Grading Each F1 Teams 2023 Offseason
Luke Edmonds - Twitter: LukeEdm66579762
Red Bull: A
Red Bull did just about everything right. After he won in Monaco, Red Bull were quick to offer Sergio Perez an extension of his contract that would last until the end of the 2024 season. On top of that, they were able to lock up Daniel Ricciardo as a reserve driver after no seats opened up for him on the grid. The Verstappen contract extension happened before Bahrain testing, which doesn’t count as it is still considered part of the 2022 offseason, but Red Bull used this time to gain an advantage on their opponents. Many people view the Ricciardo signing to be used as leverage for future intimidation purposes if Perez decides to take a title fight to Max, but based on what we have seen so far, it seems like both drivers can co-exist peacefully and still allow Verstappen to run away with the season.
Ferrari: B-
This past offseason, the Ferrari Formula 1 team was able to achieve some damage limitation. After a heartbreaking end to last season, it looked certain that this team was going to make a charge for the top in 2023, and the resigning of Carlos Sainz is a move that will help them get there. However, in 2019 when it came to the extension of Leclerc, 2024 seemed like a mile off. It would have been nice to see Ferrari take a shot at locking down the Monegasque for an even longer extension as rumors spiral among the paddock, but they were not able to accomplish anything of that nature.
Mercedes: C
When it comes to their all-star lineup, Mercedes didn’t mess with extending either of their drivers. George Russell inked a deal in 2022 to drive with the team until the end of 2024 season, while Hamilton is still set to have his contract expired at the end of the current season. As far as we can tell, there are contract talks about a contract that will extend his time with the team until the end of 2025, but when it came to what Mercedes was able to do in the offseason, locking up their drivers was not one. Mercedes was able to pull off two accomplishments though. They were able to get Mick Schumacher, formerly of the Haas team, to sign on as a reserve driver. They were also able to secure a seat for their former reserve driver Nyck De Vries with the Alpha Tauri F1 team.
Alpine: B
This past offseason, Pierre Gasly signed a contract with Alpine that secures him the seat until the end of the 2024 season. This is the team who probably had the ‘Silliest Season’ with former member of the Alpine Junior Team, Oscar Piastri, announcing that he would not race for the team once it was official that Fernando was leaving. Oscar expected Mclaren to locate the problems with their car, and come out ready to compete, however in terms of car performance, it does not look like he made the correct choice. Had Ocon and Gasly not both DNF’ed from the Australian Grand Prix, Alpine would have walked out of the weekend with a haul of points that would have put them in a position to attack Ferrari in the battle for P4. One of their biggest downsides though is their reserve driver, Jack Doohan’s poor performance at this point in the F2 season. Doohan, who finished in 6th place at the end of last years championship currently sits at P11 in the standings, with most of his points coming from a P2 finish in the Jeddah feature race. A team like Alpine who has so much talent in it’s lineup doesn’t exactly have room for a driver like Doohan at this moment in time, but they sure would like to take a page out of Red Bull’s notes with Albon, or Mercedes’ notes with De Vries, and hook up their driver with a seat in the upcoming seasons.
Mclaren: A-
If Mclaren performed on track the way that they do off track, a championship would be an easy task for them. Oscar Piastri is a driver that has a major upside. It was evident to see that he has a spark in him that very few drivers have. In Jeddah, we saw Piastri take the fight to Lando, where the two had a scrap that Piastri came out of ahead, and in Melbourne, we saw him charge up the pack, starting in 16th, and ending in P9. However, on top of all of that, the easiest thing to love about Mclaren is the strength of the drivers who they have signed that wont touch the track at all throughout the season. The current Mclaren reserve team features 2 Formula 2 champions, (Schumacher and Drugovich), An Indy Car championship contender, and a reigning Formula E champion, (Vandoorne). Mclaren is full of talent, so much so that their reserves could make up two teams who would do equally well. Lando is locked down for the foreseeable future, Oscar is competitive, and everything looks A-Okay for Mclaren when you look past car performance.
