SAKHIR, Bahrain (PSF) — As Round 1 of the 2023 Formula 1 season is just a couple days from kicking off, I would like to share some predictions that I have for the upcoming season. From Drivers’ Championship standings, to Constructors’ Championship standings, to some storylines that could develop, to looking past the conclusion of the season, I will give my two cents on it all.

Drivers’ Championship

1. Max Verstappen - Red Bull

2. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari

3. George Russell - Mercedes

4. Sergio Perez - Red Bull

5. Carlos Sainz - Ferrari

6. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

7. Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin

8. Esteban Ocon - Alpine

9. Lando Norris - McLaren

10. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin

11. Pierre Gasly - Alpine

12. Valtteri Bottas - Alfa Romeo

13. Kevin Magnussen - Haas

14. Oscar Piastri - McLaren

15. Nico Hulkenberg - Haas

16. Zhou Guanyu - Alfa Romeo

17. Nyck de Vries - AlphaTauri

18. Alexander Albon - Williams

19. Yuki Tsunoda - AlphaTauri

20. Logan Sargeant - Williams

Constructors’ Championship

1. Red Bull

2. Ferrari

3. Mercedes

4. Aston Martin

5. Alpine

6. McLaren

7. Alfa Romeo

8. Haas

9. AlphaTauri

10. Williams

Prediction: Alpine’s Ocon-Gasly Pairing Gets Spicy

I think the French duo will end up costing the team a lot of points and eventually P4 in the Constructors’ Championship. Esteban Ocon is already a very aggressive driver who isn’t afraid to get his elbows out on track and I think Pierre Gasly will not respond to this well, and I believe it will lead to the storied rivalry between the two to be reignited. I believe both drivers will be retained for the 2024 season but strict orders from Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer will be set for both drivers to not fight each other.

Prediction: Aston Martin Hype Is Real

As you can saw in my drivers’ and constructors’ predictions, I am buying all the Aston Martin stock for this year. The car looked legitimately quick in pre-season testing and I believe it will translate to on-track results. A jump in the Constructors’ Championship from P7 to P4 is pretty crazy but I can see it happening. Fernando Alonso will get the most out of the car and I believe Lance Stroll will do just enough to silence some of haters.

Prediction: Who Is Gone After This Season?

In my opinion there will be just one driver who leaves the grid after this season: Yuki Tsunoda. This will be Tsunoda’s third season in Formula 1 and he has been outscored in his two completed seasons by former teammate Pierre Gasly. With Gasly now heading to Alpine, this leaves Tsunoda to take the reigns as the team leader. With being the team leader comes responsibilities that include outscoring your teammate. His new teammate is 28 year old rookie Nyck de Vries who I have outscoring Tsunoda in his first full season as a Formula 1 driver. If Tsunoda is unable to grab the brass ring and outscore his teammate this season, it will be the final straw and will ultimately cost him his seat in F1.

Prediction: Who May Move Teams For 2024?

There are three people who I can see moving teams after this season, and I will tell you where I think they will go and why.

First let’s start with my first candidate to move teams, Alexander Albon. Albon in his first season at Williams did a great job working with the worst car on the grid and outscored his teammate Nicholas Latifi. As I predict Williams to struggle yet again and for Albon to outscore his teammate yet again, I can see him wanting to move onto a team that can give him more of an opportunity to score points. The last time Albon was in a car that was able to score good points it was in 2020 when he raced for Red Bull. That season was shaky for him and he was not able to extract the pace out of that car that teammate Max Verstappen was able to. I believe that he will be ready to take the next step forward after this season as he has already matured so much as a driver. The team I can see him landing with is McLaren. And no, he would not be replacing Oscar Piastri.

Which leads me to my next candidate to move teams: Lando Norris. This is a big one. But after four seasons at McLaren and the team not being capable of delivering him a car that can truly compete for race wins, I believe he has every right to move on if he desires. Plus the pre-season testing results indicates that it will be the same story for McLaren this year. It is unfortunate that we can see how talented of a driver Lando is and knowing that if McLaren can just deliver him the proper machinery he can be a Drivers’ Championship contender. Now I’m sure you’re thinking, “where in the world would Lando Norris go?” There is only one answer to where he could possibly go if he were to ever move teams, and that destination is Red Bull. It would be one of the biggest moves in F1 history and would create one of the scariest driver line-ups of all time in Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has spoken very highly of Norris for the past couple years almost silently recruiting him.

Sergio Perez is the final mover that I predict will change teams at the end of the 2023 season. At no fault to his own, I believe that this will strictly be due to Red Bull seeing the chance to grab Lando Norris from McLaren and them understandingly taking it. I don’t see Red Bull being upset with Perez as I predict Verstappen to capture his third straight Drivers’ Championship and the team’s second straight Constructors’ Championship. Perez has, and I believe he will continue to deliver everything the team expects of him. But Norris is just a better driver than Perez and the opportunity for Red Bull will be too great to pass up. The easy prediction would be to have Perez to move to AlphaTauri to stay in the Red Bull system, but I think that since “Checo” doesn’t have any real deep ties to the Red Bull driver system past joining the team in 2021, he will opt to leave the team as a whole to fill the vacancy left by Alex Albon at Williams. Since I foresee Sargeant hanging onto his seat for at least another season, Williams could benefit from a veteran presence of Sergio Perez who has an abundance of experience with a car that isn’t expected to challenge for podiums. I also think that the move to Williams would be a mutually beneficial for the Red Bull system as I feel as though they would rather put one of their Red Bull Junior Team drivers in that vacant AlphaTauri seat based on my previous prediction of Yuki Tsunoda losing his seat. Whether it be Liam Lawson, Isack Hadjar, or Dennis Hauger, I could see them all being prime candidates for Yuki’s vacant seat as talented young Red Bull Juniors. At the end of the day, it is a fresh start for Checo at Williams and another way for him to stay on the Formula 1 grid.