🔥Three F1 drivers on the hotseat in 2023

It’s the offseason, and the car launch dates are being announced team-by-team, with F1’s media paddock getting ready to swoon over some fancy machinery and the efforts each team puts into their half-day in the spotlight with nothing but canapes and hope on the menu.

But while the looks, liveries and features of the cars aren’t known yet and the work continues to take place behind the scenes, we know who the drivers are, and have done for some time. 

Sebastian Vettel’s retirement and Fernando Alonso’s move to Aston Martin kicked off all sorts of chaos, with the subplot of Daniel Ricciardo (now Red Bull’s third driver) being dumped a year early for one of the sports’ brightest prospects, as Oscar Piastri trades in his Alpine pink as a junior for a seat at the top table in McLaren papaya. Haas ditched Mick Schumacher for Nico Hulkenberg, Schumacher is now a reserve at Mercedes, replacing Nyck de Vries, who - after a spell in Formula E - finally gets a chance to impress over a full season in Alpha Tauri.

Oh, and Red Bull won both championships.

There are two pure newcomers, a former stand-in, and a full-time driver getting another full-time seat after a couple of years as a stand in, and they’ll receive plenty of focus, but there are a few drivers where 2023 will be a make-or-break year for their careers. Of course there’s always pressure, but the circumstances around them means that it’s time to show they are able to a top–level driver, or this will be as far as they go, ready to be replaced by the next, next bright young thing in Formula 1.

ESTEBAN OCON

The Alpine driver gets a new teammate, with Pierre Gasly being the other half of an all-French line-up and of course there’s boeuf between them, but everyone has promised that it won’t be a problem, they’ll be REALLY well-behaved and if they get a puppy, they’ll walk them every day, pleasepleasepleaseplease. 

I’ve written about Ocon being sneakily under-the-radar as someone with a bit of an edge before, but he’s also quite stealthy as a driver too. Last season, he scored 92 points, his highest points total since entering F1, and beating Alonso by 11 points on the other side of the garage. Even then, there were several incidents between the two that gave people the impression that all might not be perfect between the two, most notably in Jeddah and Interlagos.

So why is he on the spotlight if he’s making progress? Well, with the two-time world champion gone to Aston Martin, it’s an open fight between Ocon and Gasly to see who will be team leader. One of the two has to step up and show that they can be the on-track leader at Alpine. They finished fourth in the Teams’ championship last season, heights they haven’t reached since 2018, when they were Renault. 

Another reason he’s on the hotseat is because of his personal situation. Ocon has some close links with Toto Wolff and Mercedes, and with Lewis Hamilton turning 38, there must be one eye on of sport’s (not just F1, but all sports) most coveted positions.

And the rush for that eventual Mercedes seat will only intensify with Mick Schumacher there and other drivers who could be parachuted in with F2’s Frederik Vesti not being ready yet. 

There’s one more wrinkle to consider with Ocon and that’s Alpine’s team structure. Jack Doohan moved from the Red Bull Junior Team and suddenly finds himself one step away from Formula 1. If one of the drivers get outclassed by the other, Alpine might finally be able to put a young Australian in their car in 2024.

But Ocon won’t be the only driver facing 2023 as a crucial year. 

🇫🇷 Gasly vs Ocon, what could go wrong?

LOGAN SARGEANT

F1 has wanted an American driver on the grid for years. Actually, let me rephrase that. F1 has wanted a GOOD American driver on the grid for years. Sergeant is the sport’s first American since Alexander Rossi’s five-race cameo in 2015. 

Sergeant had one full season in F2, finishing fourth overall, which was enough for his Superlicense, but there will still be calls that it’s at least one season too early for him. 

But he has a couple of things going for him. Firstly, he’s unlikely to be as bad as the driver he is replacing. Nicholas Latifi is probably a lovely man, but as an F1 driver, he just didn’t have it and once Haas brought in Kevin Magnussen, it was clear that Latifi was not necessarily up to the standards F1 and Williams expect. Despite bringing lots (and lots) of money and sponsorships, Williams have to fight further up the grid and try to avoid their fifth 10th-place finish since 2018 - by far their worst run of results in the team’s history.

So replacing one North American with another who might not be ready is one problem. The other is the growing level of talent emerging in the US through IndyCar. McLaren have hoovered up a lot of the top talent, with Alex Palou, Colton Herta and Patricio O’Ward all being part of the McLaren Extended Universe - despite their young, exciting stars at the top of the bill.

So there are at least three high-speed stalking horses approaching Sargeant and Williams (who use the same Mercedes engines as McLaren), and while Williams will be patient, there will have to be some sort of potential to prove to them that they’ve made the right choice.

🍿 How McLaren turned a vacant seat into a messy political drama

YUKI TSUNODA

Welcome to the Royal Rumble!

Every two seasons, another driver will enter the ring, with drivers eliminated when they’re thrown over the top rope and both feet land on the floor. Pierre Gasly was the last wrestler eliminated and the klaxon goes off to reveal the next competitor…

My God, is that Nyck de Vries’ music!?

You sort of get the picture. The Dutchman is the next AlphaTauri challenger, hoping to persuade the powers that be that Red Bull don’t need to go outside their junior team if a seat becomes available at big school, and there are plenty of drivers to choose from, with Liam Lawson, Ayumu Iwasa and Dennis Hauger all getting track time in Formula 2.

Add to that the team’s proactive approach to making changes in midseason and we haven’t even started talking about Tsunoda before a change could be made.

The Japanese driver finished below three of the four drivers who won’t be on the grid next season, collecting just 12 points all season, regressing - as AlphaTauri did as a whole - in 2022. I think they’ll be better next year, with a season’s worth of data and being Red Bull’s sister team, a license to innovate.

One example of this helped them to a race win with the Blonde American voice saving them from disaster in Monza 2020, which Pierre Gasly went on to win.

AlphaTauri needs to bounce back from a terrible year by their standards, falling backwards from the mid-table fight to scrapping (and failing) to finish eighth, with just Williams languishing below them. 

Tsunoda and de Vries will both try and lead the fight, and Tsunoda often starts the year well, but he needs to make that consistent. Two tenth-place finishes bookending 12 anonymous displays isn’t going to cut it anymore. Comedic swearing on team radio won’t either. This is the year where Tsunoda has to grow into his role, and there are signs that he could do it, and plenty of names waiting if he doesn’t.

🇮🇹 Looking back at Nyck de Vries’ weird weekend in Monza