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It was a season thoroughly dominated by Red Bull and Max Verstappen as the pairing waltzed away with the constructors’ and drivers’ championships, leaving their F1 rivals in their wake.
Red Bull won 21 of the 22 grands prix, with Verstappen 19 on his own – both records – so you may think it tricky to select five of the best races of the year.
Believe it or not, there were some thrillers amongst the crushing victories enjoyed by Verstappen, and so here is a run-down of the best five grands prix of the 2023 Formula 1 campaign.
5. Italian Grand Prix
After a run of nine consecutive victories from Verstappen to leave him one shy of setting a record, Ferrari fans were given hope Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc could crush his ambition by lining up first and third on the grid on home soil at Monza.
After beating Verstappen to pole position by 0.013secs, Sainz then drove magnificently in attempting to keep Verstappen at bay during the opening phase of the race, using the SF23’s greater straight-line speed, before being forced into making a mistake through the first chicane which allowed the Dutchman to take the lead with a move around the outside of the Curva Grande into the second chicane.
Sainz and Leclerc then became involved in the first of their captivating scraps before Sergio Perez closed in on fresher tyres, the Mexican eventually finding a way past the Monégasque before encountering a roadblock in the form of the Spaniard as he tried and failed with several moves, drawing his ire over the radio at one stage.
With five laps remaining, Perez finally got his man, leaving Sainz to again duel with Leclerc, this time for a third place that went the way of the former, although only after a major lock-up into the first chicane on the final lap from the latter.
Yes, Verstappen did make it a record-breaking 10 wins in a row, beating Perez by six seconds, with the Ferrari duo a further five seconds back in third and fourth, but Sainz’s brave defending, and going wheel-to-wheel with Leclerc, made for a captivating race in which Mercedes duo George Russell and Lewis Hamilton were a distant fifth and sixth.
4. Dutch Grand Prix
This was a race in which Verstappen equalled the consecutive race wins record of Sebastian Vettel with his ninth in a row, and from pole position, but it was far from straightforward as that sounds.
With the race about to start, very light rain started to fall, which soon turned into a shower on the first lap, sparking pandemonium with the strategists as some opted to quickly pit for inters, whilst others told their drivers to stay out on dry rubber, proving costly as they plummeted down the order.
After lap two, it was Perez who held the lead from Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly in his Alpine, with Verstappen fourth as he had opted to stay out a lap longer than the trio ahead, leading to him almost tip-toeing into the pits in front of his concerned home crowd.
After swiftly despatching Zhou and Gasly, Verstappen found himself 10 seconds adrift of Perez who had chosen to pit at the end of lap one, with the Mexican seemingly in the ascendancy.
As the track dried and came back to those who had stayed out on slicks, Verstappen reversed the tables on Perez by pitting a lap earlier to take on the dry tyre, doing enough to leapfrog back into the lead.
A heavy crash from Williams’ Logan Sargeant sparked the first of the race’s two safety car periods, with the second following late on as a downpour struck Zandvoort, sending Zhou into the barriers, leading to a red flag that lasted for 40 minutes due to the conditions.
In between, as Verstappen led, the racing was frenetic, with positional changes occurring throughout.
At the restart, Verstappen controlled to claim victory ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, whilst Perez dropped from third to sixth at the flag after incurring a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
3. Australian Grand Prix
Sheer pandemonium! An epic race that included several crashes, three red flags, a finish behind the safety car, and a track invasion that landed the Australian Grand Prix Corporation in hot water with the FIA.
The start was just a taster of what was to come as slow-starting polesitter Verstappen was passed by both Russell and Hamilton – who had started second and third – into turns one and three respectively on lap one, in which Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc crashed out following a collision with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
On lap seven, the safety car was summoned again, before the first of the red flags when Williams’ Alex Albon smashed into a wall, spraying debris across the circuit.
Leader Russell had pitted with the safety car on track, only to lose out when the race was stopped as those behind took advantage of the situation to change rubber, handing the lead to Hamilton. The Mercedes driver, however, was easily passed by Verstappen on the first lap after the restart, whilst Russell later retired after 17 laps with a blown engine.
Verstappen then controlled the race from the front until, on lap 55 of 58, Kevin Magnussen suffered a heavy shunt into the wall at Turn 2, leading to the second red-flag period, and a two-lap shootout to the finish. Worse, though, a piece of debris from the Haas struck a fan. Thankfully, he was not seriously injured.
The standing restart turned into chaos as Alonso was spun around by Sainz, Pierre Gasly ploughed into Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon, Sargeant hit AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries, whilst Stroll ploughed through the gravel.
