Here are the F1 drivers I’ll be watching in 2023
My eyes will be fixed on Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, and Alex Albon. Who will you be watching?
It’s always exciting when we start to creep toward the new season of F1.
This week, I thought to myself: which drivers will I follow closely when things get underway in Bahrain on March 5?
Eventually, I settled on Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, and Alex Albon. They all have uniquely interesting storylines this year, which I have explained in the newsletter below.
Be sure to let me know in the comments who you’ll be watching this year!
Fernando Alonso
Alonso shocked everyone when he decided to switch from Alpine to Aston Martin for 2023.
Now he needs to show whether there was a method to his apparent madness.
From the outside, it looks almost impossible that Alonso will win an elusive third championship with Aston Martin. The team finished 7th in both 2021 and 2022.
But Alonso has shown in his past that he can take a mediocre car and do simply exceptional things with it.
He did exactly that when he narrowly lost the 2012 championship with Ferrari.
With Alonso at the wheel, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Aston Martin is suddenly competing with the midfield leaders, likely to be Alpine and McLaren.
Then again, there’s always a fear that Alonso’s age - now 41 - may catch up to him…
Oscar Piastri
Piastri’s debut season with McLaren will be an incredibly tough challenge.
He enters the sport with a nearly god-like status. That’s because he won Formula 2 and Formula 3 on his first attempt - plus Alpine and McLaren publicly fought each other to sign him as a driver.
McLaren won that fight - and don’t forget they cut Daniel Ricciardo loose to do it.
Despite Ricciardo’s lacking form, it’s still a bold call to cut an eight-time race winner to make way for a rookie.
Piastri now has to prove whether he was worth all the drama.
Success for him will mean, at the very least, getting close to teammate Lando Norris. That is a tough ask.
While Piastri is clearly talented, Norris has been one of the best-performing F1 drivers in recent years.
Carlos Sainz
Sainz had a forgetful 2022 as he struggled to adjust to F1’s new cars.
That led to his teammate, Charles Leclerc, dominating him in the championship standings.
Because of that, I feel Sainz is now overshadowed by Leclerc, the same way he was by Max Verstappen at Toro Rosso and Lando Norris at McLaren.
2023 is Sainz’s chance to step out of the shadow.
He should take confidence knowing he won’t have to worry too much about adjusting to this year’s car, given it will be quite similar to last year’s.
He should also remember that in 2021, his first year with Ferrari, he scored more points and podiums than Leclerc.
I’m very interested to see whether he does that again this year.
Alex Albon
For Alex Albon, a successful year with Williams will mean consistently beating Logan Sargeant, his new rookie teammate.
Albon only has to look at George Russell to see that convincingly smashing a teammate week after week can lead to greater things.
Russell spent three years developing at Williams - where he was consistently quicker than his two teammates - before being promoted to reigning world champions, Mercedes.
Albon is now walking a similar path to Russell. He’s in his second year with Williams in 2023 and has a multi-year contract.
Albon performed well in 2022 and this year is essentially another chance for him to prove he can drive for a faster team.
And given Williams isn’t expected to be overly competitive, beating his teammate consistently will be the key benchmark.
Do you agree with these picks? Which drivers will you be watching in 2023?
Obviously the rookies are super interesting but yeah Piastri is an interesting one. Sainz and Alonso I personally have no interest in, think both have got no chance