F1 2023 (Sponsored by Ferrari strategists)

[Ben]

Haas kick off the car reveals (sort of) at 2pm today so we might as well do this now. We start a full two weeks earlier than 2022.

Calendar TRANSFERS:
- Qatar returns after a year off, again at Lusail after plans for a new circuit stalled.
- Las Vegas debuts with a street circuit literally on The Strip. This will take place on Saturday night local time.
- France are off the calendar again as traditional European circuits continue to fall by the wayside.
- China was briefly back before being re-fucked off due to their COVID-related immigration laws.

Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
Bahrain	Sakhir	March 5
Saudi Arabia	Jeddah	March 19
Australia	Melbourne	April 2
Azerbaijan	Baku	April 30
Miami	Miami Gardens	May 7
Emilia Romagna	Imola	May 21
Monaco	Monaco	May 28
Spain	Barcelona-Catalunya	June 4
Canada	Montreal	June 18
Austria	Spielberg	July 2
Great Britain	Silverstone	July 9
Hungary	Hungaroring	July 23
Belgium	Spa-Francorchamps	July 30
Netherlands	Zandvoort	August 27
Italy	Monza	September 3
Singapore	Marina Bay	September 17
Japan	Suzuka	September 24
Qatar	Lusail	October 8
United States	Austin	October 22
Mexico City	Mexico City	October 29
São Paulo	Interlagos	November 5
Las Vegas	Las Vegas	November 18
Abu Dhabi	Yas Marina	November 26

Team TRANSFERS:
- Honda are back. Well, they never left. But the name is back on the RBPT engine.

Driver TRANSFERS:
- Sebastian Vettel retired at the end of 2022.
- Fernando Alonso left Alpine to take up Vettel's seat at Aston Martin.
- Alpine then announced Oscar Piastri as the man to fill Alonso's seat.
- McLaren parted company with Daniel Ricciardo after two seasons. Ricciardo has since rejoined Red Bull as their reserve driver.
- Alpine forgot to provide Oscar Piastri with a valid contract so McLaren swooped him to sign him as Ricciardo's replacement.
- Alpine subsequently bought out Pierre Gasly's remaining contract with AlphaTauri to create a spicy All-French lineup alongside Esteban Ocon.
- AlphaTauri made an agreement with Mercedes for Nyck de Vries to fill the vacant seat left by Gasly.
- Williams parted company with Nicholas Latifi after three seasons and replaced him with F2 Rookie of the Year Logan Sargeant.
- Mick Schumacher was let go by Haas after two seasons, to be replaced by Nico Hülkenburg. Schumacher subsequently joined Mercedes as reserve driver.

Constructor	Car	Engine	Drivers
Alfa Romeo	C43	Ferrari	(24) Guanyu Zhou (77) Valtteri Bottas
AlphaTauri	AT04	Honda RBPT	(21) Nyck de Vries (22) Yuki Tsunoda
Alpine	A523	Renault	(10) Pierre Gasly (31) Esteban Ocon
Aston Martin	AMR23	Mercedes	(14) Fernando Alonso (18) Lance Stroll
Ferrari	SF-23	Ferrari	(16) Charles Leclerc (55) Carlos Sainz Jr.
Haas	VF-23	Ferrari	(20) Kevin Magnussen (27) Nico Hülkenberg
McLaren	MCL37	Mercedes	(4) Lando Norris (81) Oscar Piastri
Mercedes	W14	Mercedes	(44) Lewis Hamilton (63) George Russell
Red Bull	RB19	Honda RBPT	(1) Max Verstappen (11) Sergio Perez
Williams	FW45	Mercedes	(2) Logan Sargeant (23) Alexander Albon

Technical rule changes:
- Floor edges and diffuser to be raised to counter porpoising.
- Roll hoops will require a rounded top to prevent a repeat of Zhou Guanyu's crash at the 2022 British Grand Prix.
- FIA closed a loophole which allowed slot gap separators on front wings.
- Side mirror size increases 50mm.
- Total car weight is reduced 2kg to 796kg, whilst power unit weight increases 1kg to 151kg.
- Minimum fuel temperature reduced by 10°C.

Sporting rule changes:
- At two races in 2023, a new qualifying format will be trialled. Assuming the session is dry, teams must run the hard tyre in Q1, medium in Q2 and soft in Q3. This is aimed at reducing overall tyre usage and total sets available will be cut from 13 to 11 at these trial Grands Prix.
- A new tyre compound is available in 2023, between the existing C1 and C2 compounds. This is due to teams complaining about the C1 being shit.
- Budget cap (!) reduced $5m to $135m.
- Pre-season testing is cut in half from 2022 levels, down to three days from six.
- Sprint races will now be run at six events, up from three in the previous two seasons. These will take place at the Azerbaijan, Austrian, Belgian, Qatar, United States and São Paulo Grands Prix.
- Any political, religious or personal gestures will be dealt with in a manner the ruling Arabs see fit.
- COVID regulations are no more. Proof of COVID vaccination no longer required to gain entry to the paddock.