The 10 best race drives of F1 2023

Going beyond Max Verstappen's 19 wins this season, there was a plethora of starring performances up and down the grid during the 2023 Formula 1 season. While the Dutch dominator does make it into this top 10 standout drives of the season, many of his victories haven’t made the grade purely because he wasn’t pushed into anything phenomenal to achieve them.

This is why we have 10 different drivers represented, each with their own reasons for being worthy candidates here. Some shone with, at times, substandard machinery, while others make the list for ingenuity and skill that made them stand out from the rest.

Here are the 10 drives that make up the best of the best in 2023.

Max Verstappen - Miami GP (1st)

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Verstappen destroyed both the field and team-mate Perez with his Miami victory from ninth on the grid

This was the race that crushed Sergio Perez’s fleeting hopes of challenging for the title, when Verstappen atoned for a messy qualifying to scorch to victory from ninth on the grid. With nothing to lose, Red Bull put the reigning champion on the alternative strategy to start with hard tyres, while the top seven all opened on the mediums.

Once Verstappen got into his rhythm, he reeled off passes on Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Pierre Gasly in the opening nine laps, then homed in on polesitter Perez and Fernando Alonso. Once Alonso and Carlos Sainz were dispatched, Verstappen went long on his tyres as Perez began to worry about his mediums graining. Verstappen maintained a consistently strong pace to ensure that, by the time both drivers had stopped, they were separated by 1.6 seconds.

On the softer tyre, the Dutchman was on the charge and pushed Perez into defending into the end-of-back-straight Turn 17, which gave him the ammunition to make the final move into the first corner of lap 48. There was another hammerblow to come; Verstappen surged to the fastest lap of the race as he scampered away, 0.85s faster than anything Perez managed, to demonstrate the start of his 2023 dominance. JBL

George Russell - Spanish GP (3rd)

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Russell also made this list with third place in the Spanish GP in 2022

What a difference a day made for Russell and Mercedes in Spain. After his Q2 exit following his slightly shambolic crash with team-mate Lewis Hamilton, caused by a miscommunication on their respective run plans, he ended up finishing third in the race behind Hamilton, despite starting from eight places further back.

Russell’s brilliant race from 12th at Barcelona started by gaining five positions on the opening lap. First he blasted past Sergio Perez and Pierre Gasly away from the startline, then he had to bail out of a three-wide Turn 1 move with Oscar Piastri and Nico Hulkenberg. This was investigated, but Russell was cleared. Also, Lando Norris dropped back due to a clash with Hamilton.

Russell then produced a bold pass on Esteban Ocon before stopping to exchange soft tyres for mediums, after which he mistakenly thought it was raining due to sweat from a trapped strand of hair hitting the inside of his visor as he braked.

In the final stint, he pulled off a tougher pass on home hero Carlos Sainz, then showed strong enough pace on his ageing soft tyres to knock Perez off a briefly possible one-stopper and then held off the Red Bull’s rise back towards the podium places late on. AK

Alex Albon - Canadian GP (7th)

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

A perfectly executed one-stop strategy meant Albon starred in Montreal

Even the Maginot Line had been less impervious to attack than some of Alex Albon’s defensive efforts since the Anglo-Thai joined Williams. The Montreal race was no exception, as the lengthy back straight offered Albon plenty of opportunity to flex his FW45’s top-speed attributes.

After topping Q2, Albon could not log a representative lap in Q3 when Oscar Piastri crashed, so he started ninth. He lost a position to Charles Leclerc on the opening lap, remaining between the Ferraris until a lap 12 safety car (produced by debris from a wall-bothering George Russell) offered an opportunity to pit.

The clincher here was opting for a one-stop race, since many of the cars in the top 10 elected to conduct a second stop later on. Albon therefore moved up the order amid the second pit cycle and got as high as sixth, before Sergio Perez moved past to shuffle the Williams down to seventh.

From here, Albon stabilised. Although the chasing pack of a wounded Russell, Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris could all pick up DRS, Albon had them all covered and focused on nailing his hairpin exit to keep them all behind. And he managed this with a set of ageing hard tyres. Not bad. JBL

Carlos Sainz - Singapore GP (1st)

Photo by: Ferrari

Giving Norris DRS to defend against Russell was key to Sainz's Singapore success

A tactical masterclass by a driver who is carving out a reputation as someone who knows how to read a race. Securing pole position helped – Ferrari set-up breakthroughs had suited Sainz perfectly – but preserving the lead off the line laid the foundations for the Spaniard’s victory.

