The 2023 F1 Season is almost here, with another exciting installment being prepared for Netflix. But before the reality of the new season kicks in, allow The Gurgler to look into the crystal ball and produce some choice 2023 F1 Season Bold Predictions.
Bold predictions like where Lewis Hamilton will drive in 2024, some new podium winners, some off track stuff, and some intra-team collisions.
So get your time travelling brain ready to take on our 2023 F1 Season Bold Predictions.
READ MORE: Our 2023 F1 Calendar & Stats
READ MORE: Our 2022 Driver of the Year Rankings and Stats.
LEWIS HAMILTON TO FERRARI AFTER BEING BEATEN BY GEORGE RUSSELL AGAIN
One of the big surprises from the 2022 F1 season was the Mercedes and their drivers jumping up and down and not going very fast. Although, given Mercedes was a silver/grey colour, the same as a Dolphin, and with its funky sidepods sort of looked like a dolphin, maybe we shouldn’t have been.
But throughout most of 2022, George Russell handled the disappointment better, he beat Lewis Hamilton for Championship points and took the team’s only win. It could be argued that Lewis Hamilton looked as likely to win a race, but he didn’t. And we can see that happening again in 2023.
This means a second winless season, and another stuck behind George Russell for the most part, Lewis Hamilton will be getting restless.
So our F1 crystal ball can see silver turning to red, as Lewis Hamilton makes the bold decision to make a deal with Ferrari for 2024 and 2025, of course announced ahead of the 2023 Italian Grand Prix.
SERGIO PEREZ TO UNDERPERFORM, FALL OUT WITH MAX VERSTAPPEN AND GET FIRED BEFORE THE US GRAND PRIX. WITH RED BULL GOING TO EXTREME LENGTHS TO REPLACE HIM
Sergio Perez goes into the 2023 F1 season under a bit of pressure, with a slightly underwhelming second half of the season, and then there’s those team orders in Brazil.
Despite not wishing the Mexican driver any ill, our 2023 F1 Season Bold Predictions can see Perez being moved on before the season is out. Likely before the US Grand Prix, so they can crowbar the driver popular with US audiences – Daniel Ricciardo – until the end of the year.
But Perez’s exit doesn’t guarantee a 2024 drive for Ricciardo, with our crystal ball seeing Red Bull taking advantage of their new future hookup with Ford to announce a made-for-Netflix series based around how the team will decide it’s 2024 second driver.
CHARLES LECLERC TO TAKE POLE POSITION FOR ALL OF THE FIRST FIVE RACES – YET WIN ONLY TWICE
Ferrari started off the 2022 season in good shape, with one of the two fastest cars, and they took advantage of some unreliability from Red Bull to get a few wins and build up some Championship pressure. Sadly, their season unraveled through mainly errors from team then driver.
But word is the 2023 car will be a goodun’ and we can see the man who took more pole positions than Max Verstappen in 2022 take it to an even higher level in 2023.
So our crystal ball sees the Ferrari driver getting pole position at all of the first five races, but sadly will be let down by racecraft and win just the two races as the canny Red Bull team outdo them on strategy again.
OSCAR PIASTRI WILL FINISH ON THE PODIUM OF THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX
Rookie F1 pilot Oscar Piastri caused quite a stir in F1 in 2022 without actually driving a car. His eventual announcement at McLaren for 2023 and shenanigans by the Alpine team made the Australian F2 champion quite the talking point.
But now that has died down and the reality of the F1 season ahead has kicked in, we peered into our crystal ball to see if it thought he would be worth the hype.
We think he will be, nudging Lando Norris for the overall H2H by season’s end, and we also boldly declare that we can see a nice, early podium at his home race in Melbourne, the city in which he was also born for the record.
TIRED OF THE SELFISH BULLSHIT OF THE F1 TEAMS, ANDRETTI BUYS INTO HAAS, BRINGS CADILLAC AND CREATES A USA SUPER TEAM
Michael Andretti has been trying hard to get an 11th team up and running in F1, but despite it being a good idea, and something fresh for F1 fans to anticipate, the F1 teams are sticking to their guns and making life as hard as possible for that team to get into F1.
While we can understand the teams point of view, it seems odds to not want to include something from the fastest growing market of new F1 fans in the USA.
So our crystal ball can see an unlikely marriage between Michael Andretti and the Haas team, with benefits to both.