Unsurprisingly, the race was red-flagged again, and whilst there was another restart, this time it was behind the safety car that took the field across the line, with Verstappen ahead of Hamilton and Alonso.
Unfortunately, with many fans believing the race was over as that safety car lap took place, they had made their way onto a live racetrack, leading to the AGPC being investigated by the FIA for a failure to control its fans.
2. Las Vegas Grand Prix
It appeared as if all the action had unfolded in the build-up to the race given first practice ran for just eight minutes after Sainz’s Ferrari was damaged after running over a water valve cover, resulting to all others on the track needing to be checked.
After a lengthy delay, FP2 ran in front of empty grandstands as fans had to be sent home due to America’s labour laws protecting those on duty around the circuit and a limit to the number of hours they could work.
Thankfully, qualifying passed without a hitch ahead of a grand prix which delivered a classic in terms of it being a pure racing spectacle as the lead changed hands on five occasions throughout, although there were still incidents along the way that added to the drama.
Leclerc started from pole, and although passed by Verstappen into the first corner, the Dutchman was soon handed a five-second penalty for forcing the Monégasque off track.
A spin from Alonso at the start, along with Sainz and Hamilton colliding, led to a VSC to allow debris to be cleared. Four laps after the restart, the race was brought under a full safety car when Lando Norris ploughed into a wall in his McLaren.
After the restart, Leclerc managed to keep Verstappen in his sights in the first stint before taking advantage of ageing tyres on the Red Bull to reclaim the lead on lap 16, immediately after which the Dutchman pitted and served his penalty, dropping him to sixth by the end of the shake-up.
Soon after, Hamilton and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri were involved in a collision that forced both to pit, before Leclerc finally pitted after 22 laps, handing the lead to Perez, although he had taken on fresh tyres during the safety car period following the Norris incident.
A further collision, this time involving Verstappen and Russell, again led to a safety car due to debris on track, and the majority of the field taking on fresh tyres, although not Leclerc, who inherited the lead.
On lap 32, however, he was passed by Perez, only to recover later in the race and again reclaim the lead, with Verstappen following through on his team-mate soon after before passing Leclerc out front on lap 39.
A lock-up from Leclerc handed Perez second, but the former managed to remain in DRS range and grabbed the runner-up spot with a sharp move into the heavy braking zone at the end of the Strip, which had proven a popular passing place all night.
It was another Verstappen win but only by two seconds from Leclerc, with Perez less than two-tenths of a second back in third.
1. Singapore Grand Prix
I know what you’re thinking, I’ve gone for the only grand prix not won by a Red Bull driver – and Verstappen, in particular – for the best race of the year. In fairness, however, this was a gem and only just beats Vegas to the number-one ranking given the intensity of the action.
The event was turned on its head in qualifying when Verstappen and Perez both failed to make it out of Q2, with the champion pipped to a place in the top 10 by 0.007s by AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson, on a five-race cameo for the injured Daniel Ricciardo.
With both Red Bulls out of the way, Sainz grabbed pole by 0.072s to Russell, with Leclerc a further 0.007s back, although at the start he managed to jump the slow-away Briton ahead of him to give Ferrari a one-two lead.
On lap 18, the now traditional safety car at the Marina Bay Street Circuit was summoned when Sargeant crashed into a barrier, and although he managed to make his way back to the garage, the debris needed to be cleared, allowing the leading seven cars to take advantage by pitting for fresh rubber.
Verstappen and Perez, however, remained on track in second and fourth behind leader Sainz, with Russell third, whilst Leclerc and Hamilton were delayed in exiting the pits due to traffic, dropping to sixth and seventh.
On old rubber, Verstappen and Perez soon lost places, leading to a top four of Sainz, Russell, Lando Norris and Hamilton within three seconds of one another just after the halfway stage.
With the medium tyre proving to be so much quicker, Mercedes gambled by bringing in Russell and Hamilton for a double stack that propelled the duo into clear air and able to hunt down Sainz, Norris, and Leclerc, who was picked off on laps 53 and 54 respectively of the 62.
Norris was next on the hit list but the Briton was astutely helped by Sainz out in front, providing his good friend DRS assistance to allow him to keep Russell and Hamilton at bay.
On the final lap, Russell’s desperation to pass Norris saw him clip the Turn 10 barrier, sending him into a wall and allowing Hamilton to claim third, with the top three covered by just 1.269s at the chequered flag. As for Verstappen and Perez, they trailed home fifth and eighth.
