Thanks to a combined domino effect of retirements and sackings at the end of last year’s F1 season, the grid will look somewhat different in 2023. Can you name them all?
Sebastian Vettel
Best not remembered for his midfield misery in the underperforming Aston Martin in 2021 and 2022, the four-time champion and Ferrari nearly man announcement to depart F1 after 2022 came as a shock but not really a surprise. While he’s become conscious of a greater existence beyond the sport, it is undoubtedly poorer without him. He will be missed.
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Daniel Ricciardo
In two years of trying, the man once touted as F1’s greatest overtaker simply could not get his McLaren to his liking and was released from his contract one year early after being continuously and comprehensively trounced by his less experienced teammate. He joins Red Bull in 2023 as a reserve driver – ironically the very outfit he fled in 2018 after identifying it as “Team Verstappen”.
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Mick Schumacher
Elevated into in F1 with a Ferrari reserve driver ticket; bearing a legendary family name and doomed to the second-worst car in F1 along with massive expectations – could only ever end in disappointment. Too impatient and too crash-prone, perhaps he was overrated from the start although it was nostalgic to see those initials on the timing screens once again.
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Nicholas Latifi
Following the Abu Dhabi 2021 debacle that turned the Canadian into a voodoo doll for Lewis Hamilton supporters – and another lacklustre 2022 at the bottom of the timesheets and championship log, interestingly he leaves F1 as its last remaining pay driver.
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Fernando Alonso with a Renault connection
For more years than most in his career, the 41-year-old Alonso has driven Renault-powered cars in F1. That association will cease in 2023 when he takes over Vettel’s vacated seat at Aston Martin, which is powered by Mercedes-AMG in what must surely be his last contract in F1.
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Pierre Gasly with a Red Bull connection
Debuting in 2017 with Toro Rosso, the Frenchman was promoted to the senior Red Bull squad in 2019 but was demoted back to the junior team after just 12 rounds. Mixed success followed for the next three years but facing limited growth possibilities, he snapped up Alonso’s seat at Alpine for 2023 and jumped free from the Red Bull family. Now, the French Alpine outfit will feature two French drivers at the helm, also including Esteban Ocon.
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Lewis Hamilton winning one race every season
One of Hamilton’s most phenomenal records fell at the end of 2022. Despite the W13 challenger claiming a single-season win at the hands of teammate George Russel, the statistic does point to a career spent in winning cars throughout. No F1 driver before or since has ever achieved this fate and with that requires a significant amount of respect.
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