Pit Debrief’s 2023 F1 Driver Rankings — 5-1

Photo Credit: McLaren Racing

Lando Norris concluded the 2023 F1 season with 205 points and 6th in the F1 Drivers’ Championship — but the popular racer climbs one place higher in our Pit Debrief rankings. Unfortunately, due to the fact that six second places were achieved by Norris from Silverstone onwards (in a year which saw him secure seven podiums altogether) it was very much a season of two halves for McLaren as much as for their highly sought after driver.

Silverstone was certainly the highlight of the season for Norris as he delighted in standing on the second step of the podium at his home race. As the season drew to a close, he reflected on the race and told Sky Sports F1: “I kind of was thinking like, damn this would be cool to watch. I wish I could watch myself right now. It was amazing.”

Norris’ points haul in 2023 was also amazing and more than double that of his teammate Oscar Piastri. Even so, one can imagine the margin will be much closer next year. With a new wind tunnel at McLaren, the future is bright. However, due to the form Norris’ teammate found (when finally given the upgraded package) 2024 may be far from a breeze for Norris. It is clear that the man who told media he is “One-hundred per cent” certain that his maiden win in F1 is going to be next year, will need to keep an eye on the man on the other side of the garage — as much as those around him on track.

McLaren made a slow start to 2023 as a result of missing development targets over the winter. More instability followed when they parted ways with technical director James Key in the first few weeks of the new season. It was far from the 60th anniversary the Woking based manufacturer was hoping for.

McLaren must have been delighted to have been able to announce Norris’ mid-season contract extension (until 2025). The news of the deal also brought an end to any speculation that McLaren’s leading man would leave the team to earn his wings at Red Bull.

To fully benefit, McLaren need to hit the ground running in 2024 as they certainly have superb drivers to take them higher up the grid. That said, Norris is not the finished article as qualifying errors late in the season showed — nor should he be at the age of 24 — but he has shown impressive Sunday form which resulted in his fans expecting him to have his beat season yet in 2024. The current tagline reads ‘Believe in McLaren’ the next one could well be ‘Believe in Lando Norris’.

Lewis Hamilton’s 2023 Formula 1 season has been among the most challenging ones for the seven-time World Drivers’ Champion. Coming off a winless 2022, Hamilton faced a daunting task as his Mercedes team struggled to match the pace set by Red Bull. The season unfolded with Hamilton finishing in third place, accumulating 234 points, yet it was a far cry from his usual dominating performances of the past.

A significant factor impacting Hamilton’s campaign was the underwhelming performance of the W14, Mercedes’ 2023 challenger. Hamilton openly expressed his anticipation to bid farewell to the problematic car, which failed to secure a single race victory throughout the season. The ‘zero-sidepod’ design, a carryover from the previous year, continued to hamper the team’s competitiveness, surprising many in the paddock as well as the fans of the sport.

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

The season had its share of on-track incidents, notably the first-corner clash with teammate George Russell at the Qatar Grand Prix. Hamilton, initially frustrated over the radio, later took full responsibility for the incident, acknowledging that Russell had limited options in the situation. The retirement in Qatar added to the challenges of an already demanding season for Hamilton.

However, amidst the struggles, there were moments worth celebrating. Hamilton secured a pole position in Hungary, marking his first since 2021 and halting Max Verstappen’s streak. The nail-biting lap, just 0.003 seconds ahead of Verstappen, demonstrated Hamilton’s enduring speed, competitiveness and determination.

His Sunday form was extremely impressive, scoring six podiums to Russell’s two, and he beat his teammate by 59 points in the standings.

The British driver committed his future to Mercedes by renewing his contract in August. The extension signaled his intent to continue with the team until the end of 2025, cementing a partnership that had previously yielded multiple successes.

As Hamilton looks ahead to the upcoming seasons, it’s evident that the challenges of 2023 have not dampened his resolve as he scored the fourth place in our Pit Debrief Driver rankings.

Charles Leclerc’s 2023 season has been a rollercoaster year for the 2017 F2 Champion, with some of his best weekends, but also some of his worst. 

Even though it was clear that the SF-23 wasn’t going to be the best car on the grid, the first Grand Prix in Bahrain looked good for the Monegasque driver until his car said “no more” on lap 40, while running P3. That led to a 10-place grid penalty in the second race at Jeddah, after qualifying second. He ended the race in P7.

After a start with lots of bad luck, Albert Park brought a bad Saturday and a worse Sunday, with a DNF on the first lap, after a contact with Lance Stroll. Then Baku came, and everything started to work for the 26-year old driver. Fantastic laps put him on pole for both races, finishing the sprint in P2 and the main race in P3, with great pace throughout the weekend.

When everything seemed to be fixed for Leclerc, Miami (P7), Mónaco (P6) and Barcelona (P11) confirmed that 2023 wouldn’t be his best season. Once again, Canada and Austria brought the best out of him.

But it wasn’t until Suzuka, where a floor update that was introduced, that he could truly start shining. 

