February is now upon us, and things are beginning to rev up within the world of Formula One! There are currently only 16 days until pre-season testing begins in Bahrain, which will be the world’s first glance into what the coming season could potentially look like.
If you don’t know what pre-season testing entails, it is essentially a chance for each team to ‘test’ their car’s ability on a race circuit, evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the vehicle in action. Besides the monitoring of your own car, teams use this opportunity to scope out the competition from the rivalling groups, paying close attention to who is significantly faster than the previous year. Tensions may arise during these tests, as they very much have in past years, which will only fuel the anticipation for that first grand prix in Bahrain in March.
Until recently, there has not been much to report on from the sport, only mere technical changes and team politics. Although thankfully, teams have recently begun to reveal their upcoming 2023 car models to the public, kickstarting the exciting build up to pre-season testing. A number of teams have released their expected models, notably Haas, Redbull, Williams, and just today, Alfa Romeo. The design of majority of the cars are essentially similar, besides a few colour changes. However, there have been a few notable changes. Haas has chosen to sport a black exterior, with white text on the car, very much differentiating from last years car. Williams proudly flaunts an electric blue, a striking colour that is bound to catch the eyes of spectators at events.
In addition to the upcoming pre-season anticipation, there have been many speculations as to what the upcoming season will look like, and several predications for the season have been thrown around. Let’s look at a few!
The most common prediction seems to involve Max Verstappen winning his third consecutive championship, which would not come as a big shock, considering how talented he is as a driver and the sheer force of that Redbull. However, as we’ve seen before, this sport is highly unpredictable and there’s no telling what can happen to our top contender teams.
There is also speculation that Mercedes may potentially get their groove back this season. 2022 was extremely disappointing for the team, as they shockingly lost the constructor’s title to Redbull, for the first time in a long while. However, towards the end of the season, the driver’s abilities and the car’s performance seemed to significantly improve, potentially hinting at the possibility of a redemption season this year.
In conjunction to the participants of the sport, the fans also contribute enormously to the makings of Formula 1, and the high intensities of the sport. Through recent years, the support and attention F1 has gained is unprecedented, completely skyrocketing in views and ticket sales. It is predicted that the sport will only continue increasing in attention, expecting to break more records of ticket sales and audience capacities in the coming year.
Although it is amusing to speculate, one can never fully be prepared for what the season may reveal to be, the possibilities are endless!
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