Meet All The Contenders For F1's 2023 Championship Battle

Predictably, SF-23 is matte red. Ferrari made some changes to the front suspension and the aerodynamics, but that's not what matters.

Ferrari came out swinging at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, scoring an epic one-two. The Tifosi were so sure that it was going to be their year, but it was not to be. At several races during 2022, the Ferrari duo gave Red Bull a headache, but two things gave Red Bull the upper hand; engine reliability and strategy.

Mattia Binotto resigned as the team boss, and Sauber's Frederic Vasseur is now in charge of the scarlet team. That's strategy sorted. Hopefully. The team also sorted some image problems. Carlos Sainz's VW Golf has been replaced with an all-new Ferrari 812 Competizione.

As for the engine, we don't know. What we do know is that the whole of Italy will likely start rioting the second smoke starts coming out of the back of the SF-23.

Mercedes-AMG made a mess of 2022, despite George Russell scoring his first victory at Interlagos. Sir Lewis Hamilton didn't get a single win, which was a first for him. This comes a year after he was the first F1 driver in history to hit a century.

Mercedes was humbled after winning eight constructors' titles in a row, but you learn more from failure than victory, which is why we expect great things from the W14 E Performance. Apparently, Mercedes has sorted its bouncing issue, and it has a sublime engine. The team was hugely reliable and consistent last year. So much so it nearly caught up with Ferrari.

Verstappen fanboys say Lewis Hamilton's time has come and gone, but you don't get to seven world championships and suddenly lose your talent. Let's not forget he went into the final race of 2021 tied with Verstappen. If W14 is good, and we think it will be, we're in for an epic battle between the three top-tier teams.

Also, it's by far the most gorgeous machine of 2023. The exposed carbon fiber look gets a big thumbs up from us.

Alpine was sublime to watch in 2022. It stole McLaren's fourth place, which nobody saw coming. At the end of 2021, Alpine was in fifth place, 120 points behind McLaren. In 2022, it finished 14 points ahead of the famous British team.

The team had a good midfield car and a two-time champ in Fernando Alonso. Oddly, Esteban Ocon scored more points than his famous teammate, who left and joined Aston Martin for 2023. Pierre Gasly, a former Red Bull alum, signed on after the whole Oscar Piastri saga, which will only increase tension between Alpine and McLaren in the coming season.

Interestingly, almost the entire team is French. The car, the two drivers - but not the team boss, Otmar Szafnauer.

McLaren will want to hit back hard this season. It's celebrating 60 years of racing with the MCL60, and what better way to do that than reclaiming fourth, or possibly even getting a podium position?

The British team is sticking with a Mercedes power unit, which is a good choice, given the proven reliability. In fact, there was nothing inherently wrong with the team's performance in 2022, apart from the same aerodynamic issues everyone else struggled with. The only real problem was Daniel Ricciardo's inability to score points in MCL60's predecessor. McLaren effectively only had one driver on the grid, and Lando Norris finished in seventh place, making him the best racer in the midfield. As a result, McLaren paid Ricciardo to go away, and Red Bull gave him a job.

Norris is joined this year by teammate Oscar Piastri and Andrea Stella, the team's new principal.

Alfa Romeo is bowing out of F1 racing with the C43. It's not yet clear what Sauber will do next year, but Audi is already purchasing a minority stake, so it will likely race under its own name again until 2026.

Alfa's main concern was also porpoising, which can get you banned under the new 2023 regulations. The car is an evolution of last year's car, so we can expect similar performance, sans the porpoising. Valtteri Bottas, who seems to be having the time of his life, and Zhou Guanyu, are returning as the team's drivers.

As you'd expect from Alfa, the livery is sublime. It was going to be the best-looking car on the grid, but then Mercedes one-upped it.

It's fair to say that Aston hasn't exactly set the F1 world on fire, but it's spending so much money to get to the front. It is investing in an entirely new factory and has Fernando Alonso as a driver to help develop the car.

Aston Martin says its chassis is a considerable evolution over 2022. Power is provided by Mercedes, which, as stated earlier, is quite perfect. "In the past year, we have demonstrated the determination and belief needed to move forward, and we have constructed a brand-new car to match our vision and ambition," said Lawrence Stroll, AMF1 Executive Chairman.

While Aston Martin wants to move upward, we're not entirely sure it can do so with Alonso and Lance Stroll as the drivers. Nando is brilliant, but Lance Stroll needs to be more consistent. He has drawn intense criticism from those who believe he is just in the sport because of his father's ownership of Aston Martin.

Things are finally looking good for Haas. After finishing dead last in 2021 on zero points, it moved up two spaces in 2022, beating even Red Bull's learning school.

It also has a new American sponsor (MoneyGram), and the team clearly has some cash to spend. Just look at how sweet the car looks compared to the bland 2022 model. Haas opted not to renew Mick Schumacher's contract and replaced him with Nico Hulkenberg. Obviously, Guenther Steiner's plan of having two rookies in the field didn't work out. We still think Schumacher has what it takes, but we were glad when Mazepin received the boot early in 2022.

This year, Steiner is betting big on experience. Kevin Magnussen returns after a decent 2022, and F1's most successful driver to never win, Nico Hulkenberg, is also onboard.

Red Bull's learning school had a tough 2022, but that's how you, well, learn. AlphaTauri didn't reveal too much about the new car and instead used the launch to show off its new curated selection of Fall and Winter fashion. We're guessing the bigwigs didn't want any distractions from the news that Ford will join forces with Red Bull in 2026.

Yuki Tsunoda is back and will be as aggressive and sweary as usual. The big news is Nyck de Vries, who takes over from Pierre Gasly. De Vries made a stunning debut in a Williams last year, and we do not doubt that Red Bull is grooming him to race side-by-side with Max Verstappen in the future. A team with two Flying Dutchmen will be a force to be reckoned with. We can't wait to see what De Vries can do over the course of an entire season.

After the Williams family bowed out of racing, Williams brought the famous Jost Capito in to help the team return to former glory. Though Capito's presence helped Williams finally score some points, it couldn't even reach double digits. Capito decided to call time, and Mercedes' strategy chief James Vowles decided to take over.

Alex Albon is returning, and he continues to impress. We don't think it will be long before someone offers him a seat higher up the grid. Logan Sargeant is all-new and America's first F1 driver since 2015. He's experienced, but not in F1 racing. Will he be able to handle the pressure? We'll have to wait and see.

We've seen nothing that convinces us that Williams will not be in the same position a year from now, but stranger things have happened.