As has been the case for several years now, Formula 1 has carried out an internal survey to elect the best driver on the grid in the season that has just ended. However, it was not the Team Principals who voted, but the drivers themselves, who decreed, without any great surprises, Max Verstappen as the reference for this 2023.
This year the Dutchman won his third world title, climbing to the top step of the podium in nineteen of the twenty-three world championship events. An impressive figure, as is the 1000 laps completed in the lead during the season, but which demonstrates how the driver-car duo was a step above their rivals in a 2023 to remember.
A season dominated to the point of sealing the third world championship crown already on the Saturday of the Qatar Grand Prix at the end of the sprint race, when there were still five Grands Prix to go, plus the Sunday race in Lusail, at the end of the championship. The list of records broken this year would be particularly long, starting from the ten consecutive successes obtained between Miami, an event which represented a turning point on a personal level, and Monza, the last before the Singapore race which represented the the only weekend in which an RB19 did not win.
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
It was these elements that pushed his opponents to crown him as the best driver of the 2023 season in the poll conducted by Formula 1. The regulations allow drivers to vote for themselves and each list was presented on the condition that it remained secret. Scores were awarded based on F1's current points system, with the top driver on each list earning 25 points up to one point for the tenth driver, as the leaderboard was then drawn up to tenth place.
Behind the Dutchman, who had already won the same “competition” in the 2021 and 2022 edition, Lewis Hamilton placed in this special ranking, finishing third in the championship behind Sergio Perez's other Red Bull. Although with several ups and downs, also thanks to a car that has often proved unpredictable and difficult to fine-tune even for the engineers, the Englishman has received positive opinions from his colleagues, achieving six podiums in total during the season, plus a pole position in Hungary.
Fernando Alonso also placed on the podium in this special ranking, third behind his British rival. An excellent first part of the season worked in his favor for the Spaniard, with six podium finishes in the first eight races, demonstrating an excellent state of form thanks also to a car that made race pace and tire management its strength. However, with the difficulties encountered by Aston Martin in development, the AMR23 lost ground to its rivals and, Holland and Brazil aside, Alonso was no longer able to consistently get back into the fight for the podium, even making some mistakes, such as in Qatar or Las Vegas. Undoubtedly there is a regret for the lack of victory in Monaco, the best chance of achieving that 33rd success that the Spaniard has been chasing for some time, especially for the choice to stop for a set of intermediates instead of the slicks, without which he would have had a concrete chance of aiming for the stage triumph, as later confirmed by the Silverstone team itself.
![Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third place, celebrates with his trophy](https://cdn-8.motorsport.com/images/mgl/2jXaaNb6/s1000/fernando-alonso-aston-martin-f-1.jpg)
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, third place, celebrates with his trophy
Fourth place for Lando Norris, who built on this result also thanks to an excellent second part of the season, in which he was able to collect several podiums with a McLaren that was making strong progress thanks to technical developments. To tell the truth, even in the first part of the championship the Englishman had been the author of some good performances that went unnoticed, such as the points finish in Australia, in the top ten even before the incidents at the end, and the ninth place in Baku, conquered on the weekend in which the British team brought the first updates to the fund for the MCL60. However, the English driver was also the author of some mistakes which deprived him of the opportunity to make the most of some chances, such as those committed over the weekend in Qatar, where Oscar Piastri's first pole and first victory then came , albeit only on sprint Saturday.
The Australian performed well in his first year as a rookie and was voted eighth best driver of the year by his colleagues: for next season Piastri's goal is to smooth out those flaws dictated by inexperience and improve on the tire management plan, an aspect whose secrets are clearly learned over the years, as Norris himself has shown.
Fifth and sixth place for the two Cavallino drivers, who were protagonists of an up-and-down season. Charles Leclerc achieved six podiums, in addition to numerous pole positions obtained in qualifying, a session in which he always shone. After a very unlucky start to the championship, with the two breakdowns in Bahrain and the penalty received in Jeddah for the replacement of an element of the Power Unit, the Monegasque experienced an unfriendly central part of the season, partly due to the difficulties shown in poor conditions mixed dry-wet, partly due to some episodes compromised by other factors. For example, in Miami he was forced to start from the middle of the pack after a mistake on Saturday, only to be sucked back into the pack to seventh place on a day in which he struggled to find his pace. Likewise, other elements also negatively influenced the central stint of the year, such as the penalty he received in Monaco for impeding which deprived him of the opportunity to reach the podium at the front in his home round.
Probably the biggest regret is that of the double appointment Monza-Singapore, where he was not able to repeat the difference he made on Sainz in other rounds of the world championship. This especially negatively influenced the weekend at Marina Bay, where his teammate, thanks to a good performance in qualifying, managed to interrupt the domination of the RB19 by achieving the only non-Red Bull victory of the year. After the introduction of the new fund in Japan, the Monegasque's feeling with the SF23 improved again, finding greater competitiveness, although his relationship with the 2023 single-seater was far from idyllic as it was far from his tastes and due to an unpredictability that has repeatedly taken away the confidence of both drivers.
![The winner Carlos Sainz, Ferrari](https://cdn-7.motorsport.com/images/mgl/27vw4zo0/s1000/winner-carlos-sainz-ferrari-1.jpg)
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
The winner Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
Seventh place in the standings for Alex Albon, who made good use of a Williams capable of making notable steps forward compared to 2022. The Anglo-Thai driver was able to manage the strengths and limitations of Grove's single-seater very well, especially on those circuits that made high top speeds or restarts from a standing start one of the strong points, such as Montreal, Silverstone (with long stretches to cover in full force), Monza and Mexico City, to which some surprises were also added. Often it was more of a defense race than an attack one, as in Canada, where thanks to an excellent strategy and the characteristics of the car, Albon managed to keep his rivals behind him for his entire second stint, thus leading to home points that played a decisive role for Williams in the constructors' championship.
Closing out the ranking are Pierre Gasly, in his first year in Alpine, and Sergio Perez, who did not convince his colleagues given the potential (not always exploited) of the RB19 and the comparison with his teammate.
Position | Pilot |
1 | Max Verstappen |
2 | Lewis Hamilton |
3 | Fernando Alonso |
4 | Lando Norris |
5 | Charles Leclerc |
6 | Carlos Sainz |
7 | Alex Albon |
8 | Oscar Piastri |
9 | Pierre Gasly |
10 | Sergio Perez |
#Max #drivers #Hamilton #Alonso