With the 2023 F1 season done and dusted, FormulaRapida.net decided to draw out a ranking system in a new ‘Tier’ system, moving away from a traditional, individual ranked order.
The long 2023 F1 season had its share of strong performances from everyone on the grid, whether at the front of the field or at the back. For this reason, we decided to do away with the traditional system of an individual, ranked system of categorisation.
Darshan Chokhani – as part of FormulaRapida.net – decided on the Tier system where we have 10 F1 teams divided in four tiers. Here’s how they are stacked up –
Tier 1 –
Red Bull:
No one can question having Red Bull standing alone in Tier 1 in this list as the team destroyed the competition, especially at the hands of Max Verstappen. Both the titles were sealed off with races to spare and Sergio Perez managed to secure a 1-2 in the standings too. The F1 team set and broke multiple records en-route, winning all but one grand prix (21 from 22) to almost have that clean sweep. It is no easy feat as even though you have that fast car, there is always the reliability problem and or incidents that can take them down, but the team managed to evade all that keeping luck and performance on their side. From the onset, they were unbeatable as others faltered around them. Whatever challenge was thrown at them, they took it with both hands and answered back well.
The only blip was the loss in Singapore which has become a bit of a joker grand prix for dominant forces – much like how it happened with Mercedes. The performances of Perez could be questioned though, as the inconsistency was far too much especially seeing how Verstappen performed but with a 1-2 end, they couldn’t have asked more. The 860 points Red Bull scored is the highest by a F1 team in the history of the sport surpassing the previous best of 765, as they registered 21 wins, 30 podiums, 14 pole positions and 11 fastest laps in all. It was once in a blue moon kind of performance, something that will be a bit difficult to achieve again quickly and or surpass even.
Tier 2 –
Mercedes:
With Red Bull taking the centerstage in Tier 1, the Tier 2 certainly is jam-packed with multiple F1 teams being led by Mercedes. The German manufacturer brought itself back in the game to be ahead of Ferrari, who took the place in 2022. It was a close fight between the two but the former’s reliability and consistency helped them to finish ahead in second by just the three points in the final race in Abu Dhabi. The dominance from Red Bull was such that even if we combine the points of Mercedes and Ferrari, it will be still less than 860. Eventually, Mercedes only managed 409 points in all which came along with no win against their name. Even on the podium side, they only managed eight to go with one pole position and five fastest laps – strikingly less than what the team is capable of.
Even though they managed to fight the likes of Ferrari and or McLaren at times, overall, they weren’t as pleased seeing how much time they lost to Red Bull. What was looking like a better concept after shedding the ‘zero-pod’, they were back to the drawing board to change things on a bigger scale for 2024. Their reliability did come handful to stay ahead of their competitors but to make any inroads on Red Bull, they will have to re-find success pretty soon this winter, otherwise it will be another close fight behind the reigning champions.
Ferrari:
After re-inventing itself in 2022, Ferrari went into a spiral again in 2023. They did not start off great due to the reliability issues and it persisted all-through the year. They did lose crucial points, not just on the drivers’ side but also constructors’. Their inconsistency helped Mercedes to beat them by three points, where the Italian manufacturer came close to register 406 points. In fact, they were the only ones to beat Red Bull, to be the only other winner of the 2023 F1 season. To go with that, they had nine podiums – that included a win – along with seven pole positions, which was certainly a bit more than Mercedes managed. While they did improve on strategy and or operational side, but it was still not enough, especially when pitted against the might of Red Bull. The good aspect was them learning and improving things as the season progressed, but how much they have and can in the winter to challenge the champions remains a question mark.
McLaren:
How they started the 2023 F1 season, it would have been difficult to put McLaren in Tier 2. The way things were looking in the first few races where they scored just the six times (includes double points) in eight races, it didn’t seem like they can even penetrate the Top 5 in the constructors’ standings. Their best result of fourth only came in the eighth race, but post that, there was no looking back. They bounced back with two consecutive podiums in Britain and Hungary, and their upward trend continued on post the summer break too. It was that time when they really showed their mettle and took on Mercedes and Ferrari handsomely, even knocking on the doors of Red Bull at certain events. They actually managed to beat them in the sprint in Qatar and were in with a chance for a race win in Qatar and or Brazil too, to a certain extent.
Eventually they scored 302 points which was nearly double of what they did in 2022 (159). To go with that, they registered nine podium finishes and had three fastest laps too. From being at the fag end of the field at the start, they were front-runners by the end despite having issues in the slow corners which they have to work upon in the winter. They surprised Red Bull with the fastest pit stop time of 1.80s, which was an improvement on McLaren’s side after their recent struggles. By the end of the year, they looked like a formidable unit overall with both the drivers doing their bit. They were more or less consistent too, slightly better than what Mercedes and Ferrari managed in some respects.
