With the 2023 F1 season set to commence, here is a guide to everything that you need to know about the fresh campaign.
Red Bull and Max Verstappen enter the season looking to defend their constructor and driver titles respectively, although they are set for tougher competition after a competitive pre-season test with Ferrari and Mercedes looking to have cut their deficits.
This season will also see two new proper rookies in Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant join the grid alongside Nyck de Vries, who joins full-time after previously featuring as an emergency replacement driver in 2022 for Williams.
Las Vegas meanwhile will make its bow on the calendar whilst the Qatar Grand Prix is set to return after an one year break.
There are also several technical and sporting regulation changes, so here is the guide to everything that you need to know ahead of the 2023 F1 season.
Teams and Drivers
| Team | Drivers | Driver Number |
| Red Bull | Max Verstappen | 1 |
| Sergio Perez | 11 | |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerc | 16 |
| Carlos Sainz | 55 | |
| Mercedes | George Russell | 63 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 44 | |
| Alpine | Esteban Ocon | 31 |
| Pierre Gasly | 10 | |
| McLaren | Lando Norris | 4 |
| Oscar Piastri | 81 | |
| Alfa Romeo | Valtteri Bottas | 77 |
| Guanyu Zhou | 24 | |
| Aston Martin | Fernando Alonso | 14 |
| Lance Stroll | 18 | |
| Haas | Kevin Magnussen | 20 |
| Nico Hulkenbeg | 27 | |
| AlphaTauri | Yuki Tsunoda | 22 |
| Nyck De Vries | 21 | |
| Williams | Alex Albon | 23 |
| Logan Sargeant | 2 |
- Alpine have signed Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri to replace Fernando Alonso after the Spaniard’s move to Aston Martin, replacing Sebastian Vettel who retired at end of 2022 season.
- Nyck De Vries will make his full-time F1 debut as Gasly’s replacement at AlphaTauri after he drove for Williams at Monza last season, as an emergency replacement after Alex Albon was taken ill.
- Oscar Piastri left his reserve role at Alpine at end of 2022 to replace Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren, with Ricciardo returning to Red Bull as reserve driver.
- Nico Hulkenberg makes a full-time return to F1 for first time since 2019 season as he joins Haas, following Mick Schumacher’s move to Mercedes in reserve driver role.
- Logan Sargeant graduates to F1 with Williams as he replaces Nicholas Latifi at the team, following Williams’ decision to part company with the Canadian at end of last season.
2023 Race Calendar
| Round | Venue | Date |
| 1 | Bahrain | 3-5 March |
| 2 | Saudi Arabia | 17-19 March |
| 3 | Australia | 31 March – 2 April |
| 4 | Azerbaijan | 28-30 April |
| 5 | Miami (USA) | 5-7 May |
| 6 | Imola (Italy) | 19-21 May |
| 7 | Monaco | 26-28 May |
| 8 | Spain | 2-4 June |
| 9 | Canada | 16-18 June |
| 10 | Austria | 30 June – 2 July |
| 11 | Great Britain | 7-9 July |
| 12 | Hungary | 21-23 July |
| 13 | Belgium | 28-30 July |
| 14 | Netherlands | 25-27 August |
| 15 | Italy | 1-3 September |
| 16 | Singapore | 15-17 September |
| 17 | Japan | 22-24 September |
| 18 | Qatar | 6-8 October |
| 19 | Texas (USA) | 20-22 October |
| 20 | Mexico | 27-29 October |
| 21 | Brazil | 3-5 November |
| 22 | Las Vegas (USA) | 16-18 November |
| 23 | Abu Dhabi | 24-26 November |
- Las Vegas GP is making its F1 debut this season with a race on the newly-created Las Vegas Street Circuit, which will run Thursday – Saturday locally in order to retain Friday – Sunday schedule for broadcast purposes across Europe, Africa and Asia.
- Azerbaijan GP has moved back to the late-April slot which it held pre-pandemic in 2018 & 19, with the 2021 & 22 races both reverting to June after having been cancelled in 2020.
- Spain has moved from its traditional mid-May date to early June in the final part of a triple-header alongside Imola and Monaco, which also sees Imola pushed back a month from its mid-April slot of last two seasons.
- Belgium has been brought forward a month from its traditional late August slot to late July and will now be the final race before F1’s summer break.
- Japan has been brought forward two weeks from its early October slot to late-September, and paired with Singapore to make room for a standalone Qatar GP on weekend of 6-8 October, which returns after an one-season absence due to 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Rule Changes
Technical Regulations
Floor edges have been raised by 15mm whilst the throat of the diffuser has been raised by 10mm in an attempt to reduce porpoising, which had affected many teams and drivers last season with the FIA also adding toughening up their lateral floor deflection tests.
Teams will be required to have a rounded top on their roll hoops to prevent the roll hoop digging into the track during a crash, following Guanyu Zhou’s crash at the 2022 British Grand Prix, aided by a new homologation test of all race cars competing in the season.
Side mirror sizes have been increased from 150mm x 50mm to 200mm x 60mm and power unit weight has been increased from 150kg to 151kg.