George Russell had been the main challenger as Red Bull suffered a mysterious lack of form, but his iffy start ensured Charles Leclerc could play as Sainz’s tail-gunner in the opening half. When Russell pitted for a second time under a virtual safety car, his Mercedes now had fresh tyres and he started to pick his way through the order, taking third off Leclerc before homing in on Lando Norris.

Instead of dropping the hammer on aged tyres, Sainz held back and started to pull Norris along with DRS, ensuring that Russell would struggle to pass the McLaren in the few passing zones. This meant Sainz was completely protected for the last six laps of the race. An excellent win was cemented on the final lap when Russell put his car into the wall at Turn 10. JBL

Oscar Piastri - Qatar GP (2nd)

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Piastri demonstrated why McLaren went to court with Alpine to secure the youngster in its F1 team

There’s nothing quite like a rookie announcing themselves in their first year of Formula 1 with a win, and Piastri managed that feat at the Losail circuit. It wasn’t a grand prix win, granted, because the success came in an exciting sprint, but it was a nonetheless impressive weekend from McLaren’s young Australian. Although he’d lost the sprint lead to the soft-Pirelli-shod George Russell after starting from pole, the Mercedes driver started to run out of tyre life, giving Piastri the opportunity to pounce back ahead.

A sixth-place start for the full GP, after being informed of a track-limits deletion in the parc ferme interviews, handed Piastri a greater workload for a gruelling encounter in the Qatari heat. Tyre issues added another hurdle, but his path to second was greased by the first-corner contretemps between the two Mercedes drivers.

With everyone locked into a three-stopper, Piastri likened the race to “57 qualifying laps” and hoped to provide an unlikely challenge to Max Verstappen in front. He just fell short, but managed to beat team-mate Lando Norris when McLaren asked the more senior driver to sit behind with a radio call – after all, the Melburnian had earned it. JBL

Lewis Hamilton - United States GP (DSQ)

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Hamilton challenged Verstappen for US GP victory on pure pace, but it was all for nothing when he was disqualified for an overly worn plank

Not a perfect race drive, given he went long in his pitbox at his first service and had an off-track moment. But, given how much better Red Bull’s RB19 was than Mercedes’ W14 in 2023, for Hamilton to come so close to finally standing on the top step of an F1 podium deserves credit.

At the getaway, Carlos Sainz squeaked past at Turn 1, with third-starting Hamilton ending up defending Max Verstappen’s surge on the downhill exit from the left-hand hairpin. The Briton then repassed the Spaniard and polesitter Charles Leclerc early in the first stint to run second.

Hamilton then erased Lando Norris’s lead before being left out for an elongated stint compared to Verstappen’s two-stopper behind. Mercedes ended up regretting this – Hamilton’s pace when back on the mediums for his third stint prompted a much stouter defence from Norris than against Verstappen.

Once past the McLaren, he closed on Verstappen by 0.6s per lap as the Dutchman battled a braking problem. Hamilton reckoned he might have been able to mount a pass with one more lap, but it later became academic when he was disqualified for overly worn planks. AK

Lando Norris - Mexican GP (5th)

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

The McLaren driver's charge from 17th to fifth left many wondering if he could have fought for victory with a better grid slot

After showing Max Verstappen-shading long-run pace in second practice in Mexico City, it all went wrong for Norris in qualifying. He ended up 17th after a late Q1 error that followed McLaren having to pit him to check his fuel system while on a medium-tyre banker lap.

Then in the first half of a race cut rather in two by Kevin Magnussen’s crash, he lost three places by stopping just before the red flag, and shipped four more to a wheelspin-heavy second standing start. But that was the only real error on a day when Norris ultimately wouldn’t be denied.

His pace on the medium tyres from the second start to the flag compared favourably even to dominant winner Verstappen, and Norris was having to pass nine rivals as he produced those lap times. It all left observers wondering whether he might have been a victory threat without the Q1 exit.

