The 2023 F1 season witnessed mega dominance by Red Bull who continued its fine form from 2022, while many other teams had vastly different campaigns to the year before.
Aston Martin and Williams both moved up the championship order quite significantly, while Alpine and Haas dropped down.
But many others were up and down, too. So how did each F1 team perform in the 2023 season compared to 2022 and were there any shocks on the grid?
*Wins, pole positions and podiums don’t include sprint races
Red Bull
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 1st | 1st | 0 |
| Total Point | 759 | 860 | +101 |
| Grand Prix wins | 17 | 21 | +4 |
| Pole positions | 8 | 14 | +6 |
| Podiums | 28 | 30 | +2 |
Red Bull had a truly dominant 2022 season where it clinched the constructors’ championship with three rounds left, while Max Verstappen won a record-breaking 15 grands prix in a year. Considering such success, the question was how could Red Bull improve for 2023 - but that was something they managed to do.
The RB19 broke several records which arguably makes it the most dominant car in F1 history, where 21 grands prix wins helped Red Bull score over double the points tally of its runner-up Mercedes. Key to Red Bull’s dominance was once again Verstappen, who broke his own record for most wins in a season (19) plus many others to clinch a third consecutive drivers’ title.
Mercedes
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 3rd | 2nd | +1 |
| Total Point | 515 | 409 | -106 |
| Grand Prix wins | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Pole positions | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Podiums | 17 | 8 | -9 |
Mercedes ended 2022 with big disappointment, as the Silver Arrows got its narrow sidepod design significantly wrong and saw a run of eight consecutive championships ended by Red Bull. But, statistically, 2023 was even worse despite Mercedes adding wider sidepods onto its car for Monaco, which was the season’s sixth round.
The team had its first winless campaign since 2011 while scoring less than half of their podium tally from 2022. Mercedes often struggled to find the ideal operating window for its car during a weekend with set-up sometimes changing from session to session.
However, there was still a positive moment as Lewis Hamilton took pole for the Hungarian Grand Prix during a year where the seven-time world champion delivered impressive performances en route to third in the championship, despite his car’s struggles. It was a different story for team-mate George Russell, meanwhile, who finished eighth in the drivers’ standings with just two of the team’s eight podiums to his name.
Ferrari
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 2nd | 3rd | -1 |
| Total Point | 554 | 406 | +148 |
| Grand Prix wins | 4 | 1 | -3 |
| Pole positions | 12 | 7 | -5 |
| Podiums | 20 | 9 | -11 |
Ferrari had a season to forget as it slipped to third in the championship scoring 148 points less than 2022. The Scuderia’s biggest struggle was excessive tyre wear and inconsistent race pace which left them 454 points behind world champions Red Bull.
This was made worse as they arguably started 2022 with the quickest car, as Ferrari began that year with a 1-2 in Bahrain and led the Austrian squad by 49 points after three races. Since the Australian GP in April 2022 though, Ferrari has won just three grands prix and look very far from any kind of title challenge: Charles Leclerc finished fifth in the drivers’ standings, while Carlos Sainz, whose win in Singapore was the only non-Red Bull victory of 2023, came seventh.
McLaren
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 5th | 4th | +1 |
| Total Point | 159 | 302 | +143 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 | 9 | +8 |
The turnaround McLaren had in 2023 was remarkable. It started the year as a backmarker with no points in the opening two races, but wholesale updates for the grands prix in July turned their fortunes around. What it caused was nine podiums, plus a sprint race victory, in the latter half of the 2023 season, which lifted McLaren up to fourth in the championship from sixth before the upgrades.
Another reason for McLaren’s revival was that it finally had both cars consistently fighting for higher positions. Rookie Oscar Piastri replaced the struggling Daniel Ricciardo, who rarely challenged Lando Norris in their two years as team-mates. Norris scored 77% of McLaren’s points in 2022, which dropped to 68% in 2023 and helped them to challenge the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes - sometimes Red Bull even.
Aston Martin
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 7th | 5th | +2 |
| Total Point | 55 | 280 | +225 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 | 8 | +8 |
Aston Martin was one of the surprise packages in 2023, as it already surpassed its 2022 points tally after three grands prix. The British outfit started the season with the second-quickest car, as Fernando Alonso consistently stood on the podium alongside both Red Bull drivers.
