It doesn’t matter whom you talk to in Formula One at the moment, there’s a real buzz that this forthcoming 2023 season could be one for the ages – as good, and as close, as 2021, when Max Verstappen lifted his maiden title at the final round (albeit in highly contentious circumstances). Of course, as we now know, the Dutchman went on to steamroll the opposition last year in his mighty Red Bull RB18, with a record-15 of 22 races won for his second-straight crown. And if that wasn’t enough, his veteran teammate Sergio Pérez nabbed two more for Red Bull Racing’s first title double since 2013.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for its main rivals Ferrari, which dropped the ball with reliability issues and strategy errors, forcing top man Mattia Binotto to be jettisoned, and Mercedes, which finally produced a lame dog of a car after eight-consecutive constructors’ crowns