The F1 season is done and dusted for 2023, with Max Verstappen winning a third straight title with absolute ease. But was he the best driver overall in 2023, we say a big yes but go through the entire F1 field with our 2023 F1 Season Driver Ratings & Stats.
Our 2023 F1 Season Driver Ratings & Stats is based is not based on Championship points, nor the use of our G-Power Rankings, it is a purely subjective piece of work which factors in many stats from the 2023 F1 season.
There’s some thoughts, key stats and a prediction on 2024 shapes for all of the drivers.
2023 F1 Season Quick Stats
99 = DNF
2023 F1 Driver of the Season
Below is our Driver of the Season in the order of our selection, but we threw in the season stats for some barely interesting comparison. Champ. Rank is the overall Championship position of each driver and G Rating Pts Rank is the rank using our in-house Driver Ratings system, which is based on various stats from all over the F1 weekend.
| Driver | G Rating Pts Rank | Champ. Rank | Poles | Front Row | Wins | Other Podium | |
| 1 | Max VERSTAPPEN | 1 | 1 | 13 | 3 | 19 | 2 |
| 2 | Fernando ALONSO | 2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| 3 | Lando NORRIS | 3 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| 4 | Charles LECLERC | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | Lewis HAMILTON | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 | Carlos SAINZ | 6 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Oscar PIASTRI | 10 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Alexander Albon | 9 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | George RUSSELL | 8 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | 21 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Yuki TSUNODA | 12 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Sergio PEREZ | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 13 | Pierre GASLY | 11 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 14 | Esteban OCON | 13 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | Daniel RICCIARDO | 19 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Valtteri BOTTAS | 16 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Nico Hulkenberg | 14 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Lance STROLL | 15 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | 17 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Guanyu Zhou | 18 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Logan SARGEANT | 20 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Nyck de Vries | 22 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 F1 Driver of the Season + Stats
Here we dive more into the stats and our opinion on each driver this season.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
The greatest season in the history of F1 and a season that will only be matched by his 2024 effort. Had one of the cars of the season, but never before has driver enjoyed so much success. With a bulletproof Red Bull, which arguably the best F1 car of all time, he qualified on pole more often than not, but most times didn’t take him long to recover ground. Strangely quiet in Singapore and played second fiddle to teammate Perez in a few early races, his low points of the season would have been highlights for half the grid.
2023 STAT
Max Verstappen’s average grid position on classic tracks this season was 1.44, his street track average qualifying position was 5.5.
2024 PROSPECTS
Will probably win the next three World Championships but qualifying proved much closer in the second half of the season, where Max wasn’t always first. So perhaps, and hopefully wins fewer races in 2024.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Simply an outstanding year, and a season not many, if any would have expected. Alonso turned back the years, and some unfortunate career choices to shine in the first half of the season. He was often the next best challenger early in the season as he made a mockery of Alpine’s driver recruitment for 2023. Piastri of course sealing the case against Alpine. Imagine playing Alonso off against Piastri then both leave. But back to Alonso. His form dipped off in the second half of the season as the McLarens caught up and the Mercedes and Ferraris did better, but Alonso’s moment of the season came in Brazil where he scored a podium by stealing third place back off Sergio Perez on the last lap when the Red Bull driver looked to have settled the argument the lap before. Alonso’s hunger to do well continues to shine despite the advancing years, and it was a pleasure to see him back towards the front in 2023.
2023 DATA
Fernando Alonso topped the best average final grid position after six rounds of the 2023 season with an average of 3.67.
2024 PROSPECTS
Will fall out with Aston Martin eventually, could take a one-year Red Bull contract for a bit of fun.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Another outstanding season and surely will be the next driver taken by one of the big teams, if his McLaren isn’t at the front itself. From the British Grand Prix onwards, the McLaren often was at the front anyway. Lando Norris was kept honest by Oscar Piastri, but he usually had the rookie Australian under control, like most of the other drivers. Any other season he would have taken a win or two, but it wasn’t a normal season, and the McLaren not consistently quick enough. But he got the most out of it most of the time and deserves to be in the top three drivers of the 2023 season.
2023 STATS
Lando Norris finished 2nd six times, which was the highest driver by position for 2023 behind DNFs and Max Verstappen winning.
2024 PROSPECTS
Will win a race and almost challenge for a title. If McLaren start the season as they finished it.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Brought life into qualifying in the second half of the season when Saturday at least became competitive. Showed tremendous speed at times in a Ferrari that was occasionally the second best car but not always.
2023 STATS
Outqualified Max Verstappen on street tracks in 2023 with an average final grid position of 2.83 v 5.5.
