2023 F1 driver line-ups: full grid confirmed for next season

The 2023 Formula 1 driver line-up sees three rookie drivers join the grid, one veteran return, and two change teams after months of rumour and speculation.

Nico Hülkenberg was the final driver to be confirmed in November. He will be back in a full-time Formula 1 seat for the first time since 2019, replacing Mick Schumacher at Haas.

Young American racer Logan Sargeant secured his seat at Williams in place of Nicholas Latifi, having finished high enough in last year’s F2 championship to qualify for a superlicence. He will be the first American driver in F1 since Alexander Rossi in 2015.

Joining him as rookies are Oscar Piastri, the subject of a contract wrangle between Alpine and McLaren, which ultimately secured his services, and Nyck de Vries. The Dutchman’s impressive reserve drive for Williams at Monza last year helped him to secure an AlphaTauri seat.

Piastri’s signing spells the end of Daniel Ricciardo’s F1 racing career for now — he has rejoined Red Bull as a reserve driver. de Vries replaces Pierre Gasly who has moved to Alpine in place of Fernando Alonso. The two-time champion has taken the retiring Sebastian Vettel‘s Aston Martin seat

As the midfield drama played out during silly season, there was stability at the front, where the three top teams will continue into 2023 with an unchanged line-up.

Here are the full details on drivers confirmed for next year.

Confirmed 2023 F1 driver and team line-ups

Click on any team for more details or scroll down for full commentary

Alfa Romeo 2023 F1 driver line-up

Valtteri Bottas	Zhou Guanyu

• Valtteri Bottas is at the start of a three-year deal
• Rookie Zhou Guanyu given 2023 extension

It has been a much improved season for Alfa Romeo, which has already scored more points this season than it did for all of 2021.

Valtteri Bottas has taken on a leadership role since joining from Mercedes and will remain with the team for at two more years.

Alongside him is rookie Zhou Guanyu, who initially signed for the team on a one-year contract but has put in some impressive performances, with the Chinese driver now confirmed for 2023.

The young Chinese driver has shown signs of promise this season, a top-10 finish on his debut and eighth in Canada being the standout races, and also developed a very good partnership with Bottas.

“[He is a] very great team-mate and it’s so nice,” Zhou said on the Beyond the Grid podcast. “Valtteri is great because with all his experience, he was able to not just answer all the questions I have, he was even asking me like ‘how do you feel? Do you have something you want to know even more about?’”

Alfa will hope to build on its promising 2022 performances next year with its incumbent line-up.

AlphaTauri 2023 F1 driver line-up

Nyck de Vries	Yuki Tsunoda

• Pierre Gasly was contracted for 2023 but released to Alpine
• Yuki Tsunoda confirmed for next year
• Nyck de Vries replaces Gasly

Red Bull made its choice early this season and extended Sergio Perez’s contract, which left Pierre Gasly with little hope of a return to the team. He then signed an contract extension with AlphaTauri for 2023, which seemed to settle his future.

That was until the fireworks at Alpine, where both Alonso and Piastri turned their noses up at the second seat.

Gasly suddenly entered the frame for the Alpine seat and the team was prepared to let him go — if it could sign IndyCar’s Colton Herta. However, the American doesn’t qualify for a superlicence, despite winning seven races and testing in F1 with McLaren.

Enter Nyck de Vries. Last year’s Formula E champion became hot property after a points-winning performance at Monza when he filled in for Alex Albon at Williams.

His availability has meant that AlphaTauri has now released Gasly and signed the young Dutchman for 2023.

For the third year running, the team will include Yuki Tsunoda who signed a one-year extension following the Italian Grand Prix.

Alpine 2023 F1 driver line-up

Esteban Ocon	Pierre Gasly

• Esteban Ocon signed a three-year extension last season
• Fernando Alonso will leave for Aston Martin at the end of the season
• Pierre Gasly now confirmed in the seat that was rejected by Oscar Piastri

Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will form an all-French line-up at Alpine after a surprisingly complex process to fill the factory seats.

