Formula 1

F1 2023 Driver Movements: What We Know So Far About Driver Teams Next Season

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix brought the 2022 F1 season to a close and as we reflect on the dramatic season, we are also looking ahead to the 2023 season and how the grid will look with the driver movements.

Driver Movements

Fernando Alonso To Aston Martin

 

The Spanish F1 legend is making the move to Aston Martin for the 2023 season where he will be taking Sebastian Vettel’s seat, who has retired this season.

Alonso made his F1 debut in 2001 and has driven for many teams over the years, including Renault, McLaren, and Ferrari.  He made the move to Alpine in 2021 and has now revealed he will be moving to Aston Martin in a multi-year deal. It has been reported that part of the reason Alonso is making the move is because he wanted to bag himself a multi-year deal and Alpine were only willing to extend his current contract by one year.

Alonso will be racing alongside Lance Stroll and will be hoping for a better working relationship than his current teammate Esteban Ocon who he has had some friction with.

Pierre Gasly to Alpine

 

Replacing Alonso on the Alpine team is Pierre Gasly. Gasly will be leaving the AlphaTauri team where he currently drives alongside Yuki Tsunoda, and this will be the first time in the Frenchman’s F1 career that he will be leaving the Red Bull umbrella. Taking to his social media, Gasly posted:

 

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A post shared by PIERRE GASLY 🇫🇷 (@pierregasly)

The move to Alpine will be making it an all French team as he will be driving alongside fellow French driver Esteban Ocon.  Even though the 2022 season only ended yesterday, Gasly has already spent his first day in the Alpine.

New Drivers Coming To The 2023 Grid

Nyck De Vries To AlphaTauri

 

Nyck De Vries made his F1 debut earlier this year when he stepped in last minute for Williams driver Alex Albon at the Italian Grand Prix when he was taken to hospital. De Vries managed to make his mark during his first time out in a race as he scored points and out-performed Albon’s teammate Nicholas Latifi.

De Vries is a Formula E champion driving for Mercedes and has also been a reserve and test driver for Mercedes. After De Vries had his impressive debut, there were talks of him moving to Williams but it was later revealed he would be moving to AlphaTauri.

Mercedes posted a hilarious video after the Abu Dhabi GP of them ‘delivering’ De Vries to the AlphaTauri team, where he will be driving alongside Yuki Tsunoda.

Oscar Piastri to McLaren

Piastri has been a reserve driver for Alpine as well as being part of their drivers academy. Awkwardly, when it was announced that Fernando Alonso would be leaving Alpine, the team announced that Piastri would have a seat for 2023. However, Piastri was quick to clarify that he had not signed with the team. Piastri will be replacing Daniel Ricciardo on the McLaren team where he will drive alongside Lando Norris. Piastri has been a champion in Formula 2 and Formula 3.

McLaren have already shared a video of Piastri in his papaya orange team suit.

 

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A post shared by McLaren (@mclaren)

Logan Sargeant to Williams

The latest addition to the 2023 grid is American driver Logan Sargeant who will be joining the Williams team alongside Alex Albon. Williams made the announcement over the Austin Grand Prix weekend that Sargeant had been offered a seat for next year so long as he could get enough points on his super licence.

As well as the F1 season coming to a close in Abu Dhabi this weekend, the Formula 2 championship did as well which is what Sargeant has been competing in. Luckily, he has been able to get the required points and the team have now confirmed that he is definitely joining them for 2023.

Drivers leaving the grid after the 2022 season

Sebastian Vettel

 

One of the biggest stories from the Abu Dhabi GP weekend is Sebastian Vettel’s retirement. The F1 legend started his career in the sport back in 2007 with Toro Rosso, now AlphaTauri, and then moved up to Red Bull. Vettel also drove for Ferrari and Aston Martin.

Throughout his career, Vettel had 4 championship wins, 53 race wins, 57 podiums, and 38 fastest laps.

Daniel Ricciardo

McLaren announced earlier this year that their contract with the Australian fan-favourite would come to an end this year. There was a lot of speculation over where Ricciardo might move to next with rumours surrounding Alpine, AlphaTauri, and Haas. However, unfortunately Ricciardo has not been able to secure a seat for next year.

Speaking about the year ahead, Ricciardo has said that he will be hoping to make a come back for the 2024 season. Although nothing has been announced yet, it is expected that Ricciardo will be a reserve driver in 2023.

Mick Schumacher

 

Haas announced last week that Mick Schumacher would not be continuing with the team into the 2023 season. There had been a lot of speculation over the last few weeks surrounding Schumacher’s future with the team, with team owner Gene Haas saying that the young German driver costs them a lot with all of his crashes.

Schumacher has not been able to secure a seat with another team for next year but nothing has been revealed as to whether he might be a reserve driver yet.

Nicholas Latifi

Nicholas Latifi, who drove for Williams will not be returning for the 2023 season. Latifi has struggled to show the performance needed to stay on the team and has not been picked up by another team for next year.

Latifi recently revealed that he has decided to make the move to IndyCar which he will be competing in, in 2023.

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