FORMULA ONE · 2023
The 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula One cars , the 74th running of the Formula One World Championship . It was recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of international motorsport , a
Throughout the season, each team had to field a driver in one of the first two free practice sessions who had not competed in more than two races, on two occasions, once for each car. : Article 32.4c The Grand Prix debuts of Oscar Piastri , Logan Sargeant and Nyck de Vries at the Bahrain Grand Prix each counted as one of the mandatory sessions for McLaren - Mercedes , Williams - Mercedes and AlphaTauri - Honda RBPT , respectively. Liam Lawson 's debut at the Dutch Grand Prix did not...
Honda returned as a named engine supplier to Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri , with both teams badging the engines as Honda RBPT . While Red Bull Powertrains had planned to take over assembly and maintenance of the engines from this season onward, it was later agreed that Honda would continue its technical support of Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri until the end of 2025.
Sebastian Vettel retired at the end of the 2022 championship , ending his Formula One career after 15 full seasons. His place at Aston Martin was taken by Fernando Alonso , who left Alpine after two seasons. Alonso's replacement was initially announced as the 2021 Formula 2 Champion and Alpine reserve driver, Oscar Piastri . Shortly after this announcement, Piastri stated that he had not signed a contract for 2023 and that he would not be driving for Alpine. Th... Daniel Ricciardo left McLaren after two seasons. Although he had a contract to drive for the team in 2023, it was terminated during the 2022 championship by mutual agreement. Ricciardo's seat was filled by Piastri, who made his Formula One debut. Nicholas Latifi left Williams after spending three seasons with the team. His seat was filled by Logan Sargeant , who graduated from Formula 2 , making his Formula One debut and becoming the first American Formula One driver to comp...
Nyck de Vries was relieved of his driving duties for AlphaTauri after underperforming in the first ten races of his rookie season. His seat was filled by Daniel Ricciardo starting from the Hungarian Grand Prix . Ricciardo had previously raced with the team in 2012 and 2013 , when it was known as Toro Rosso. During second practice for the Dutch Grand Prix , his third race of the season, Ricciardo broke a metacarpal bone in his left hand in a crash. As a result, Red Bull Racing and A...
Following dangerous amounts of porpoising during 2022 , the FIA introduced changes to the regulations to limit the phenomenon. Floor edges were raised and the throat of the diffuser was also raised. The diffuser edge stiffness was increased and an additional sensor was mandated to monitor the porpoising phenomenon more effectively. Lateral floor deflection tests also became more stringent. Following Zhou Guanyu 's crash at the 2022 British Grand Prix , a rounded top would be required on the roll hoop , which reduces the chance of it digging into the ground during an accident. Additionally, a change was made to ensure a minimum height for the point of application of the homologation test, and a new physical homologation test was introduced where the load pushes the roll hoop in the forward direction, in addition to the pre-existing tests in three other directions. The...
The allowed weight of cars was due to decrease from 798 kilograms (1,759 lb) to 796 kg (1,755 lb), but this plan was abandoned. The rules around minimum fuel temperature were changed. In 2022, minimum fuel temperature was 20 °C (68 °F). For 2023, the minimum fuel temperature was the lowest of either 10 °C (18 °F) below the ambient temperature, or 10 °C (50 °F).
The FIA initially altered the wording of the aerodynamic regulations after Mercedes produced a front wing that exploited a potential loop-hole in the regulations; Mercedes introduced slot gap separators on their front wings at the 2022 United States Grand Prix , although they did not intend to run them at the event. Rival teams argued that the new front wing was illegal, while Mercedes argued that the regulations allowed slot-gap separators as they were "primarily" there for "mechanical, structu...
Pirelli announced a change to the available tyre compounds for 2023, as a new compound was inserted between the old C1 and C2 compounds (the hardest two compounds of the 2022 range). This change provided teams with more flexible strategy options after criticism towards the original C1 compound for a large drop in grip compared to the other tyres. Additionally, following criticism over the raceability of its full wet tyre in previous seasons, Pirelli has produced a new full wet tyre in the... With the intention of making tyre usage more sustainable in the future, Formula One trialed a reduction in allocated tyre sets from 13 to 11 at the Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix. It was due to be trialed at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix before its cancellation. During qualifying for these races, teams were required to use the hard-compound tyres in the first segment of qualifying, the medium-coumpound in the second segment and the soft-compound in the third and final segment. Teams are usual...