Fernando Alonso turned down the chance to extend his stay at the team in favour of a longer-term deal at Aston Martin, so Alpine then turned to Oscar Piastri, its wunderkid reserve driver who has been waiting for an F1 seat since winning the Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles in consecutive years.

Alpine announced a deal for 2023, but this was then strongly rejected by Piastri, who said: “This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”

The Australian and his countryman manager Mark Webber engineered a move to McLaren instead, as a replacement for the underperforming Daniel Ricciardo.

Alpine then targeted Pierre Gasly who had already signed a contract extension for 2023 with AlphaTauri. The team was willing to release the Frenchman if it got the right driver, and duly did after signing Nyck de Vries.

Aston Martin 2023 F1 driver line-up

Lance Stroll	Fernando Alonso

• Lance Stroll confirmed for next season
• Fernando Alonso will join the team from Alpine
• Sebastian Vettel has announced his retirement

Aston Martin will swap one multiple world champion for another next year, after announcing the signing of Fernando Alonso to replace the retiring Sebastian Vettel.

The 2005 and 2006 F1 champion will race for the team well into his 40s after agreeing a multi-year deal that was announced the day after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Aston Martin was quick to praise Vettel when he announced his retirement, saying that he’s helped lay the foundations for future success.

Has Alonso finally timed a move perfectly to reap the rewards of Vettel’s work? There’s certainly plenty of investment in the team, including a new factory.

Alonso’s team-mate has been confirmed for some time: Lance Stroll will continue racing for his father’s team.

Ferrari 2023 F1 driver line-up

Charles Leclerc	Carlos Sainz

• Charles Leclerc signed a five-year extension at the end of 2019
• Carlos Sainz penned a new contract earlier this year which ends in 2024
• The Scuderia is fighting to end a 14-year championship drought

Ferrari has its driver pairing tied down for years to come, with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz forming an impressive partnership.

Leclerc has shown championship credentials since signing for Ferrari, while Sainz has had more mixed fortunes – having driven extremely well in 2021, the Spaniard has struggled with the tricky F1-75 which Ferrari produced for this year.

Last season’s performances earned Sainz a three-year extension and the Scuderia is now focused on one goal: winning the Formula 1 world championship.

Haas 2023 F1 driver line-up

Kevin Magnussen	Nico Hülkenberg

• Kevin Magnussen marked his return to F1 with a multi-year deal
• Mick Schumacher dropped for 2023 after crash-filled season
• Nico Hülkenberg returns to the grid next year

Haas had a dramatic start to 2022 by releasing Nikita Mazepin while giving Kevin Magnussen a return to F1 after a season out, and it has kept F1 fans on tenterhooks right through until the end of the year, as the last team to announce its 2023 line-up.

Magnussen was awarded a multi-year deal to partner Mick Schumacher who had an impressive rookie season by out-qualifying his team-mate at all but two races.

However this year started difficultly for the German, who at one stage had no points compared to Magnussen’s 15. Come the British GP though, Schumacher began his turnaround, finishing eighth after battling with Max Verstappen, before scoring a sixth the week after in Austria but crashed again in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

It proved too much for the team who have replaced him with this year’s Aston Martin reserve Nico Hülkenberg, who is back full-time for the first season since 2019, and following some impressive substitute appearances for drivers affected by Covid.

Antonio Giovinazzi had previously been tipped for the place but may have irreparably damaged his chances when he took part in an FP1 session for Haas at Circuit of the Americas and crashed.

McLaren 2023 F1 driver line-up

Lando Norris	Oscar Piastri

• McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo agree to terminate their deal at the end of the year
• Lando Norris signed new extension up to 2025
• Oscar Piastri confirmed for 2023 with a multi-year deal

With a combined age that’s barely older than Fernando Alonso, McLaren will enter 2023 with the fresh-faced line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri; confirmed as the team’s second driver after a contract wrangle with Alpine.

After two seasons of struggling with the car, Daniel Ricciardo will leave McLaren early at the end of this year. He makes way for the promising Piastri, who has sat on the sidelines as Alpine’s reserve driver, after winning three consecutive championships, culminating in the F2 title last year.