Minimum fuel temperatures has been reduced to 10ºc from 20ºc of last season or 10ºc below ambient temperature when operating outside of their designated garage area.n
Sporting Regulations
Sprint Races – This season will see six sprint races take place compared to three sprint races in 2021 & 22 seasons, with teams allowed greater scope on part alternations under parc ferme conditions during sprint weekends.
Reduced points for shortened races – After farcical confusion over application of full points for the shortened 2022 Japanese GP, the FIA have decided that all races where less than 75% of race distance completed will use the sliding points system based on the completed race distance at checkered flag.
Relaxation of Coronavirus Protocols – FIA have relaxed their Coronavirus protocols which means that proof of vaccination is no longer required for those working in the paddock.
Budget Cap Reduction – This season’s budget cap has been reduced to $135m (£112.5m) in line with budget cap plans approved in May 2020.
Where to Watch F1 Around The World
Here is a guide to where you can watch F1 across continent but please check local listings for up-to-date information.
Americas
| Country | TV Network | Notes |
| Argentina | Fox Sports | Not all races live. |
| Brazil | TV Bandeirantes | Only Qualifying and Race live. |
| BandSports | Practice and Qualifying live. | |
| Canada | RDS | |
| TSN | ||
| Caribbean | ESPN | |
| Latin America | ESPN | Not all races live. |
| Mexico | Fox Sports | |
| Canal 5 | Mexican GP only. | |
| USA | ABC | Miami, Canada, USA & Mexico GP live. Monaco GP on delay. |
| ESPN |
Africa
| Country | TV Network | Notes |
| Iran | IRIB Varzesh | Only broadcast races live. |
| MBC Persia | ||
| MENA | MBC Action | Not all races live. |
| Shahid (SSC) | All races live | |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | Canal+ Sport |
Asia
| Country | TV Network | Notes |
| Australia | Network 10 | Australian GP Only. |
| Fox Sports | All races live. | |
| Brunei | beIN Sports | |
| Cambodia | beIN Sports | |
| Central Asia | Setanta Sports | |
| China | Great Sports | |
| Guangdong Sports | Broadcast in Guangdong only. | |
| CCTV | Nationwide broadcasting. | |
| Hong Kong | beIN Sports | |
| Indonesia | beIN Sports | |
| Japan | Fuji TV Next | |
| Laos | beIN Sports | |
| Malaysia | beIN Sports | |
| New Zealand | Sky Sports | |
| Pacific Islands | Digicel | |
| Pakistan | A Sports | |
| Philippines | beIN Sports | |
| Singapore | beIN Sports | |
| MediaCop C5 | ||
| South Korea | Coupang Play | |
| Taiwan | Videoland | |
| ELTA | Chungwa Telecom MOD broadcast. | |
| Tajikistan | Varzish TV | |
| Thailand | beIN Sports | |
| Timor-Leste | beIN Sports | |
| Vietnam | K+ |
Europe
| Country | TV Network | Notes |
| Albania | RTSH | |
| Andorra | DAZN F1 | |
| Armenia | Setanta Sports | |
| Austria | ORF eins | |
| Servus TV | ||
| Azerbaijan | AzTV | |
| Idman Azerbaycam | ||
| Belgium | Play Sports | Qualifying and race live. |
| RTBF | ||
| Telenet | ||
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | Sport Klub | |
| Bulgaria | Nova | |
| Croatia | Sport Klub | |
| Cyprus | Cytavision | |
| Czech Republic | AMC | |
| Denmark | TV3+ | Some races live. |
| TV3+ Sport | Some races live. | |
| Viaplay | ||
| Estonia | Viaplay | |
| Eurasia | Setanta Sports | |
| Finland | Viaplay | |
| V Sport 1 | ||
| V Sport + | ||
| France | Canal+ | |
| Germany | Sky Deutschland | |
| Greece | ANT1 | |
| ANT1+ | ||
| Hungary | M4 | |
| Iceland | Viaplay | |
| Italy | Sky Italia | |
| Kosovo | Sport Klub | |
| Latvia | Viaplay | |
| Lithuania | Viaplay | |
| Luxembourg | RTL | |
| Macedonia | Sport Klub | |
| Montenegro | Sport Klub | |
| Netherlands | ViaPlay Xtra | Only for Viaplay subscribers |
| NOS | Dutch GP live. Highlights of other races. | |
| Norway | V Sport | |
| Viaplay | ||
| Poland | Viaplay | |
| Portugal | Sport TV | |
| Serbia | Sport Klub | |
| Slovakia | AMC | |
| Slovenia | Sport Klub | |
| Spain | DAZN F1 | |
| Sweden | Viaplay | |
| Switzerland | SRF | |
| RSI | ||
| RTS | ||
| Turkey | S Sport | Some sessions on S Sport Plus |
| Ukraine | Setanta Ukraine | |
| UK & Ireland | Channel 4 | British GP only |
| Sky Sports F1 | ||
| Sky Showcase | British GP plus two primetime races. |
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