Haas will get a big name manufacturer on board instead of being a junior Ferrari unit, and can cash in on F1’s popularity by getting a large chunk of money by selling a large stake. Andretti will get a team that he wants, and can still keep it all-American.
As long as they don’t call it USF1 (after the miserable failure of that team) then it will be all good.
LOGAN SARGEANT WILL BE BETTER THAN NICOLAS LATIFI
Exactly
THE NEW WILLIAMS LIVERY AND ALEX ALBON’S HAIR WILL BE THE MOST INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT THE TEAM IN 2023
The new Williams has already launched, and while the new livery looks OK, we were expecting a car more like the McLaren at Monaco with Gulf sponsorship. Similarly, Alex Albon unveiled a new livery for his head, going with a blonder hue for the start of 2023.
All of those things are interesting, and the launch will probably be the end of Williams being interesting for the season.
Sadly someone has to finish towards the back and in all likelihood that looks like Williams in 2023.
Not that there won’t be moments of glory that catch the eye in 2023, but on the whole Williams will be the forgotten team.
NICO HULKENBERG WILL GET THAT ELUSIVE PODIUM IN MONACO
It’s great to see Nico Hulkenberg return to F1, a talented driver who arguably hasn’t lived up to his potential.
He currently holds the record for the most amount of races without finishing on the podium, and though that is mostly not his fault as he hasn’t had much luck in a career of midfield teams, you’d think his luck would have changed at some point.
Our crystal ball says 2023 will be different and he secures a top three finish in Monaco of all places. He will qualify reasonably high after making Q3, then take advantage of a chaotic race with good strategy and a calm head.
NYCK DE VRIES WILL SNATCH A PODIUM IN 2023
Another super-sub from 2022 who landed a full time drive in 2023, and another first podium is what our crystal ball shows.
Nyck de Vries showed his worth in F1 by securing points in a Williams on debut in 2022, and we can see him becoming the number one at Alpha Tauri and in a race full of incidents or wet weather, being in the right place at the right time for podium.
It will be a decent effort too, considering before his super-sub effort he probably thought he’d never get the chance to race in F1.
PIERRE GASLY WILL OWN ESTEBAN OCON IN EARLY SEASON QUALIFYING AND WIL END IN TEARS IN MONACO
Alpine have a very exciting driver line up for 2023, especially given the rumours they don’t get along. There’s nothing like a little bit of hate within a team to make them more interesting.
Our crystal ball shows that Gasly will rediscover his best qualifying form, further pushing Alpine up the grid in 2023.
This will get up the nose of his team mate and compatriot Ocon, who will lag behind with a mixture of bad luck and small errors.
But come Monaco, we can see the two Alpine drivers making Q3 and qualifying beside each other. From there it will be elbows out heading into the first corner, and with neither willing to give up they will hit each other into retirement.
The team will go on to score a few podiums, but the tension will remain higher than the achievements. Until one of them leaves for 2024.
ASTON MARTIN WILL GO FROM EARLY SEASON TENSION BETWEEN DRIVERS TO ALL-OUT WAR WITHIN MONTHS
While the Alpine season may end in tears, it won’t be like the all-out war as Aston Martin in 2023 according to us.
Our crystal ball nearly exploded when we asked how 2023 would go for Aston Martin. There were dark clouds, lightning and thunder which once cleared showed just what will happen at Aston Martin this season.
First of all the car won’t be overly quick, which will already start to annoy Fernando Alonso, a man not known for a great amount of patience with an underperforming car.
Then as the frustration for both drivers grow, so do the incidents.
A bit of banging wheel in the first race will lead to a much bigger incident at the Australian Grand Prix, from which the gloves will be off. There will be a classic Alonso spray in the media about Lance Stroll being the owner’s son, and getting better treatment. Stroll, in response, will try and outdrive the car to shut him up, and make more mistakes. Including more on track incidents with Alonso.
How will it end up? Well considering that Alonso is the big name, and Stroll is the owner’s son, nothing will change. And the mayhem will continue into 2024.
ALFA ROMEO WILL MAKE LITTLE TO NO IMPRESSION
There’s nothing wrong with Alfa Romeo, in fact they are easy to like. Two decent drivers, both are likable in their own ways, one with an excellent moustache and mullet from time to time, and the 2023 paint job looks a good one. But for some reason our crystal ball can’t see much Alfa Romeo at all. Which probably means they will be constant Q2 eliminations but not Q1 exits, and occasional low-end point scoring but not podiums, so not to excite too much, nor be a slump to worry about