Tier 3 –
Aston Martin:
The team only just missed the bit to be in Tier 2. One can argue that if McLaren made it in, so should Aston Martin. But how their performances dipped as the season progressed and their qualifying troubles made it slightly easier to put them in the third tier. The way they started out, had they continued it, it was no-brainer for them to be in the second list. From where they finished the 2022 season with just the 55 points, the team scored 280 this year which shows the massive improvements they made in a year’s time. They were the benchmark when talking about improvements where they made others believe that massive gains is possible. But since they couldn’t maintain it, that was detrimental too. Rivals McLaren managed to surpass them with ease and with the Woking-based outfit having two drivers scoring well, it made the difference as Aston Martin had a large points gap between their drivers. They were one of the few teams to have that kind of gap which cost them a place in the standings. But nevertheless, registering eight podiums to go with one fastest lap was still a respectable achievement when they had none in 2022. It is just the dip they had which cost them highly, but getting itself in the hunting pack is a big result in itself and it can form a base for a better 2024.
Alpine:
When talking about Alpine, it always feels like a ‘no gain’ situation. They are ending up usually in a similar position or in and around it, leaving fans with a question that ‘can they really penetrate the Top 3?’. They never give that confidence. But at the same time, they always pop in and surprise everyone with some consistent results and even odd podiums to keep themselves afloat in that mid-field region – ahead of the pack behind. They are essentially in a no-mans land which was the case this year, as they were behind McLaren and Aston Martin, but ahead of the rest of the pack. They did lose out to above two when they should now be challenging them to connect with Mercedes and Ferrari. They got the two podiums to be happy about, but there’s still so much left to do especially as they have four teams to tackle, with others behind fast catching up. Although they are in Tier 3, but they could easily feature in the bottom tier too as they do not give the confidence they should being a manufacturer outfit.
Williams:
When talking about Alpine, you feel a bit so-so, but when talking about Williams, there is that feeling of enthusiasm seeing them. Whether it is James Vowles coming on board or them registering spirited results, the F1 team is always talked about whether performing well or not. This year was no different as they improved well from last season when they ended up in the bottom, to jump up to seventh this year. Thanks to their concept which worked well on circuits with long straights. They focused on one aspect and maximised on that to secure sound results – a strategy which works on a short-term basis. But they know their weaknesses and spent a large chunk to work on that for the future. It did come close with AlphaTauri towards the end in losing seventh, but they managed to hang on by three points (28 to 25). The spirited run and improvements from last year helped them to feature from ‘Others’ list to ‘Tier 3’ this year, even though they had just the one driver scoring the bulk of points with the rookie salvaging one point result to show his contribution.
AlphaTauri:
While Williams made the jump from last year to this year, AlphaTauri did it in one season itself. Much like McLaren, they started on a slow note. Despite handful of points, they were languishing at the bottom and were even forced for a driver before mid-season. With the injury to Daniel Ricciardo, there was another driver change but it did fetch them points courtesy Liam Lawson. Every bit helped as they made a good step towards the end of the year where they scored a large chunk of their points. They could have cleared Williams for seventh if not for that incident in Mexico where Yuki Tsunoda lost crucial points. But the step at the end will be handful in 2024 and the work done is good enough to feature in Tier 3. They had one fastest lap courtesy Tsunoda in a season which didn’t have very many from the lower field.
Tier 4 –
Alfa Romeo/Sauber:
Much like Alpine, even Alfa Romeo doesn’t give that spirited look from the outside. They are seemingly stuck in a spiral too with the concept eventually not working, as they revealed of change coming in 2024. It was once again the handful of points results in 2023. Overall, they were hugely inconsistent where the car just didn’t work at certain circuits. Having scored 55 points to be sixth in 2022, they only managed 16 this year to be ninth – the largest fall from last year to this. The updates simply didn’t work where they admitted that they exploited as much they had and there was nothing more they could extract with the current concept. Like AlphaTauri, they too registered one fastest lap courtesy Zhou Guanyu, but with the car not working well, both he and Valtteri Bottas couldn’t do much.
Haas:
Another of the disappointment of 2023 was Haas. Having started off decently and in a slightly good position, they eventually ended up last where they lost two places in the last few races. They always posed good results in qualifying, but their disastrous race pace let them down on multiple occasions, where they were sitting ducks for everyone. With the updates not working, they are in the dilemma for the future. They have also noted about a change in 2024 like Sauber, but it will be still difficult to penetrate the lower midfield considering how others have taken a step up.
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