F1 Seats for 2023
Who will drive for who
J.T. Mott
Most of the 2023 seats have been confirmed with many significant changes to teams. After Max Verstappen won his second consecutive World Drivers Championship in Japan, he is now setting his sights on the 2023 WDC. With only two seats available for the season the driver lineup is mostly finished with:
Red Bull
Red Bull is taking the two-time world champion Max Verstappen along with Sergio Pérez. This pair is currently in their second year together and are getting along well, with Max being the main driver and Pérez being the second. However, that is not to say that he has not had his fair share of wins, he has won a total of four times, three of them being with Red Bull.
Ferrari
This lineup is again the same as it was in the current season with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. This season Ferrari was a championship contender and may still win the constructor’s championship, however, due to bad race planning and poor reliability at the start of the season they lost the WDC. Ferrari is the longest-lasting F1 team with it having competed in every world championship since 1950. This driver lineup is a good pair, and both have victories under their belt.
Alpine
Alpine’s lineup is different from this year with the two-time world champion Fernando Alonso leaving. This left an opening for change with Pierre Gasly taking the seat and moving from Alphatauri, the Red Bull second team. His driving partner Esteban Ocon has been there since 2020. He is a younger French driver that was developed in the Mercedes driver program.
McLaren
After ending the three-year contract with Daniel Riccardo one year early, the team has decided to take on a new younger Australian, Oscar Piastri. After winning Formula Two last year Piastri was left without a seat in F1 and was the reserve driver for Alpine. However, with Riccardo out, he has jumped at the opportunity and found his way into a seat for next year. His partner Lando Norris is another younger driver. He has been at McLaren since 2019 and his contract lasts until 2025.
Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo’s lineup will be unchanged from this year with Valtteri Bottas and Zhu Guanyu driving for them. Bottas has been their driver since the start of the season after being dropped from Mercedes, driving for them for five years. After being replaced as Hamilton’s teammate by George Russell earlier this year, he has since been racing for Alfa Romeo and is currently tenth in the championship. Zhou Guanyu is the first Chinese driver to debut this season. He has since been scoring points in many of the races and is currently 18th in the championship.
Aston Martin
The announcement that four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel would retire at the end of this year, left an open seat for a driver. This seat is being filled by two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. With this change due to Vettel deciding that he needed to spend more time with his children, Lance Stroll will have a new partner for the 2023 season.
Haas
Haas’ driver lineup is not confirmed and there is still one seat available for the year to come. With Kevin Magnussen driving for them after being dropped from F1 for a year, he has come back strong and is currently 14th in the championship and has almost doubled his teammate’s points. Mick Schumacher, son of Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion and arguably the best driver of all time. It is still unannounced on whether he will have a seat for the 2023 season after having moved the team up a place in the standings.
Mercedes
This lineup is again unchanged with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. This lineup has had some success this year and is currently third in the constructor’s championship. This team, however, will hopefully be competing with Ferrari and Red Bull next year for the championship as their car this year has not been as good as their previous one.
AlphaTauri
After the announcement of Pierre Gasly’s move to Alpine, it has since been announced that Nyck De Vries will be driving for them. Earlier this year De Vries debuted as the reserve driver for Williams replacing Alex Albon out with appendicitis. He scored two points in the race and came ninth scoring Williams’ fifth and sixth points of the season. He is driving at AlphaTauri with Yuki Tsunoda, a Japanese driver who is currently in his second year with the team.
Williams
Williams’ driver lineup is the other that is unconfirmed with Nicholas Latifi’s contract having ended. However, Alex Albon has been signed for a multiyear contract that continues into 2023. With Latifi being unconfirmed on his continuation the team will be looking at who is the best young driver to develop.
Daniel Riccardo
Even though there are two seats yet to be filled Riccardo says that it is highly likely that he will not have a seat for next year. This will leave him with three options, either wait to see if a seat will open for 2024, stop driving, or leave F1.
Though there are still races left in the season, Verstappen is already the World Champion as he is now uncatchable and there are only two seats left unannounced. Riccardo has had his contract paid out for McLaren and is still not in a seat for next season.
Top image caption: 2021 FIA Formula One World Champion Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen celebrates on the podium of the Yas Marina Circuit after winning the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix on December 12, 2021. – Max Verstappen became the first Dutchman ever to win the Formula One world championship title when he won a dramatic season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit on December 12, 2021. The Red Bull driver won his 10th race of the season to finish ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton. (Photo by KAMRAN JEBREILI / various sources / AFP)