This weekend, the World Formula One Championship (F1) opens for the third consecutive year at the Sakir circuit in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Shanghai driver Zhou Guanyu will also continue to represent Alfa Romeo as a "second year" career. The contributing author of "Shangguan" combined the information gathered during the pre-season test in Bahrain last week to produce the most complete season viewing guide for readers.
Alonso to Aston Martin
In July this year, the "head brother" who turned 42 will switch to the "greencoat" Aston Martin. From pre-season testing, he seems to have transshipped ... The AMR23 car is recognised as the most surprising presence in the three-day test, boding well for the two-time world champion to make a difference in the new season.
B Black Mercedes
Mercedes AMG's W14 car this year once again showed itself as a "black arrow" instead of the traditional "silver arrow". In addition to wanting to find the "way to victory" for the 2020 and 2021 seasons that use this livery, it is also for the "weight reduction" of the car - after all, the minimum weight of this year's car has been reduced by another 2Kg (to 796Kg). From the pre-season test, the "Trident" is not small away from the main rivals Red Bull and Ferrari.
More Tyre Compound
Pirelli, the exclusive tyre supplier, has prepared a total of six tyre formulations for the 2023 season: from hardest to softest, counting from 0 to 5. Last season's C1 tyre, which became this season's C0 tyre, is the hardest formula of the six tyres and will be nominated for the most demanding tracks.
Drugovich's Chance
Lance Stoll, who suffered a cycling injury at the beginning of the season, returned in time for the opener, putting an end to the 2022 FIA F2 champion and third driver of the team, Brazilian Philippe Drugovich. However, getting two and a half days of valuable driving in pre-season testing helped him well in his F1 preparation. Maybe there are other opportunities this season?
E Extra DRS Zone
The DRS zones for Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Azerbaijan and the Miami Grand Prix will change, with the Albert Park circuit set to have a record 4 DRS zones.
F "French National Team"
The Alpine team became the "French national team" through and through, consisting of two Mesozoic drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon who each won one Grand Prix. Even if their relationship has been less than ideal in the past, it has improved recently. At the team level, the French manufacturer, which was fourth last year, is expected to continue its role as a "spoiler" in the race.
G Five Star Sports (Great Sport)
Five Star Sports is celebrating its twentieth year of broadcasting F1 in its entirety. The "five-star crosstalk group" formed by Li Bing, Ye Fei and Zhou Haoran will continue to be the first choice for Shanghai audiences to watch F1 races.
H Holkenberg joins Haas
As holder of two embarrassing F1 records – the driver with the most races/points but never a podium. The former "genius boy" Nico Hockenberg has been recruited by Haas in the past two years through his superb skills as a "super substitute", and he has partnered with Kevin Magnuson, who used to talk to himself in the trash. From pre-season testing, such a fantastic combination of teams has shown some positive "chemistry".
I Imola
As the opener of the F1 European season, most of the upgrades from the teams will be brought here. The tournament will also kick off the first "triple" of the season.
Junior Formula Category
This season F2 and F3 will see the longest season in their respective history (14/10) and a rare 'long flying' event – visiting Melbourne's Albert Park circuit for the first time. Judging from the list of participants, the competition will be very competitive. In addition, F1 has created a new women's race, the F1 Academy, which will feature 15 drivers in the inaugural event.
K Most Technical Regulations Keep
This year's F1 technical rules have changed quite little. The main changes are related to the elimination of "dolphin jumping". There are four main items: the edge of the racing floor will be increased by 15 mm, the throat height of the diffuser will be increased, the stiffness of the diffuser edge will be increased, and additional sensors will be added to detect the "dolphin jump" phenomenon more effectively.
Lusail
Sports fans should remember that more than three months ago, Messi lifted the Hercules Cup at the Lusail Stadium. In October, the Lusail circuit, not far from the stadium, will host the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix for the second time at night. This will kick off their ten-year tournament.
M Max Verstappen
Starting his ninth season of his career, the Dutch man is vying to become the fifth driver in F1 history to complete the "trifecta". "Super Max", which is at the peak of his career, has a good chance of success.
New contract? （New Contract?）
According to statistics, the existing contracts of about 8 drivers will expire at the end of the season. It is bound to set off a storm in the transfer market. Among them is the "seven-time champion" Lewis Hamilton. According to the "Che Emperor" himself, he hopes to drive for at least another 2-3 years.
o Oscar Piastri
After last season's controversial "contract gate", Piastri, who had achieved "three crowns in three years (European Formula Renault, F3 and F2)" in Formula Junior, began his F1 career in place of fellow compatriot Daniel Ricciardo. It looks like the McLaren MCL60 is slow, so it may be difficult for the Australian to show his quality in the first half of the season. Still, he's one of the most noteworthy drivers for the 2023 season.
P Penalty Regulation
In the new F1 Sport Rules, the clause on starting after penalty has been updated: drivers who have been penalized more than 15 in total, or who have been sent back to the end of the line, will start after all other drivers. Their relative position will be determined based on qualifying results.
