The 2023 F1 grid was confirmed when Williams confirmed Logan Sargeant will partner Alex Albon at the team, the last piece of a truly bonkers silly season puzzle.
He had been announced for 2023 as long as he could secure his FIA super licence, but he had to wait until the final weekend of the season at Abu Dhabi to secure fourth place in the F2 championship and take up the offer.
But he navigated a fraught two races to become the first American to race in F1 since 2015, and if all goes well he’ll be the first to complete a full season since Scott Speed in 2006.
That means he completes a 2023 F1 grid where over a quarter of drivers are in new jobs from the season prior.
After a flurry of activity in September and the start of October, Sargeant and Nico Hulkenberg had to wait until nearly the end of the season to get their contracts and fill the last two seats on the grid.
Pierre Gasly was confirmed as the man to partner Esteban Ocon at Alpine, and Nyck de Vries was named as his replacement at AlphaTauri. That was after Alfa Romeo announced they were retaining Zhou Guanyu, Nicholas Latifi left Williams and Yuki Tsunoda stayed at AlphaTauri.
F1 2023 Driver Line-up
| Team | Driver 1 | Driver 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Red Bull | Max Verstappen | Sergio Perez |
| Ferrari | Charles Leclerc | Carlos Sainz |
| Mercedes | Lewis Hamilton | George Russell |
| Alpine | Esteban Ocon | Pierre Gasly |
| McLaren | Lando Norris | Oscar Piastri |
| Alfa Romeo | Valtteri Bottas | Zhou Guanyu |
| Haas | Kevin Magnussen | Nico Hulkenberg |
| AlphaTauri | Nyck de Vries | Yuki Tsunoda |
| Aston Martin | Lance Stroll | Fernando Alonso |
| Williams | Alex Albon | Logan Sargeant |
The big losers
Daniel Ricciardo, Mick Schumacher and Felipe Drugovich were the big losers, while Theo Pourchaire and Antonio Giovinazzi were also in contention for seats but ended up off the grid.
Ricciardo and Schumacher were axed from McLaren and Haas respectively, despite Ricciardo having a contract for 2023 and Schumacher recovering admirably from a tough start to the season.
The German’s yet to announce his next move while Ricciardo’s returned to Red Bull as their ‘third driver’ but seems behind Liam Lawson at least in their pecking order for practice sessions and simulator experience.
F2 champion Drugovich is now an Aston Martin reserve driver but never really had a shot at an F1 seat despite winning the title with three races to go.
On the move
Gasly had the chance to jump ship thanks to Oscar Piastri flipping the bird to Alpine when they announced he would drive for them in 2023.
That was after Fernando Alonso had also told Alpine where they could stick their 2023 seat, as he left for Aston Martin to team up with Lance Stroll in place of the retiring Sebastian Vettel.
Alpine had planned to keep Alonso for one more year then move him to their sportscar programme and bring Piastri in, but the Australian got tired of waiting and signed with McLaren instead, replacing Ricciardo.
