Everything to look forward to in the 2023 Formula 1 championship

The 2023 Formula 1 season is kicking off on 5 March in Bahrain, and there are many things to look forward to for the world’s most prestigious racing championship.

The teams have worked out many of the kinks of the new cars that took to the tracks in 2022 and are hoping to creep up the leaderboards or even topple them.

Here is what we’re keeping an eye on for this year’s F1 series.

Second and third gunning for first

Red Bull took home the constructors championship for 2022, with Ferrari trailing by 205 points and Mercedes by 244.

With fresh blood at the helm of the famous Italian automaker’s F1 team in the form of ex-Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur, the new team principal will undoubtedly have his sights set on first place to start his career with a bang.

Mercedes, however, struggled immensely with its W13 machine in 2022 which resulted in only one win for the rookie George Russell while more experienced Lewis Hamilton had his first-ever winless season.

There haven’t been any major shakeups in Mercedes’ corner during the off period and it simply hopes to put 2022 behind it and be back on top in 2023, and it’s confident it now has a car capable of doing this.

Dutch dominance

Red Bull’s star driver Max Verstappen who took home the first-place trophy in both 2021 and 2022 is looking to continue his dominance at the top of the field, and many expect him to perform even better this year than the last.

The Dutchman pulled off impressive comebacks in the Hungary and Belgium legs of the 2022 season and is aiming to take home his first British Gran Prix victory in 2023 on rival Lewis Hamilton’s home field.

Fresh faces

Six out of the 10 teams on the F1 grid have different driver line-ups for this year in relation to the last.

There are several rookies set to make their F1 debut in 2023, including Logan Sargeant for Williams, Nyck de Vries for AlphaTauri, and Oscar Piastri for McLaren.

Additionally, Daniel Ricciardo left McLaren in 2022 for a reserve seat at Red Bull in 2023, Mick Schumacher was replaced by Nico Hulkenburg at Haas, the latter of who has been regarded as a “supersub” for the past three seasons, and Fernando Alonso is now racing for Aston Martin following the retirement of legendary Sebastian Vettel.

With the newcomers not yet familiar with their cars and the revised teams finding their chemistry there are sure to be many interesting races playing out on the circuits, and the midfield is expected to see quite a few shakeups as the series continues.

Las Vegas back on the map

In 2023, F1 is returning to Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States after a 40-year hiatus, with the previous race in this city taking place in 1982.

The announcement was met with huge fanfare and a flashy launch party in 2022, where drivers and their cars tore up the streets with drifts, donuts, and burnouts.

Six sprints

This year’s championship will see a total of 24 races taking place, with six sprint races on top.

Sprint races run on Saturdays and are 100km dashes with the first car to reach the line earning the starting spot on the grid for Sunday’s main event, ensuring fans remain at the edge of their seats for the entire weekend.

For 2023, the sprints have been slightly tweaked with DRS activation being brought forward by one lap as well as Safety Car restarts within Sprints.

We’ll see these races taking place in Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Qatar, and the United States.