Formula 1 2023.

[Cleoriff]

I'll run a Formula 1 thread for one more season. Hopefully there will be some new members who are interested? If not, I'll spend a lot of time talking to myself 😂

A fair amount of changes this season with the driver line up but I'll discuss that later.

Kicking off in Bahrain on March 5 and concluding in Abu Dhabi on November 26, the season will feature a planned, record-breaking 24 races, with Qatar set to return and Las Vegas arriving as the penultimate round for a Saturday night race. China has been dropped due to the ongoing Covid situation.

CALENDAR

*Pre Season testing will take place in Bahrain on Feb23-25th

DRIVERS 2023

No change in the top three teams of Red Bull,(Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez)

Ferrari, (Charles LeClerc and Carlos Sainz and

Mercedes  (George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Alpine team, Pierre Gasly moves to drive with them as Alonso has moved out

McLaren Team. Oscar Piastri replaces Ricciardo and Lando Norris remains.

Alfa Romeo Team. No change in the line up with Valtteri Bottas and George Zhou.

Aston Martin Team. Fernando Alonso replace Seb Vettel who retired last year. Lance Stroll remains.

Haas Team Another change. Mick Schumacher was sacked last year and has been replaced with Nico Hulkenberg who will have his arch enemy Kevin Magnussen as a team mate.

Alpha Tauri team. Nyck De Vries (a rookie) replaces Gasly who moved to Alpine. Team mate Yuki Tsunoda (no change)

Williams team. Alex Albon remains and Nicholas Latifi (one of the worse drivers on the grid), resigned before being sacked, is replaced by another rookie Logan Sargeant (who was 4th in F2 last season)

So lots to look forward to this season. There have been changes in Team Principals. For Ferrari, Fred Vasseur replacing Mattio Binotti, McLaren has changed but the most shocking change (for me) is James Vowles Chief Strategist for Mercedes has taken on the team principal role for Williams!!

I hope Merc have got a damn good replacement!

[Cleoriff]

Qualifying.

Hamilton out in Q2!

[Cleoriff]

RACE. Note Perez actually finished 4th. He had a 5 secs penalty. LeClerc finished 2nd and Russell finished 3rd.

Mercedes finished ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors.

F1 is now finished for the 23 season.

[Cleoriff]

DRIVERS STANDINGS 2023

3rd is not bad for Hamilton, considering this years car was a real piece of c/r/a/p.

I'm surprised they didn't chuck it in the Marina at race end. 😂

[Cleoriff]

CONSTRUCTORS 2023

(Mercedes just did enough to hold off Ferrari for 2nd place)

[pgn]

Made the Reuter's Agency top 50 oddest photos of the year:

https://www.reuters.com/pictures/pictures-year-oddly-20**Personal info**/KWEAN5LQZ5OVZCVEAEGG73QZSQ

Damned personal info filter!

Here: https://shorturl.at/dBT57

[Cleoriff]

Pity it was a Red Bull car @pgn 😂

Lovely photo's in that collection.

Now I have to wait until February for the 2024 cars to be revealed

Then Testing later in the month before the season starts on Feb 29th in Bahrain.

F1 2024 Season