Q Qualifying Experiment
According to the rules that have been established so far, two races in the 2023 season will use the "revised qualifying mode" in order to evaluate whether the revised mode is suitable for other Grand Prix. In the revised model, a fixed tyre formula must be used for each of the three qualifying sessions: Q1 hard tyres, Q2 neutral tyres, and Q3 soft tyres.
R Reserve Driver
This year's team has a strong line-up of reserve drivers. Mercedes and McLaren share the newly unemployed "son of the king", Mick Schumacher, and the German is also trying to return to the F1 grid in 2024. In addition, the list includes young talents such as Jack Duhan (Alpine) and Theo Boshel (Alfa Romeo) who will compete in F2, and these drivers are ready to go, after all, they know that the 2024 season will usher in a "big shuffle" of drivers.
Six Sprint Races
In the new season, the number of sprint races (Saturdays) will increase from three to six in the previous two seasons. It will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, Red Bull Ring in Austria, Spa in Belgium, Rosail in Qatar, COTA in the United States and São Paulo in Brazil. This year, the additional amount of "budget cap" that teams can receive due to the sprint race has been increased from 150,000 to 300,000 per race, but the "major accident subsidy" set up in the last two seasons will no longer exist. In addition, the "Parc Ferme" rules for race weekends with sprint races will be made more flexible.
Team Principal Changes
This past winter break saw a change of leadership for four teams, including Ferrari, McLaren, Alfa Romeo and Williams. In particular, Williams, who has been the "deputy squad leader" in recent years, signed one of the founders of the Maben dynasty, strategist James Vowles, as team leader. From the current point of view, the new car FW45 has improved, and the opportunity is not very ugly than the bottom one. However, the priority is that they quickly "rebuild" and first sign a technical director.
U USA Power
Since Liberty Media took over F1, the US has been their market. In the 2023 season, they have taken the American element of F1 to new heights – with an American F1 team (Haas), an American F1 driver (Logan Sargent) and three F1 Grands Prix (Miami, Austin and Las Vegas). In particular, the "Battle of the Casino" will be repeated in 41 years, and it will be the first time since the 1985 South African Grand Prix that the main event will be held on Saturday local time.
V Vasseur Replace Binotto
Ferrari is notoriously a bad team leader. Especially since the current F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali resigned ten years ago due to poor results, the "Prancing Horse Leader" has changed stubble after stubble, and it has always been difficult to bring Maranello back to the top. Now, the Frenchman Fred Vassell, who has rich experience in racing management, has taken over, and from the pre-season test, it can be regarded as a preliminary "rectification", showing his own management of the army. Can he, like Jean Todd, be the founder of a new Red Devil dynasty? We'll see.
W New Wet Tyre
Last season, Pirelli's rain tyres were described by the media as "only safe to use". This also makes it embarrassing that once the event has a moderate rain level (above), the race will not be able to run smoothly - the most obvious example is last year's Singapore and Japan Grand Prix. After three rounds of testing at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the Italian tyre manufacturer will officially use this formula that does not require tire blanket insulation at the sixth race of the season, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix (Imola).
X Variable Factor (X-Factor)
Red Bull Racing was fined a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time for violating the 2021 Financial Regulations (Budget Cap). Although RB19 will continue to lead the F1 crowd from pre-season testing, this "resource" penalty is bound to affect Milton Keynes Teams' upgrades in the second half of the season and even the development of the 2024 car. So the second half of the year is not necessarily without suspense.
Y Tsunoda's Pressure
As an Asian rider, Yuki Tsunoda has a very big challenge this year. First of all, after the departure of "good buddy" and "good senior" Gasley, he will face the late bloomer but strong Dutchman Nick de Vries impact, considering that Honda's youth training has a potential stock like Ayumi Iwasa, if the "third year" is blasted by his teammates, his F1 career will end.
Z Zhou Guanyu must exert force (Zhou must show)
Zhou Guanyu, who entered the "second grade", continued to drive the Alfa Romeo car. From the pre-season test, the performance of the new car C43 is acceptable, and it has the potential to fight in the midstream group. That's good news for the Shanghai riders. However, there is also more pressure on the "small week", which is still signed once a year. He must convert more points and ensure that the gap between points and team-mate Walter Bottas is as small as possible at the end of the year to prove that he is indeed qualified to remain in the F1 paddock.
About the author:
Qian Jun, attracted by the fierce competition and the story behind motorsport through live coverage of Shanghai F1 races, has grown into a frontline person in China's coverage of international motorsports: he also holds F1, WRC World Rally Championship and Formula E annual interview cards, and provides graphic reports for many well-known media in the Asia-Pacific region.
In 2018, he was selected into the FIA Media Working Group (the only member of the Asia Pacific region) and recognized his position in the industry. In 2023, he will continue to write the "Speed Talk" column in the "Shangguan News Sports +" column to tell the behind-the-scenes story of tracking the world motorsport from zero distance.
Column editor-in-chief: Chen Hua Text editor: Chen Hua Source of title picture: Qian Jun
文内插图：钱俊 Source: Author: Special author Qian Jun