fastest laps, they did show that they will have a decent race pace based on the long runs they did. Alpine also did most of their testing running on hard compounds which will have slowed their lap speed down significantly. 

Haas, in an incredible turn of events, managed to have a pretty clean testing weekend as they didn’t experience any major technical issues in Bahrain. They produced some decent if not spectacular fastest lap efforts. 

McLaren struggled during testing which was to be expected considering their design team missed a number of deadlines. 

AlphaTauri proved to be an enigma during pre-season testing as they produced brilliant single lap times but struggled with the long-runs. This could be a giveaway that they are struggling with car reliability issues heading into the season. 

Williams were well off the pace and look like they will struggle at the start of the season. There were some positive signs for them, however, as they managed to keep their tyre degradation down over long run periods. 

Drivers and Constructors’ Championship Verdict: Max Verstappen and Red Bull


After all the controversy of possible points deductions and inquiries, Red Bull have managed to avoid any fines or penalties. They will be an inspiration for Manchester City, but unlike City,  don’t see them being locked in a proper fight for the title.

Instead, I see them cantering to a Drivers’ and Constructors’ double. Ferrari and Mercedes still look well behind their arch foes and I can see them taking an entire season to catch up to the reigning champions. 

Jamie Moore's Diary - jockey talks Goshen and Ascot rides

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