This came after very aggressive developments over the winter, which resulted in the AMR23 being 2.4 seconds quicker than its predecessor in the first qualifying session of the season. However, other teams eventually caught up and overtook Aston Martin in the championship as it brought limited upgrades to the car, scoring just two podiums in the final 14 grands prix.
Nevertheless, it was a remarkable turnaround from 2022 when Aston Martin started that year without a point in the opening three races and its best result was sixth in Azerbaijan, Singapore and Japan.
Alpine
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 4th | 6th | -2 |
| Total Point | 173 | 120 | -53 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 | 2 | +2 |
Alpine had an underwhelming 2023, dropping two positions in the championship and scoring 53 fewer points. A large reason for this was the inconsistent A523 car which usually suffered at high-speed and low-downforce circuits, while reliability was often a problem with Esteban Ocon retiring from six grands prix. The management turmoil did not help matters either, as Laurent Rossi, Otmar Szafnauer and Alan Permane all left midway through the season.
But there were some positive moments for the French outfit, who scored two podiums with its new driver line-up. Ocon claimed third in Monaco, while Pierre Gasly achieved the same result in Zandvoort en route to the drivers finishing 11th and 12th in the standings.
So, it was a very up-and-down season for Alpine who finished a very comfortable sixth and showed much less consistency than 2022 where the team scored points in all but three grands prix.
Williams
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 10th | 7th | +3 |
| Total Point | 8 | 28 | +20 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Williams was one of the most improved teams in 2023 as the British outfit achieved its highest finishing position since 2017, after coming last in four of the following five seasons. Key to Williams’ improvement was its frightening straight-line speed where Alex Albon topped the speed trap in Canada at 213.1mph.
The 27-year-old had a terrific season, finishing 13th in the championship – six places higher than 2022 – with 27 points, yet team-mate Logan Sargeant struggled. The rookie scored just one point, which came because Leclerc and Hamilton were both disqualified from the United States GP, but Sargeant has still been retained for 2024.
A new team principal in James Vowles was also behind Williams’ improved form, and the team now look in good stead to build on their seventh-place finish rather than dropping back down to last.
AlphaTauri
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 9th | 8th | +1 |
| Total Point | 35 | 25 | -10 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 | 0 | 0 |
AlphaTauri improved significantly towards the end of 2023 thanks to a largely updated package. The Italian outfit scored 22 of their 25 points after the summer break, which caused AlphaTauri to rise from bottom to eighth in the constructors’ championship and bring it closer to its 2022 total.
A factor behind this was the improved performances of Yuki Tsunoda, who beat his 2022 points tally (12) by five, climbed three positions in the standings to come 14th and showed much greater consistency in his fight for a top-10 finish. The 23-year-old adopted more of a team leader role following the departure of Gasly, while the seat alongside him was never quite settled with Tsunoda having three separate team-mates across 2023.
Alfa Romeo
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 6th | 9th | -3 |
| Total Point | 55 | 16 | -39 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Alfa Romeo started the ground effect era with much promise as it scored a double points finish in the 2022 season-opening Bahrain GP. That contributed to a points tally of 51 in the opening nine grands prix before scoring just four in the following 13, as Alfa Romeo was slow on upgrades in the latter half of 2022.
Unfortunately for the team, Alfa Romeo has struggled to rediscover its form from the start of that season as the Swiss outfit scored just 16 points across 2023. It happened because the team failed to meet targets they set for the season, meaning Alfa Romeo was largely playing catch-up when it came to upgrades. It resulted in Valtteri Bottas finishing 15th in the drivers’ championship, five places lower than 2022, while Zhou Guanyu came 18th in both seasons.
Haas
| 2022 | 2023 | Difference | |
| Championship Position | 8th | 10th | -2 |
| Total Point | 37 | 12 | -25 |
| Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pole positions | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Podiums | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Much like Alfa Romeo, Haas began the ground effect era with plenty to be positive about. The American squad started 2022 with points in three of the opening four races after starting development on its VF-22 much earlier than others.
Haas finished the year eighth in the championship, which included a shock pole position for Kevin Magnussen in rain-hit Brazil, but things were much different in 2023. Its car really struggled with the overheating of tyres meaning Haas had a big disadvantage in races. Despite solid efforts from its drivers Nico Hulkenberg - who was signed for 2023 - and Magnussen, Haas claimed just four points finishes in the season which left them bottom of the standings.
