Five bold predictions for the 2023 season

There are just over two months to go before the start of the first race of the season in Bahrain. The teams are busy preparing for a new start, the fans are waiting – now is the right time for predictions. The journalists of the championship’s official website made five bold predictions for the 2023 Formula 1 season.

1. Lewis Hamilton wins eighth title

The 2022 season was the worst season of Lewis Hamilton’s Formula 1 career – he failed to win a single win and finished sixth in the individual standings. However, we expect that last year was not the beginning of the end for the British driver, but the lull for a new wave, and he will win his eighth title and become the most successful driver of all time.

Mercedes has to take a big step forward for that. Given that the team was able to close the gap late last year and impose a battle on Red Bull Racing, the Silver Arrows can once again become a formidable force in 2023.

Using all his years of experience, Hamilton will outshine his team-mate George Russell’s rising star in the battle for number one Mercedes status, and will go head-to-head with Max Verstappen.

2. Alpine will finish the season in the top three

In 2022, Alpine was one of the contenders for the “Team of the Year” title. The French carmaker not only climbed to fourth place in the constructors’ championship, but also built a car that was fast on almost all tracks.

The team regularly prepared novelties that worked on the track in accordance with the engineers’ calculations. The car was not very reliable, but when the equipment failed, the team earned a lot of points.

The risky strategy has paid off, but it’s one thing to outshine the middle group and quite another to compete against the top three: Mercedes, Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. However, we think Alpine is up to the task.

Fernando Alonso has left the team, but with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, Alpine will be able to regularly fight for podiums and sometimes claim wins. In this scenario, the team will be able to finish the season in the top three.

3. Fernando Alonso must be on the podium at least twice

Wanting to find a big-name driver to replace Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin signed two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who has not lost his former speed, determination and thirst for success. Last season he lost more than 70 points due to reliability problems and did not make the podium.

Finishing in the top three behind the wheel of an Aston Martin may seem like a fantasy as the team failed to finish in the top five last year, but Fernando can get more out of a car than he can on his best days, like in Canada in 2022 when he started from the front row. Alonso manages to achieve shocking results.

We expect Aston Martin to finish the new season higher than seventh in the Constructors’ Championship. Alonso will be a huge contributor to the team’s progress, will have some excellent races and several podium finishes.

4. Lando Norris takes his first Formula 1 victory

Last year we predicted that Carlos Sainz would take his first win, and now we’re going to predict that in 2023 his former team-mate Lando Norris will win for the first time in his career. Last season the McLaren driver earned fewer points, but he drove better and more consistently – he was the only driver not to come out of the top three teams to climb the podium.

After Andreas Seidl left for Sauber, Andrea Stella took over McLaren. Let’s see if he can avoid the unimpressive start to the season the team remembers last year, after which they were forced to bounce back. McLaren should have a better season with Norris’ first win.

Lando is expected to be ahead of debutant Oscar Piastri. The British driver will further cement his status as a McLaren leader and future world champion.

5. Six teams to win in 2023

Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari will again be the main contenders for victory in 2023, but unlike last season they will have other rivals. McLaren and Alpine are back in the game after their last victories in Italy and Hungary in 2021.

It is more difficult to name a sixth team – a lot will depend on a good chance, but Alfa Romeo and Aston Martin with Fernando Alonso can have excellent chances. As a result, representatives from six different teams will take the top step of the podium for the first time since 2012.