The 2023 Formula 1 season review, team by team

It’s that time of year again, when the previous season starts to disappear into the rear-view mirror and the calendar ticks over with a new number at the end of it to kick off anticipation for the next campaign. So as we prepare to say goodbye to 2023, let’s reflect on each team’s strengths and weaknesses.

Glenn Dunbar/Motorsport Images

The bad: There’s hardly anything you can put in this category this year, but perhaps Sergio Perez’s performances need more attention. Red Bull seems to think it can find ways of getting him performing more consistently, and while Verstappen stepped up another level, the Perez of the first few races was not the Perez of the majority of the rest of the season. Oh, and Singapore. One off weekend leaves a tiny bit of room for improvement.

Dom Romney/Motorsport Images

The bad: Lessons weren’t learned with the car concept and Mercedes was no closer to Red Bull, admitting its faults immediately during the first race weekend. While Hamilton looked closer to his best, George Russell struggled more, and there wasn’t a victory for the first time since 2011. Fewer points resulted in second overall, and even that was due to the inconsistency of others opening the door more than Mercedes making gains.

Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

The bad: The first part of the season was not good, and Ferrari didn’t really kick on from last year’s platform initially – although managerial changes could have produced instability on that front. Reliability was also poor in a time of frozen power unit regulations, with two failures to start a race in the final six rounds ultimately costing it second place to Mercedes.

Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

The bad: To be blunt, where McLaren started the year was terrible, and suggests the team was not in a great place prior to the team leadership changes. There were still a few off weekends too, though not many, and the door was almost reopened to Aston Martin in the final few rounds. It would be unfair to cite a few qualifying mistakes from Norris as being overly costly, but tied to the odd bit of poor execution and there are areas to clean up on both sides.

Jake Grant/Motorsport Images

Glenn Dunbar/Motorsport Images

The bad: A lack of stability at the very top from the start of the year led to pressure being cracked up very early on, and the position of Otmar Szafnauer becoming untenable. It still feels like the team lacks direction from Renault, with Pat Fry’s departure for Williams – citing a lack of ambition within Alpine to move higher than fourth – the perfect example of how that can be damaging. Far from being fourth, Alpine dropped a long way behind the top five and there were also too many retirements on its way to a distant sixth.

Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images

Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

The bad: The car was a long way off early in the year, particularly in race trim, and Nyck de Vries struggled as a result. The Dutchman would almost certainly have performed better in the improved car, but it gave AlphaTauri a decision to make. A bit like Williams, inconsistency also hurt in the closing rounds, and as it prepares to rebrand it does feel like a team lacking identity – something new team principal Laurent Mekies and CEO Peter Bayer will look to address.

Sam Bloxham/Motorsport Images

ALFA ROMEO

The bad: Alfa Romeo feels like its in limbo, just as it returns to the Sauber name before later evolving into Audi. As exciting as the last part is, it feels like there’s a lack of immediate investment while waiting for Audi’s arrival, and that showed in a poor car this season. The partnership of Andreas Seidl and James Key also needs to show signs of building momentum next year after the McLaren turnaround since their departures for Hinwil.

Zak Mauger/Motorsport Images