Norris’s passes on Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell late in the race were very impressive, all done as he fought to keep the mediums in best shape and temperature on the tricky track surface. And as with all the rest in the thin, high-altitude air, he had to take care not to overheat his brakes. AK

Fernando Alonso - Brazilian GP (3rd)

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Alonso produced some magic in his late race duel against Perez in Brazil

The second half of 2023 had been short of Alonso magic after a bright start to the year, but the Asturian found a sprinkling of gold dust in his path to third in Brazil. Alonso had a challenge from a ninth-starting Sergio Perez, whose heavily undercut first pitstop had brought him into play.

Although Perez closed in during the middle stint, Alonso had been able to stabilise and maintain a solid three-second gap before their final pitstops. With both on soft tyres for the last stretch, the Spaniard initially covered off Perez but soon fell into DRS range, prompting some improvisation by opting for a series of different lines through sector two to shake Perez off his scent. He eventually succumbed to a first-corner move on the penultimate lap and the Mexican took third position.

But Alonso was still in the fight. He placed his car perfectly over the lap to ensure Perez was exactly where he wanted him to be, putting the Red Bull off-line slightly at the start of the final lap. This gave Alonso the momentum to return the favour into Turn 4 on the last lap, and he held the place, with the two separated by just half a tenth at the line. JBL

Charles Leclerc - Las Vegas GP (2nd)

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

Leclerc was another to steal a position from Perez with a last lap move

Leclerc really should have doubled Ferrari’s 2023 victory tally with his brilliant performance on F1’s return to Las Vegas, but was undone by race circumstances behind him on a day when the team’s year-long struggles with tyre overheating didn’t matter thanks to the cool, night-race temperatures.

At the start, polesitter Leclerc was pushed off at Turn 1 by Max Verstappen’s lunge on the slippery track surface, Leclerc wary to avoid contact given Ferrari’s close fight with Mercedes for second in the constructors’ championship. But he rallied and repassed Verstappen just before the world champion pitted and served a penalty for his first-lap move, the Ferrari performing much better on the fragile medium tyres.

Leclerc was left out to build a considerable tyre offset as Verstappen set about climbing back up the order following his long stop. When Leclerc did pit for hard rubber, he faced a deficit to Sergio Perez thanks to the Mexican’s first-lap stop for a new front wing being negated by the race’s first safety car. But just as Leclerc was coming back towards the lead, having carefully brought his hards up to temperature when the risk of rear graining with aggressive corner exits was high, a second safety car ruined his hard-built advantage.

Ferrari left him out while the Red Bulls pitted, which meant losing critical tyre temperature on the hards. He repassed Perez after the restart, then Verstappen came past both, before Leclerc’s only mistake – a lock-up leading onto the Strip straight – let Perez through again with seven laps to go. But he used his ‘Monza special’ low-downforce rear wing to catch back up, then stole second on the last lap after spotting Perez taking it easy into the left-hander at the end of the Strip six tours earlier. AK

Esteban Ocon - Las Vegas GP (4th)

Photo by: Erik Junius

Ocon's fourth place in Las Vegas wasn't his best result of the season but it was a very impressive drive

Fourth in Las Vegas was Ocon’s best result since his third-place finish in Monaco, on a day when he went dramatically forwards for Alpine while his team-mate Pierre Gasly tumbled back from a strong qualifying result.

Ocon started 16th, but his efforts to avoid the first-lap chaos on the cool, low-grip track surface meant he’d risen to eighth by the time he started the second tour. Kevin Magnussen did come past following the early safety car period caused by Lando Norris’s huge crash, but Ocon soon battled back through for a second time after the restart. He then set about catching and passing Logan Sargeant, which he did with a fine move at the Turns 6/7 complex by the Sphere – unfancied for overtaking.

Ocon then passed Alex Albon in the other Williams, and after the race-altering VSC was with Gasly. He then appeared to ignore an instruction to hold station, but explained that he actually just misheard the call as he was making the move.

After this, Ocon was able to stick close to the leaders on a similar one-stop strategy to Charles Leclerc ahead (Ocon stopped one lap before the Ferrari mid-event), while Gasly fell backwards with tyre graining and a battery issue. George Russell got Ocon on the last lap, but the Mercedes’ penalty meant that didn’t matter. AK

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

What other performances stood out for you in 2023?