F1 2023 calendar, testing and car launch dates

Formula 1 is back for 2023 with a record-breaking calendar and a season which could see more excitement if Mercedes and Ferrari have closed the gap to Red Bull over the winter.

Max Verstappen will look to become only the fifth driver to win a hat-trick of championships, joining Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio and Sebastian Vettel in the elite club.

Red Bull are the defending constructors’ holders but will be handicapped this year after controversially breaking the budget cap regulations in 2021.

F1 in 2023 has the prospect of producing a three-way title fight but we can guarantee drama, incidents and off-track politics to make the headlines too.

F1 2023 pre-season testing dates

There will be just three days of pre-season testing, half as much as 2022. The teams will have eight-and-a-half hours of running each day at the Bahrain International Circuit from February 23-25.

Each day will be split into a four-hour session from 10:00 to 14:00 local time and a four-and-half hour session from 15:00 to 19:30. Bahrain is three hours ahead so in the UK, so that’s 07:00 to 11:00 and 12:00 to 16:30 GMT.

F1 testing regulations state each team can run just one car, so any reliability issues, crashes or damage will be costly.

F1 Testing – What happens

Testing in F1 is all about mileage. The more kilometres you do, the more data you collect, therefore you can experiment with setups and parts which should give you more performance.

The teams and drivers will play down any lap times, but there’s no reason to not take the final test standings as a good indicator as to what the pecking order is.

It’s the long runs where you can really see who is performing well as you know what fuel levels the car have and whether they can consistently deliver strong lap times.

F1 2023 calendar

The 2023 F1 calendar was originally announced to have 24 events, however the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix means there will be 23 rounds from March to November.

This is still a record number of races, as the Qatar GP makes its return after a year off the schedule and the championship visit Las Vegas for the first time. The race will also happen on a Saturday night (22:00 local time, which is 06:00 UK time on Sunday morning) and will be the penultimate event of the season.

There will be no French GP as F1 chose not to renew its contract with Paul Ricard, although the event could come back in the future on a rotational basis.

Bahrain hosts the opening round on March 5, with the finale taking place in Abu Dhabi on November 26.

There are two four-week gaps between the Australian and Azerbaijan GP, plus the usual summer break in August.

The Belgian GP has changed dates to the final race before the summer shutdown on July 30 as part of its deal for 2023.

F1 2023 car launch dates

Haas were the last team to announce their launch date but will be the first to reveal their car, on January 31 at 14:00 UK time.

Red Bull will be second team to launch their on February 3 in New York after the team posted a social media message which stated: “‘New kit, new car, New York”.

Williams will show picture of their car online on February 6 at 14:00.

Alfa Romeo‘s C43 will be revealed in Zurich a day later on February 7 at 09:00.

AlphaTauri will have a livery launch, also in New York, on February 11, before McLaren and Aston Martin show off their 2023 machines on February 13.

Ferrari have confirmed their car will be launched on February 14, with no details about the name of the car or the location it will be shown.

On February 15, Mercedes will reveal the W14 from Silverstone with an expected film day too.

Alpine will be the last team to show off their car with an event in London on February 16.