It was fitting that Max Verstappen won Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to put a seal on the most dominant season in Formula One history.
By winning from pole position in Abu Dhabi, Verstappen claimed another record in a season where he broke almost all of the Formula One records. He became the first driver to lead over 1,000 laps in a single season. Remarkably, that is over 75% of the total laps in the entire season.
There has never been a season of one-driver dominance like 2023 in the history of Formula One. Verstappen had 19 wins, two second-place finishes in 22 races, four sprint victories in six sprint events, and 575 points, more than double the points scored by teammate Sergio Perez, who finished 2nd in the Drivers’ Championship. Verstappen also had 166 more points than the Mercedes team, meaning Verstappen scored enough points to have won the Constructors’ Championship on his own this season!
The level of excellence achieved by Max Verstappen and the Red Bull team, especially their design chief Adrian Newey, has to be appreciated, and there is no doubt that Verstappen, the RB19 car, and Newey will go down in history as some of the all-time greats of their respective categories.
That said, it cannot be denied that one-driver and team- dominance is never good for a sport. Formula One fans will join me in hoping that this truly is a unique season, and in 2024, there will be a genuine fight at the front of the field. The most memorable seasons in Formula One history are when a close battle for the World Title goes down to the wire, such as the most recent and controversial 2021 season fight between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
But, it also goes back to 2008, where the title between Hamilton and Felipe Massa was settled on the final corner of the last lap of the race in Brazil, and the infamous Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost battles of the late 1980s. These seasons and such close title fights are what not only keep existing fans of the sport engrossed but also attract numerous new fans to the sport.
In the past, there have been multiple years of single driver and team dominance, such as between 2000 and 2004 when Micheal Schumacher and Ferrari won five consecutive Drivers’ and Constructor’s Championships, where fans switched off from the sport, and some were lost forever.
Of course, there were plenty of positives around Formula One in 2023, notably the success of the new Las Vegas Grand Prix and how the Netflix series “Drive to Survive” has brought a whole near demographic of fans to the sport. However, commercial success will only be maintained if the sporting action meets the hype. It cannot be ignored that the predictability of the 2023 season became a bit of a turn-off towards the end of the season.
There is hope that 2024 will be much closer to the front of the Formula One grid. Behind Verstappen and Red Bull in 2023, numerous close battles went down the wire. Ferrari and Mercedes were only separated by 3 points for 2nd place in the Constructor’s Championship, with Mercedes edging out Ferrari in the end. The battle for 4th in the Drivers’ Championship was even closer as Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, and Lando Norris ended up only separated by a single point, with Carlos Sainz only 5 points further back. Those results show that numerous drivers and teams are very closely matched after Red Bull, and it has been unpredictable throughout the season who will be the closest challengers to Red Bull and Verstappen from one race to the next.
But one question looms large until Bahrain and the opening race of the 2024 season: Can Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, or anyone else make up the current colossal performance advantage that Red Bull holds over the field? It seems unlikely, but let us not forget that Aston Martin finished the 2022 season in 7th place in the Constructors’ Championship (scoring only 55 points in the entire season) but then became the second-quickest team at the start of the 2023 season, claiming five podium place finishes in the opening seven races.
Then, there was McLaren’s impressive 2023 showing. After a dreadful start where McLaren had the slowest car for most of the opening races, the team turned around the season with a car upgrade at the Austrian Grand Prix. They were often the 2nd best team behind Red Bull from that point onwards. Lando Norris, in particular, shone in the 2nd half of the season with six second-placed finishes, while McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri beat Verstappen to claim sprint race victory in Qatar.
So, while the 2023 Formula One season will go down in history as one of the greatest ever in terms of the achievements of Max Verstappen and the Red Bull Racing team, it is unlikely to be remembered by most sports fans “as a great season.” What Formula One needs is competitive races and a competitive season.