From there on, it was pretty magnificent performances in qualifying week in, week out, with a great combination of poles and front row starts, that saw him score all Top-5 race finishes since Spa (if we don’t count the races where he didn’t finish due to mechanical problems in Brazil or the shocking strategy and ultimately DSQ in Austin).

Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari

P2 in both Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi, P3 in Mexico in spite of a clash with Sergio Perez at the first corner, P3 at Spa — and a potential P3 (at least) in Italy and Singapore, if we don’t look at Ferrari’s weird strategies.

Taking into review his driving and performances, you would say Leclerc deserves more credit than he is getting.

He’s only been behind teammate Carlos Sainz on pure pace in Australia, Barcelona, Singapore, and maybe Miami.

If you examine the huge amount of points that the former Alfa Romeo driver didn’t score for reasons beyond his control, the gap between them in the Drivers’ Championship would be much bigger. 

2024 should be a better year for the Italian squad. Leclerc ended the season being the best driver in the field, only behind the record-breaking champion Max Verstappen. Las Vegas would have been his if it wasn’t for the horribly timed Safety Car.

If Ferrari can give him a more reliable car, fixing its tyre degradation, he will be up there to fight for greatness, bringing back glory days to ‘Il Cavallino’.

No, you did not read the date incorrectly. It’s 2023, not 2013, and Fernando Alonso had the 2nd best season on the grid this year.

When I was reviewing Lance Stroll’s ranking, I said that we wouldn’t be talking about Alonso until much later. Well, we’ve waited almost until the very end to talk about him, making the gap between him and Stroll 16 places, and it’s well deserved.

Alonso placing second on our list is a testament to what he did with his car in all situations, whether it was the second fastest on the grid at the beginning of the season, the difficult car during mid-season, or its resurgence near the end of the season.

Alonso’s season can be highlighted with a few major stats which puts him ahead of all drivers except for one in terms of his performance. While he did finish 4th in the championship, his ability to do so in a car that was far off the pace from Silverstone onwards is the most impressive part of his campaign.

First, let’s start off with the most impressive stat of his season: 8 podiums. That stat put him 3rd amongst all drivers this season. Right in front of him with 9 podiums was Sergio Perez, who should have gotten much more based on the fact that he was in the fastest car on the grid, and Max Verstappen, to no one’s surprise.

In São Paulo, he saved the best for last, as he fought Sergio Perez to the line to brilliantly claim third place.

More importantly, he brought hope and faith to an Aston Martin team that had suffered their worst season of late the season before, and he brought the team back to where they should be: at the top of the midfield.

Photo Credit: Aston Martin Cognizant Aramco Formula One Team

Here’s another impressive stat: when finishing the race, Alonso only failed to score points once, and that was during the nightmare weekend of the Singapore Grand Prix.

Even while the car lost its early competitve edge in the middle of the season, Alonso was still consistently towards the back of the top 10, with Lance Stroll struggling to make it out of Q1. Monza is a prime example.

Of course, when the car was at its worst, Alonso still managed to make the most of it, and secured a podium in the Netherlands.

In this stat, he blows his teammate out of the water, as Stroll failed to score points 10 times throughout the season.

To continue, Alonso is a qualifying master. He only missed Q3 three times throughout the season. This doesn’t even compare to his teammate, as Alonso beat Stroll in head-to-head qualifying 19-3 over the course of the season.

All in all, Alonso’s season was almost perfect based on the car that was given to him. Podiums, an absolute destruction of his teammate, impressive qualifying, and consistent points finishes with a mediocre car.

The only thing that would’ve made this season even better was him getting his 33rd career win. Speaking of 33, that number is very important to our last driver on this list.

2023 was indisputably Max Verstappen’s year.

The reigning champion reached new heights, improving on his already impressive 2022 form in virtually every aspect to record the most dominant season the sport has ever seen. 

Verstappen delivered a masterclass performance, securing an unprecedented nineteen wins—including a record-breaking run of ten consecutive victories and a whopping six hat tricks—to clinch his third championship. By the time he crossed the finish line in Abu Dhabi, he had clocked a mind-blowing 1,003 laps as race leader in a single season, casually breaking the record for most laps led in F1 history. And that’s just some of the records the Red Bull driver smashed this season. 

Throughout his 2023 campaign he handily repelled attacks from his rivals, be it teammate Sergio Pérez in the twin RB19, an invigorated McLaren duo, or Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, whose late-season resurgence saw him take the fight to Verstappen on the streets of Las Vegas.

Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool

After a setback in Singapore interrupted his run of consecutive victories, the indomitable Verstappen recovered to win the remaining seven races. 

His effectiveness, coupled with relentless consistency and a near-flawless season-long performance, only reinforced the notion that Verstappen has evolved to become the most formidable and complete version of himself as an F1 driver. 

Having essentially redefined what it means to be dominant in this contemporary era, Verstappen now sits among the greats as the third most successful driver in terms of race wins—just 37 victories shy of matching Ferrari legend Michael Schumacher’s tally. 

Given Red Bull’s current dominance and the ever-expanding F1 calendar, it’s entirely plausible that Verstappen will be vying for the top spot—currently occupied by Lewis Hamilton, who has recorded 103 career wins to date—in the near future.