Formula 1
By Vlad Roman,
General Manager, Smart Games
Now that the 2023 season is over, all that’s left to do is review the year’s top records and highlights.
Max Verstappen (26) became the second youngest ever triple champion after Germany’s Sebastian Vettel, winning 19 of the 22 Grands Prix contested, 4 races more than the previous record also set by him last year. In the 2023 season he collected 575 points and a percentage of victories of 86.36% dethroning Michael Schumacher who held the record of 72.22% since 2004… more he obtained 21 podiums, 12 victories from pole position, 10 consecutive victories and 6 “hat-tricks” (pole – victory – fast lap).
Red Bull in turn revalidated the constructors’ title with 21 race wins from 22 and a win percentage of 95.45% beating McLaren’s record of 93.75% set in 1988, and for the first time with both drivers in 1st place and 2 with a total of 860 points, which of course constitutes another record.
Although with 234 accumulated points and ranked 3rd among drivers, Lewis Hamilton still managed to surpass Max in one of the most important rankings of the year – the salary, thus the British driver won 45 million euros in 2023, with 5 million more than its rival.
Mercedes managed, thanks to only 3 points, to overtake Scuderia Ferrari securing 2nd place in the constructors’ standings.
The ranking of fastest laps in the race is dominated by Max Verstappen with 9 records, 4 successes for Lewis Hamilton, Perez and Piastri with two each and Zhou, Russel, Alonso, Tsunoda and Norris with one each.
The Singapore grand prix was voted the race of the year, not only because it was the only Grand Prix in which Red Bull did not win, but also for the final battle in which Lando Norris kept the two Mercedes single-seaters behind.
The most beautiful circuit was voted, as expected, the one in Las Vegas although there were controversies regarding the way the fans were treated on Friday night, the rest of the event was a great show with a stunning backdrop present throughout circuit, three straight lines on which impressive speeds are developed, a modern paddock studded with stars and most importantly with a very good race.
To top off the year, Alonso won detachedly with the success of the last corner of the race in Sao Paolo by which he blew Sergio Perez’s 3rd place.
Photo of the year goes to Florent Gooden for the way he managed to capture the essence of Formula 1 with the image captured on Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps.
The 2024 season will begin with the test session at Sakhir on February 21 followed a week later by the Bahrain Grand Prix. For 2024, 24 races are confirmed, the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will take place on Saturday, the stage from Suzuka – Japan will take place in April and the one from Baku will be moved to September, the Qatar Grand Prix will be the penultimate race and the season will have six sprint races – China, Miami, Austria, Texas, Brazil and Qatar.
Qualifying for the sprint races will take place on Friday and the sprints will be held on Saturday, before qualifying for the actual race. A grid reversal for the sprint races is also considered, but only if no points are awarded in the World Cup standings.
There are no changes in the structure of the teams for now with two exceptions – Haas replaces Günther Steiner at the helm of the team with chief engineer Ayao Komatsu and Alfa Romeo becomes a Stake F1 Team. The new name is due to a deal with an Australian betting company, it will be retained for 2024 and 2025, and from 2026 the team will be taken over by Audi.
Season 6 of the Netflix production – Drive to Survive will be available on their platform from February 23, a week before the start of the championship.