2024 PROSPECTS
Depends on the car but can see a season-long battle with Max Verstappen for pole positions. Ferrari probably won’t turn the Ferrari into a consistent race winner too quickly but can see Leclerc having the odd good day out, maybe at a street track where he and the car are currently so effective.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
A second consecutive winless season for Lewis Hamilton, who must thank his team’s out-there design in 2022 for ruining two seasons. 2023 was a much better season despite the lack of wins and came close to nabbing second in the Championship. Although you could argue that said more about Sergio Perez than Lewis Hamilton. The double DNF in Round 17 and 18 put second place to bed. One hopes he gets the car he needs next year as F1 needs a title race.
2023 STATS
His four fastest laps in 2023 was the second-best total behind Max Verstappen’s nine. Great consistency in qualifying across the three types of tracks.
2024 PROSPECTS
Needs to win a race. Will win a race. Maybe Monaco.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
A harsh ranking for one of the two non-Max Verstappen race winners in 2023, and his race win in Singapore was superb, but he was a little inconsistent and quite unlucky. Las Vegas being a low point when his car was torn to shreds by a manhole cover, and then was penalised ten grid places by a completely absurd piece of F1 stewarding. Just the three podiums for the season, and all came in the second half of the season and was generally outqualified and outraced by Charles Leclerc. But he did have his moments. Singapore was magnificent. Came third in the Sprint Championship, if that existed.
2023 STATS
Was second behind Max Verstappen (12) for gaining/losing no place on the first lap this season with 11.
2024 PROSPECTS
The gap widens to Charles Leclerc and Sainz joins either Red Bull for Sauber/Audi.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Best rookie season in a long time, possibly since his teammate came into F1. But even then Piastri’s first effort was probably better. Helped by the incredible development of the McLaren from the British Grand Prix onwards. Outqualified Lando Norris seven times in 2023, which is about six more than most would have thought going into the season. Took a Sprint Race win, and secured first podiums of a career that looks like it is going to be long and prosperous. Showed a coolness and lack of emotion you’d expect from a Finnish driver and certainly gave the finger to Alpine following their driver retention strategy in 2022.
2023 STATS
No driver improved more than Oscar Piastri from Round 10 onwards in terms of the final qualifying time compared to pole position. Piastri’s % from pole improved from 101.83% to 100.80%.
2024 PROSPECTS
A couple of race day podiums and another sprint race win Will secure a first pole position at some stage too.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Often dragged the Williams to places in qualifying that were hard to believe, in fact Albon was there or thereabouts in a lot of qualifying and free practice sessions. Albon thrashed his teammate in qualifying by an invincible 22-0 and his seven Q3 visits feels like more than the combined total for Williams in the last decade. Races often didn’t go as good, but he’s certainly did himself no harm with his tremendous 2023 campaign.
2023 STATS
Was 9th quickest overall by average position in 2023 for all Q1 sessions.
2024 PROSPECTS
A better car in 2025 if he repeats his 2024 form. A front row start and/or a sneaky podium in the right circumstances in 2024 with Williams.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Glimpses of real speed mixed with mistakes sums up George Russell’s season. A solid 11-11 H2H in qualifying is a very good effort against a driver of the calibre of Lewis Hamilton. And was more than a match for his multiple World Champion teammate from race to race but was too inconsistent on race day.
2023 STATS
George Russell and Charles Leclerc were the only two drivers to make it to Q3 in every race after the summer break.
2024 PROSPECTS
A few podiums, the occasional crash, and no wins.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
You call us mad for having Liam Lawson this high on our 2023 Driver Ratings list, but we were seriously impressed. Lawson has been good in F2 without being a superstar, so expectations were reasonably low when he was drafted in last minute at the Dutch Grand Prix. But his five-race stint gave the Alpha Tauri team and drivers something to think about. Scored points in his third race and finished 11th twice and beat Yuki Tsunoda in races four times. Deserves more, but at least with Red Bull he has a chance to taken over a sacked driver’s seat at some stage next season.
2023 STATS
Liam Lawson’s average final qualifying position (14.2) for his five race stint was higher than five other drivers. And only just short of Daniel Ricciardo’s for the 2023 season (14.0)
2024 PROSPECTS
Hope he likes the F1 simulator. A frustrating year of waiting for when Red Bull sack a driver.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
A very solid season from Yuki Tsunoda who remained the constant in the Alpha Tauri team where the second seat was more a revolving door. Beat his teammate in 16 of the 22 races this season but spent the first half of the season thrashing Nyck de Vries. Showed real glimpses of speed in a car that was among the slowest for most of the season. And blew up deluxe over the radio from time to time this season which always ticks a box for us.
2023 STATS
Did 1,224 laps in Free Practice this season, five fewer than the overall distance leader – Valtteri Bottas.