McLaren is the second team to confirm Piastri for 2023 after Alpine announced that he was under contract and would replace the departing Alonso. Piastri immediately denied the statement, having already had talks with McLaren. The matter went to F1’s Contract Recognition Board and, after a verdict which hasn’t been made public, Piastri will now drive for McLaren.

He will be alongside 22-year-old Norris who, despite his age, is a veteran of three seasons. His stellar form has contrasted sharply with that of Ricciardo and Norris signed a contract extension to 2025 before the season, underlining McLaren’s faith in him — and its fear that another team might poach him.

Mercedes 2023 F1 driver line-up

Lewis Hamilton	George Russell

• Underwhelming defence of Mercedes championship crown
• Team is working their way back to the front
• Both drivers are under contract for next year

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be driving for Mercedes in 2023 with both of them under contract.

Hamilton’s current deal expires at the end of next year while Russell, who joined for this season, is on a long-term contract.

Its main focus is trying to get back to the top for 2023, after porpoising issues at the start of the season left the team trailing Ferrari and Red Bull on pace.

Hamilton and Russell are working with the team to fight their way back to the front with both describing themselves as fully committed to Mercedes.

Hamilton’s age – 37 – suggests that he may have some thinking to do about his future in F1 at the end of 2023, but both Russell and team boss Toto Wolff has suggested that he will continue for many more years.

Red Bull 2023 F1 driver line-up

Max Verstappen	Sergio Perez

• Max Verstappen signed a five-year extension in March
• Sergio Perez was given a two-year extension following the Monaco GP
• Hopes of a Red Bull return all-but-gone for Pierre Gasly

Max Verstappen was given quite the reward following his maiden world championship – a five-year extension, reported to be worth $55 million a year and level with Lewis Hamilton’s contract.

By the end of the current deal, Verstappen will be 30-years-old but there is potential to go far beyond that for the brilliant Dutchman.

“You heard on my radio on the in lap [just after winning the title], asking if I could stay for another 10/15 years,” Verstappen said at the FIA prize giving gala.

“I am very happy where I am and I can be myself, and that I think is also really important. It’s not only about just purely F1: we can have fun, we can have a good laugh. It’s not only about performance, also you need to enjoy what you’re doing.”

Alongside him for at least two more years will be Sergio Perez, with Red Bull now settling for a stable driver pairing.

The news of Perez’s contract extension came just two days after his win in Monaco and it will take him to the end of 2024.

“I am so proud to be a member of this team and I feel completely at home here now,” said Perez. “We are working very well together and my relationship with Max, on and off the track, is definitely helping drive us forward even more.”

Following the rift that seemed to appear when Verstappen ignored team orders in Brazil, it remains to be seen whether that harmony prevails into 2023.

Williams 2023 F1 driver line-up

Alex Albon	Logan Sargeant

• Alex Albon retained on a multi-year deal
• Williams has confirmed that Nicholas Latifi will leave
• Logan Sargeant will race in 2023 after qualifying for a superlicence

Williams’ 2023 plans have been one of the worst-kept secrets of a gossip-filled driver transfer season.

After three years with the team, it was no surprise to hear that Nicholas Latifi will leave when his contract expires at the end of the season, leaving a vacant seat.

In reality, the team has been casting around for replacements for some time. The funding that came with Latifi was crucial in previous seasons, but now the team is under private equity ownership, it has said that it is no longer reliant on pay drivers and is parting ways with the underperforming Canadian.

His replacement has been in the frame for several months but has only just been confirmed after securing a superlicence at the final Formula 2 round of the year in Abu Dhabi.

At the United States Grand Prix, team boss Jost Capito revealed that American F2 driver and Williams junior Logan Sargeant will be promoted to Formula 1 — providing he could finish high enough in this year’s F2 championship to obtain the necessary superlicence points.

Sargeant’s 13-point haul from Yas Marina put him fourth in the championship table and it was enough to confirm his place on the 2023 F1 grid.

Alex Albon meanwhile has extended his impressive first season with the team by signing a multi-year contract from 2023.