Crofty's 2023 Season Predictions

So within a couple of weeks of 2023 I had already taken my first flights of the year. I was invited to Bahrain to help the Bahrain International Circuit launch the opening race of the season which really isn’t that far away now. There’s always a catchy slogan to go with a Grand Prix in Bahrain. In 2022 it was ‘A New Era’ to go hand in hand with the major regulation changes for last season. In 2023, the slogan is ‘Follow Your Champion’, it’s all about the drivers this year, who are currently preparing for a record-breaking season, whether or not China is replaced.

There are, as we all know three current or former Formula 1 World Champions on the grid to follow…..

But I was thinking. If we’re being asked to ‘Follow Your Champion’ are there really only three drivers to choose from? Surely not. But if not, what other champions are there on the F1 grid? Turns out, there are plenty.

Let’s start at Alfa Romeo where Zhou Guanyu celebrated winning the F3 Asian Championship in 2021 with four wins over the 15 rounds. Valtteri Bottas was the 2011 GP3 Champion, winning in each of the last four race weekends. He also took the 2008 Formula Eurocup and Formula Renault Northern Europe Cup.

Onto Alfa Tauri where Nick de Vries has been busy compiling the silverware in his racing career so far. 2014 Formula Renault Alps, 2014 Formula Renault Eurocup and 2019 F2 Championship titles, plus of course the 2021-21 Formula E Championship, making up for his runners up spot the season before. Yuki Tsunoda won five of the first six races on his way to becoming 2014 Japanese F4 Champion. In four successive seasons he raced in F4, F3, F2 and then F1, quite the rise through the ranks

Alpine feature the 2016 GP2 Champion Pierre Gasly who also won the 2013 Formula Renault Eurocup with his now teammate Esteban Ocon finishing 3rd that year. Ocon would have to wait 12 months to lift a Championship Trophy, claiming the 2014 Euro F3 title with three races to go, ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Max Verstappen, with 21 Podiums that season in 33 races, including nine wins. Meanwhile, just as Keke Rosberg did in Formula 1 back in 1982, Ocon took a title the following year with just the one race victory. Crowned GP3 Champion in 2015 and a record nine consecutive 2nd place finishes.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll dominated the 2016 Euro F3 Championship, winning the title by 187 points with 14 wins. George Russell finished 3rd that year. Stroll also took the 2014 Italian F4 and 2015 Toyota Racing Series.

It was back in 2011 that Carlos Sainz took the first of his two single seater championships, winning the Renault Northern Europe Cup. Three years later he beat Pierre Gasly to the Renault 3.5 Championship. Back in 2014 his Ferarri team mate Charles Leclerc graduated to single seaters and after a string of wins in Formula Renault and F3, he won the GP3 title in 2016 at his first attempt. He won the F2 Championship the following year, becoming the youngest ever F2 Champ at 19 years and 356 days old. He was also the first driver since Nico Huilkenberg to win F2 as a rookie.

Talking of The Hulk, let’s not forget how stellar his junior career was. As the 2005 Formula BMW, champion by five points from Sebastian Buemi. Nine wins in A1 GP in 2006/07, the most successful rookie in A1 GP history. Euro Formula 3 Champion in 2008 and a year later, as mentioned, GP2 Champion, his team mate Pastor Maldonado was a whopping 64 points adrift and runner up Vitaly Petrov 25 points back.

Kevin Magnussen showed his credentials for F1 by winning the Renault 3.5 Championship in 2013. Five years earlier he made the step up from karting with an instant title, taking the Danish Formula Ford Championship with 11 wins from 15 races.

On to Mclaren and the prolific Lando Norris for whom 2016 was a triple Championship winning season. He won the Toyota racing Series in New Zealand, Formula Renault Eurocup and Northern Eurocup all in the same year. In the latter he took 10 consecutive pole positions. A year later he managed eight poles and nine wins when he won the Euro F3 series. And we shouldn’t forget his MSA Formula Championship title in 2015, which included victory at Silverstone on the support bill for the British Touring Cars Championship.

His Mclaren teammate this year, Oscar Piastri, like Charles Leclerc and George Russell, won the F3 and F2 Championship in successive seasons. Unlike Charles and George he won the Formula Renault Eurocup title in 2019 which makes him the first driver to win three successive F1 feeder series. Oscar, by the way, will be 114th driver to race against Fernando Alonso in Formula 1, born in Melbourne, a month after Alonso made his F1 debut in the same city!

I mentioned George Russell’s achievements in GP3 and F2, but it’s also worth pointing out that as a 16 year old he also won the British F4 title, winning the final race after four drivers had all started out with a chance of winning the trophy.

Back in 2007, Sergio Perez bagged his title trophy and dominated the National Class of the British Formula 3 Championship, finishing off the podium in only two races.

Alex Albon won five Championships in his karting years and finished as runner up to Charles Leclerc in GP3 in 2016. His team mate Logan Sargeant also drew a blank when competing for single seater titles, but did become the first American to win an FIA Karting World Championship in 37 years back in 2015. Which sadly, makes Williams the only team without a ‘single seater’ champion in their ranks.

So that’s a potted history of our drivers for 2023. Plenty of Champions to follow, plenty of action to excite us all and for all of us who suffer complete FOWS at this time of the year (that’s Formula One Withdrawal Symptoms) the wait is finally over. The new season is here, and for me, that’s just CHAMPION.