When the 2023 Formula One season gets underway in Bahrain on Sunday, reigning double-World champion Max Verstappen will look to do what only four drivers have done so far in the sport’s history.
Aiming for a hat-trick of titles, Verstappen will look to join an elite club that includes Juan Manuel Fangio, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.
After triumphing, following a tense fight with Hamilton in 2021, Verstappen dominated 2022 with a record 15 race wins. Coming into the season, and based on the timings from last week’s pre-season test in Bahrain, Red Bull again looks like the car to beat.
Last year, Ferrari started well, with Charles Leclerc winning the first two races before reliability woes, strategy errors, and a general lack of pace snuffed out the potential of a tense title fight.
Ferrari turnaround?
Ferrari was close to Red Bull’s pace in pre-season this year and would hope to be fighting at the sharp end of the grid. However, the Italian team’s race-day operations have not been up to the mark, and last year’s strategy errors cost its team principal Mattia Binotto his job. With a new team boss (Frederic Vasseur) and a new head of strategy in place, Ferrari will hope for better outcomes.
At 25, Leclerc, like Verstappen, is a generational talent, and if Ferrari can give him a car capable of fighting for wins regularly, F1 fans could be in for the start of a new-age rivalry.
Mercedes, which dominated the sport from 2014-2021, dropped the ball last year and will likely start as the third-best team this year too.
If and when the German marque can start fighting for wins consistently, Hamilton showed he still has the hunger to go for that record eighth-title even as a young charger in George Russell is nipping at his heels in the other side of his garage.
Paying the penalty
While Red Bull is expected to start strongly, the team could have a tough season this year as it will be affected by the penalty imposed by the FIA last year for breaching the budget cap in 2021.
The punishment will restrict its development time till August this year, allowing the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes a chance to fight back.
With F1 enjoying a massive boost in popularity in recent years, the sport will hope for a season more like 2021, with the title fight going till the last race rather than like last year.
