Looking back at our 2023 pre-season F1 predictions

Making predictions on a championship as random as Formula 1 can bea fool's game, but nevertheless, the RacingNews365 team did exactlythat after pre-season testing in Bahrain. Whether it be Safety Carsor weather, a bad pit-stop or a mistake, any number of factors caninfluence a race and make a prediction seem like we got our crystalball out or that we were talking a load of gibberish... Jake Nichol- one point Jake Nichol 's headline prediction was of an implosionat Alpine with either Pierre Gasly or Esteban Ocon being suspendedfor a race and Jack Doohan making his F1 debut as a substitute. Ifwe're being generous, losing your CEO, Team Principal, SportingDirector and Chief Technical Officer and falling to sixth in theConstructors' might be classed as an implosion of sorts, butdespite collisions in Australia and Hungary that eliminated both,Gasly and Ocon were on their best behaviour. Half a point. Theother prediction of the title being decided in Las Vegas was alsowrong - but another half point is awarded for Max Verstappenwinning the title. Rory Mitchell - one point Rory Mitchell claimedWilliams would be regular points scorers with the FW45, as itbanked a total of 28 across the season in seven Grands Prix and oneSprint. Alex Albon claimed 27 of those in an outstanding seasonwhile rookie Logan Sargeant struggled at times, but did take abreakthrough point in his home United States Grand Prix. One pointfor Rory. However, his second prediction was that McLaren would beslower than Haas over the course of the season, predicting a "longseason" for the Woking squad. Up until the Austrian GP, that wascorrect before the first of two sizeable upgrades unleashed theMCL60 with a charge to fourth in the Constructors' - and a win inthe Qatar Sprint for the Uber-impressive Piastri. Zero points.Fergal Walsh - Half a point Fergal Walsh joined the team mid-seasonand so did not make any predictions for RacingNews365, but did sofor his previous website. His standout prediction was that Nyck deVries would be a strong performer and put himself in contention forthe 2025 Red Bull seat alongside Max Verstappen... Nil Poi. He alsoforesaw Piastri struggling against Norris - which at times wastrue, especially when it came to managing the tyres in highdegradation races, such as Hungary. On the flipside, Piastridelivered when the car was at its strongest in Qatar andcomprehensively out-performed Norris that weekend. Half a point.Another prediction was that Fernando Alonso would return to the topstep of the podium - which strictly he did while celebrating someof his eight podiums - but he didn't finish first. Zero points.Other team members During the season, Anna Francis, Luke Murphy andMichael Butterworth departed the team, with their predictions alsobringing mixed results. Anna predicted that Daniel Ricciardo wouldreturn but then leave again having realised that F1 was no longerfor him. This earns half a point, as he did return at the HungarianGrand Prix for the ousted de Vries. Her second prediction of asurprise winner in Las Vegas also didn't come off. Luke wason-board the Aston Martin hype train, and suggested it would beLance Stroll who scored its best result of the season. The Canadianstruggled in the middle of the year, bookended by relatively strongstarts and finishes, but did not score a podium. Luke earns half apoint for saying the team would be challenging for fourth. Michaelearns Nil Poi for predicting Alonso would win and that Yuki Tsunodawould be bidding farewell.