Alfa Romeo: D
It was quite a boring offseason for Alfa Romeo. The team finished in 6th place at the end of the 2022 season by a staggering 104 points to Mclaren. They also finished the season equal on points to Aston Martin who had one of the worst years since Lawrence Stroll took over the team. The offseason for Alpha Romeo consisted of restructuring Zhou’s contract until the end of 2024. Zhou put together a pretty good rookie season, but if this team wants to fight for anything more than being behind 5th place by 100 points, more needs to be done. The only thing that keeps them out of the F range is the fact that they announced Theo Pourchaire as their team’s official reserve driver. This means that in 2024 if the team is not still satisfied by the level of performance that they are receiving from the Chinese driver, or Valtteri Bottas decides to hang it up, they have a path to bring in one of the most talented young drivers in the world.
Aston Martin: A+
There is so much to say about this offseason for Aston Martin. However, their entire offseason can be described in 2 words. Fernando. Alonso. When you look at car performance, it’s easy to see just how much of a beast that this team has become, but that is thanks in part to former 2-time world champion Fernando Alonso taking reign of the British Green team. Fernando came to Aston Martin from Alpine where he was able to finish P9 in the drivers championship, only 11 points behind his teammate, despite the fact that he had over double the amount of DNF’s. In the same way that Mclaren is able to rake in talent on the sidelines, Aston Martin shares half of their success. Both Vandoorne and Drugovich are a part of the Aston Martin reserve team, with Drugovich being named their Official Reserve driver. Things have never looked better for Aston Martin, and it looks set for their future to look even sweeter.
Haas: C+
Cutting ties with Schumacher was something that seemed to be inevitable from the moment that the 2022 season began. K-Mag finished the season with double the amount of points that Schumacher did, and it took Mick until almost the Half-Season mark before he even put his first points on the board in Silverstone. On top of all of this, Kevin managed to put up a surprise Q3 appearance in Brazil that lead to his first ever Pole Position. The move to pick up Hulkenberg seemed like a band-aid. It was a temporary fix to cover up a problem until you can find a longer terms solution, however, that train of thinking has been proved wrong. In the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, there was around 5 minutes where the world thought Nico would receive his first ever, well deserved, podium in his Formula One career. He has also been in Q3 2 out of the 3 races, while only being knocked out in Q2 at Jeddah by .04 Seconds. A continuation of the Pietro Fittipaldi relationship was also announced.
Alpha Tauri: C-
Locking down former Mercedes reserve driver, Nyck De Vries, looked like something that was guaranteed to happen after his performance with Williams in Monza. It is common for Red Bull to use their Junior team as a way for them to evaluate the performance of young drivers against the competition that Formula One has to offer, but they chose to go down a different path, allowing a driver with Mercedes ties to race in the seat until at least the end of 2024. Other candidates for the seat included Liam Lawson and Dennis Hauger, but the opportunity couldn’t be passed up on as De Vries scored points in his maiden F1 debut for Williams when he took over for Alexander Albon. One of the main things that kept them out of a D ranking is the fact that they didn’t mess with Tsunoda’s contract. The Japanses driver has been a loose cannon, and it seems like the days are counting down until they bring in the next regime. Alpha Tauri is at an interesting spot where it doesn’t feel as though any of their talent will be used by Red Bull for the foreseeable future, as Red Bull is continuing to ink long term deals with their two drivers.
Williams: A-
Logan Sargeant to Williams was a deal with a dicey ending. For those of you who remember the Formula 2 conclusion race in Abu Dhabi, Logan had to achieve a certain position to receive his final super license points. This move has looked inevitable since Sargeant entered into the Williams young driver academy. The team was also able to lock down an extension with phenom driver, Alexander Albon, who’s performance throughout his time at Williams has been nothing short of phenomenal. Because Logan was the only reserve driver for the team last season, Williams will go back to sharing with their engine supplier Mercedes, but it is expected that sometime in the future that W-Series Legend Jamie Chadwick will get the call to sit in the Paddock for the Team
