F1 2023 review: a dominant display by Verstappen and Red Bull
4th December 2023It’s nearly been a week since the chequered flag fell the 2023 Formula One season, a year dominated by Red Bull and the triple world champion Max Verstappen.
Heading into 2023, we would’ve hoped to see another championship battle between the returning champions Red Bull and Ferrari and/or Mercedes. However, we got the complete opposite.
Nevertheless, the 2023 season has been an interesting one. A nearly 40-year-old record was broken, a 10-year-old record was toppled and some statistics were reset.
One thing is for certain; Red Bull and Max Verstappen have been the dominant force in 2023.
Driver of the season: Max Verstappen
Was there anyone else? Verstappen has been in a world of his own this season. While his teammate, Sergio Perez mounted somewhat of a challenge to the Dutch world champion, it was easily repelled.
From there, The now Triple World Champion was untouchable after he secured 10 wins on the bounce, from Miami to Italy, ending the season with a total of 19 wins across the season. Verstappen’s 10 wins in a row ultimately reset the clock for the most consecutive wins by a single driver, beating Sebastian Vettel’s record set in 2013 of nine continuous wins.
Despite the stumble in Singapore, where Verstappen’s dominance was temporarily halted, the Dutch driver still racked up enough laps to become the first driver to lead 1,000 laps throughout a season. This meant the Red Bull driver had led 75% of the total laps across the entire campaign.
If that doesn’t display dominance, I don’t know what else will.
Rookie of the season: Oscar Piastri
In 2023, there were a total of four rookies and debutants across the season but only one stood out: Oscar Piastri. Following on from his controversial social media post in 2022, where Piastri announced he was not racing for Alpine, the young Australian showed that he made the right decision.
It was a poor start to the season where Piastri was hindered by McLaren’s ability at the back of the field. However, when the team’s major upgrades arrived in Austria it wasn’t long before the Australian’s – and McLaren’s – fortunes quickly turned.
From that point, McLaren consistently scored points throughout the remainder of the season. In the British Grand Prix, Piastri went on to qualify third and this stood as his highest qualifying position until Japan where he qualified in second on the grid.
An added benefit to this was the McLaren driver secured his first race win at the Qatar Grand Prix, during the Sprint, beating his previous best race result of second place – obtained at the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint.
Team of the season: Red Bull Racing
Red Bull blitzed the season and was the clear contender for ‘the team of the year.’ Their 2023 challenger has been in a league of its own all season at the hands of Verstappen, dominantly.
The team nearly completed the full sweep of race wins, only Ferrari and Carlos Sainz were the ones to put a stop to their dominance in Singapore. Their dominating season puts the Milton Keynes outfit at the top of the board with an impressive 95% of the races won.
Although the team were hindered by their restrictions on wind tunnel time, as a result of the cost cap breach in 2021, the rest of the field struggled to put the challenge on the team. Red Bull seemingly walked towards their second consecutive – sixth overall – world title with little to no challenge.
Suprise of the season: Red Bull’s dominance
Everyone would have thought the championship would’ve been up against Red Bull in 2023, not a near washout by the impressive RB19. The car racked up 21 out of the possible 22 wins across their 23-race season – only beaten by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in Singapore.
Now, Aston Martin would have gotten a good chance of taking this spot as their performance at the beginning of the season was immaculate. However, how Red Bull nearly took every single win of the season is outstanding.
The team, based in Milton Keynes, went on to secure the most wins in a year by a constructor beating Mercedes’ impressive record of 19 race wins out of a possible 21, set in 2016. The car will certainly go down inside the history books as one of the greatest cars ever built in the sport.
The memorable moment of the season: Sainz tactical masterclass
Sainz’s win, in Singapore, was the most memorable moment for the season (in my opinion). How Sainz won the Singapore Grand Prix has to be commended.
As a result of a late VSC, when both Mercedes drivers pitted for fresh medium tyres and chased down Sainz, it looked likely either of the Silver Arrows would clinch their first wins of the season. It was not meant to be.
Using McLaren’s Lando Norris as a buffer between Sainz and the two charging Mercedes it was an enticing, tactical, battle. Sainz managed to drop back to assist Norris with DRS, to remain ahead of the two Mercedes on better tyres, yet managing his pace to stay ahead of his former teammate.
https://twitter.com/TomiM93274783/status/1703418584272162887
That’s all for the article; F1 2023 review: a dominant display by Verstappen and Red Bull!
Read more Formula 1 here:
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- Hamilton happy Mercedes P2 but states the team needs to ‘dig deep’ for 2024
- Perez given formal warning for ‘personal insults’ after Abu Dhabi GP
- Verstappen seals dominant 2023 F1 season with Abu Dhabi win
- Verstappen qualifies on pole ahead of Leclerc at Abu Dhabi GP
- Russell tops final F1 practice session of season in Abu Dhabi
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