2024 PROSPECTS
A tough year with a beaming Daniel Ricciardo as his intra-team yardstick for the entire season.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Sergio Perez’s season was like a chocolates….melted away as soon as the hotter months came. Yes it’s pretty tough to award a driver a rank of 12th best driver for the season when they won two races, but Perez had one of the best Formula One cars in the history of the sport and bog ordinary at times. Qualifying has never been a strength, but Perez’s qualifying was terrible at times, and this eventually led to poor results as he was caught up in midfield moments. On the occasion he stormed through the field he got praise, but we think that was generous, because he should have plonked that car in second on the grid at least in many, many races.
2023 STATS
Perez’s average final grid slot from Round 6 onwards was 10.2, which out him behind both Ferraris, Mercedes, McLarens and Fernando Alonso.
2024 PROSPECTS
Probably sacked after the Monaco Grand Prix as 2024 starts like 2023 finished off.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
There was talk that Pierre Gasly was going to replace Daniel Ricciardo as the Netflix Drive to Survive man of interest. Sadly, Pierre Gasly is a better driver than he is an interesting one. Like his teammate and team, there was a heady mix of good, bad and ugly in 2023, with the one podium. Placed just ahead of his teammate in our ranking because we like him slightly more.
2023 STATS
Between Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon an Alpine qualified 12th nine times in 2023.
2024 PROSPECTS
Thrash his teammate in qualifying and score tow podiums.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Great effort at the Monaco Grand Prix to secure a podium, but 2023 was a mix of speed and ordinary weekends. Rated behind his teammate only because we like Gasly slightly more.
2023 STATS
Had the most DNFs this season with seven.
2024 PROSPECTS
Drive the occasional good race but can see an early season clash between teammates derailing his season.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Just great to have one of F1’s great personalities back on the grid, but was his comeback a success? Hard to say. The injury sustained at the Dutch Grand Prix hurt the return to F1 when he missed five races. His Mexican Grand Prix was sensational and showed some of his speed from back in the day, but a few of the GPs were pretty ordinary too. Good enough for now, but certainly not enough to be bashing down the door at Red Bull for the top drive. Yet. But still great to have him back.
2023 STATS
Daniel Ricciardo gained a place on the first lap just once in 2023.
2024 PROSPECTS
As much as we would love to see it, just can’t see him doing enough to get that Red Bull drive he covets. That doesn’t mean there won’t be the odd sensational race in 2024.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Had to check he was in the races at times. Not terrible but almost invisible for many races.
2023 STAT
Valtteri Bottas had the lowest net loss of positions from grid to end of first lap of all the drivers this season. He lost at least one place from his starting grid slot 12 times from 22 races this season.
2024 PROSPECTS
Almost as invisible as 2023.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
The Hulk produced some great qualifying moments in 2023 including a second on the grid, impressing many in his comeback season, including Red Bull’s Helmut Marko who remarked that a good hybrid F1 driver would be Nico Hulkenberg in qualifying and Sergio Perez in the race. Just a shame that the Haas was poor on race day. And ripped off at the Australian Grand Prix where he should have got a first ever podium.
2024 PROSPECTS
A wet pole position and a few more points.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Looked like he wanted to be anywhere else at times. But did look speedy from time to time with some good point scoring drives to end the year. But ultimately overshadowed by the rejuvenated Fernando Alonso, which is no shame really.
2023 STAT
Lance Stroll had the highest net gain for grid position to end of first lap position this season with 35 places gained. He gained at least one place 16 times in 2023. Lance Stroll also made the biggest improvement for % with Pole Position from 2022 to 2023, with an improvement of 1.33%.
2024 PROSPECTS
Ask his dad. Can see him calling it quits at the end of 2024.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
The occasional glimpse of speed where the car and conditions allow saw Magnussen make Q3 three times, but the Haas wasn’t great on race day, and with a much stronger teammate in 2023 had a quieter season than the year before.
2024 PROSPECTS
Last season in F1.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
F1’s most unseen, obscure driver of the 2023 season.
2024 PROSPECTS
Replaced at season’s end by an Audi aligned up-and-comer.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
Although he was a rookie and excuses can be made, it wasn’t a great season for the American.
2023 STATS
Logan Sargeant qualified 20th eight times in 2023 and the bottom three slots 14 times.
2024 PROSPECTS
Sacked before British Grand Prix.
2023 SEASON THOUGHTS
The only driver who failed to score a point this season and the only driver sacked.
2023 STATS
Every driver except Nyck de Vries made it to Q3 at least once in 2023.
2024 PROSPECTS
Probably wins Le Mans or something good. Still a good driver and rebounding Red Bull drivers have done well in recent years.
