F1 2023 Rookies

Looking ahead to do 2023 season, we have three new drivers on the grid. Who are they and how have they made it into F1?

Oscar Piastri - Mclaren

I’m pretty sure everyone will have heard of Oscar Piastri by this point. The Australian driver made quite a stir in the 2022 summer break with THAT tweet. Outside of his contract drama, he has had a very successful motorsport career so far. Piastri won the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019, then going on to win the F3 and F2 championship in his debut seasons, 2020 and 2021 respectively. With all of these title wins, he became the first driver to win three consecutive F1 feeder series’ championships. Despite his clear talent, he was unable to secure himself an F1 seat for the 2022 season and spent this on the sidelines at Alpine as their reserve driver. He is managed by ex-F1 driver and fellow Australian, Mark Webber, giving him a wealth of experience to tap into as he has moved up the ranks. It is certainly looking very promising for Piastri as he moves into a full time race seat at Mclaren alongside Norris.

Nyck de Vries - Alpha Tauri

Nyck de Vries is again someone pretty well known to F1 fans. As well as being seen sat next to Toto Wolff in the Mercedes garage on race weekends, he also spent time out on track in the 2022 season. By the end of the year, De Vries had completed FP1 sessions with Williams, Mercedes and Aston Martin - clearly lots of teams thinking he is talented enough to trust in their cars. However, he is most well known for his incredible points finish in Monza as he filled in for an ill Alex Albon. Having started the weekend in the Aston Martin, on Saturday he was thrown into the Williams and managed to get himself into Q2, out qualifying team mate for the weekend Latifi. He finished the weekend in ninth place and was rightly awarded Driver of the Day by the fans. It was this display in Monza that secured him his 2023 drive, with multiple teams suddenly interested in him. Before his F1 career, he won the 2019 F2 championship and won the 2020-21 Formula E championship with Mercedes. He will be joining Alpha Tauri in 2023 and become the second Dutch driver on the grid, alongside Max Verstappen.

Logan Sargeant - Williams

We also saw Logan Sargeant making appearances in Formula 1 last season. He made his Free Practise debut at COTA with Williams, going on to complete three more sessions with the team at Mexico City, Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi while trying to get enough Super Licence points to race in F1. In 2022, Sargeant became the first American driver to win a Formula 2 race, winning the feature race at the British Grand Prix. Unlike the other two rookies joining the grid, he has never won a championship title but despite this will be joining Williams in 2023, racing under the driver number 2.