Formula One Season Review Part 3: Plenty of work for the bottom teams to do
Ryan Brolly
Aston Martin- Another disappointing season for Aston Martin where they failed to reach the heights of Racing Point who preceded them. Multiple points finishes from Sebastien Vettel and Lance Stroll ensured they would equal last season’s finish but it is hard to see where they can improve as Lance Stroll seems to have hit his ceiling in terms of race craft and pace.
Sebastien Vettel announced his retirement at the end of the season after 15 years in F1.
Bringing in the notoriously hard to work with Fernando Alonso may cause more problems than solutions. Sebastien Vettel’s retirement from Aston Martin sees one of the greatest of all time leave the sport after four world champions and a seemingly untouchable record of nine race wins in a row, he will be a big miss.
HAAS- Kevin Magnussen’s 5th place finish in Bahrain showed so much promise that perhaps the American team finally got it right, but this was not the case. Whilst he secured some more points finishes he was unfortunately let down by his teammate Mick Schumacher who took a long time to find his form, failing to score his first point until the 10th race at Silverstone. Magnussen showed his class again in Brazil scoring a shock pole position in the rain earning his seat for next season. Schumacher was not as fortunate however, being replaced by Nico Hülkenberg who has form in getting cars up the grid.
Alpha Tauri- An abysmal season from Red Bull’s sister team. After coming 6th in 2021 this was a sharp decline, hampered by reliability issues and driver errors. Yuki Tsunoda now has a lot to prove as lead driver going into 2023. He will be joined by Formula E World Champion Nyck de Vries, who will finally get a chance at the pinnacle of motorsport. After his cameo this season at Williams, scoring a point during his first race in an unfamiliar car, the pair have potential to set things right.
Williams- It was the Alex Albon show at Williams this season, as the former Red Bull driver had some phenomenal drives in that car. The most memorable was a last lap pit stop in Australia to finish 10th. He is the man Willaims must build around to ensure they don't occupy the basement of F1 leader boards forever. For Nicholas Latifi, he had less to shout about this season. Everyone's favourite Nutella lover has finally been dropped by the team and for good reason, he never really held the quality needed to be deemed one of the top 20 fastest drivers on the planet.
He will be replaced by Logan Sargeant, the first American on the grid in eight years, he will have a lot of work to do if he is to match the heights set by the last World Championship winner from the States, Mario Andretti.
Ryan Brolly is a History and International Relations student at Queen’s University Belfast and a Sport Reporter for The Scoop.