After the rules revolution of 2022 this was supposed to be a season of relative calm – well as calm as Formula One ever gets.
Instead the sport launches into the new year in Bahrain on Sunday on the cusp of a seismic shake-up, coming to terms with widespread upheaval the length and breadth of the grid.
Every team in the pit lane is experiencing change as no less than 18 key figures find themselves in different uniforms or posts.
Some are on the move, others noticeably moving up or out as the sport’s heartless meritocracy grinds on. Still more have been left in limbo, their future hanging in the balance.
Twelve drivers, that’s over half the grid, have been shuffled in an unusually busy winter driver merry-go-round. And six of the 10 team bosses have shifted jobs in the last nine months.
And it’s not only new faces who have a spring in their step while bringing a fresh look to the 2023 paddock assembled in the desert 30 kilometres south of the capital, Manama.
The oldest driver on the grid, 41-year-old Fernando Alonso, finds himself in the best position since he quit Ferrari in 2014 and even being talked off as a potential winner.
His move to Aston Martin brings the double champion under the aegis of highly rated designer Dan Fallows, lured last year from Red Bull.
Testing suggests the green machines will be best of the rest behind Red Bull and Ferrari and that four-time champion Sebastian Vettel left the sport at just the wrong time.
Lance Stroll has been given the green light by doctors who have said the wrist injury he sustained in a cycling accident has healed sufficiently to race. His impressive testing stand-in Felipe Drugovich will have to wait a bit longer for his big break at Aston.
While Pierre Gasly, frustrated at not returning to the Red Bull A team despite winning at Monza with Alpha Tauri, finally quits to set-up an all-French partnership at Renault’s works team, Alpine, with Esteban Ocon.
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The duo grew up close to one another and have a deep and sometimes fractious history stretching back to before their teens so it will be interesting to see how the ‘mates’ in teammates works out at the French national outfit.
Gasly’s move gives highly rated Dutchman Nyck de Vries a surprise F1 break at 28 just as it appeared the sport was going to pass him by.
Struggling star Daniel Ricciardo starts the season as Red Bull reserve after being ditched by McLaren and that has paved the way for fellow-Aussie Oscar Piastri, 21, to join the former champions.
After a reputed $5 million spent on his development and F1 training, Piastri quit Alpine for McLaren despite being announced as Alonso’s replacement.
Christian Horner hailed the Melbourne boy as “the new Max Verstappen” and lamented not signing the Australian to the Red Bull stable.
Piastri, the first driver to win all three pre-F1 junior formulae in successive years, arrives with testing suggesting McLaren are about to fall into the sport’s bottom three.
But lead driver Lando Norris hit back rejecting such “cr*p” talk saying he has no regrets about signing a long-term deal.
With F1’s explosion in America comes the nation’s first home-grown driver for eight years. Logan Sargeant – scion of the billionaire shipping, oil and airline family – joins a Williams team desperately in need of more sponsorship and without a designer after the departure of Francois-Xavier Demaison but revitalised under new boss and former Mercedes strategy man James Vowles.
One of the most popular signings in the paddock is Nico Hulkenberg getting the nod at Haas instead of Mick Schumacher.
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Hulkenberg returns after three years without a full-time drive but a string of last minute super-sub cameos showcased his talent.
The son of the German legend has been snapped up by German outfit Mercedes as their reserve driver while hinting talks for a full-time return are already in the works, perhaps with another German legend in Audi.
Unusually, the team boss merry-go-round has been almost as busy as the driver’s one.
All eyes will be on Fred Vasseur who takes over at Ferrari after Mattia Binotti left having been made to carry the can for last year’s championship failure.
Binotto had already bought speed but Vasseur is charged with bringing order and steel to decision making under pressure.
Time will tell if Benedetto Vigna was right in ditching one of Maranello’s engineering talents as the CEO announces he will take a closer grip on the reins of Italy’s favourite F1 operation.
Vasseur’s role at Alfa has been filled by McLaren’s Andrea Seidl who bought forward his return to his old employer as they unite with Audi. McLaren have promoted from within, elevating Andrea Stella as team boss.
