Autocar's 2023 motorsport review

Another year of motorsport has flown by, and 2023 was as action-packed as ever.

From Brazil to Brands Hatch, challengers in Formula 1, the World Rally Championship and the British Touring Car Championship fought to finish the year at the top of the standings, with many surprises along the way.

So: without further ado, read on for our top moments from this year's motorsport calendar.

Formula 1

World champion: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing - Entitled and petulant but a seemingly unstoppable force

Was this a dull Formula 1 season, given the throttling domination displayed by Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing? It’s easy to write it off as such.

Yet while the relentless Dutchman set new records for the number of wins in a season, 10 of them consecutively, somehow each race threw up enough intrigue to keep F1’s balloon of hype inflated – and still rising: look no further than the glitz of the Las Vegas GP.

The best stories came from the unpredictable swings in form of those trailing in Verstappen’s wake, as the 26-year-old stroked all too easily to a third consecutive world crown. Behind him, predictions were often futile.

Early on, Sergio Pérez matched and even outscored his team-mate, snatching a couple of wins. But talk of the Mexican mounting a real challenge was just a mirage, and his subsequent spiral into mediocrity - driving a Honda-powered RB19 that should now be considered among the greatest F1 cars yet seen - accelerated questions about his future.

Partnering Verstappen is a thankless task, but Pérez too often proved unworthy of the seat. Behind Red Bull, Aston Martin exceeded expectations - not least its own - with a flying start, the evergreen Fernando Alonso relishing six podiums in the first eight races at the age of 42.

But the team slumped after the summer break as Alonso and Lance Stroll, who surely only remains in F1 because his father owns the team, slipped back into the midfield. Both Mercedes and Ferrari failed to find the key, in this sophomore year of the ground-effect technical regulations, to challenge Red Bull. But as Adrian Newey's elite band of engineers turned their attention to preparing for next season, both had their moments.

Carlos Sainz Jr ended the consecutive run, and what had looked like a possible unbeaten Invincibles' season for Red Bull, with a beautifully judged win in Singapore. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, batted away talk of retirement to show he's still got a record eighth world title in him - as long as his team can rediscover its mojo.

The 38-year-old comprehensively outperformed team-mate George Russell, too, even if he was to blame for their awkward Turn 1 collision in Qatar. But the most surprising and impressive narrative arc of the season had to be McLaren's, which started the season by admitting how slow it would be. So it proved, technical director James Key paying the price as he headed back from whence he came to Sauber-Alfa Romeo.

But under the steady hand of new team principal Andrea Stella, McLaren pulled off a mid-season Lazarus act, following a significant aerodynamic upgrade introduced at the Austrian GP.

Lando Norris and accomplished rookie Oscar Piastri leading Verstappen at the British GP (before bowing to the inevitable) was no flash in the pan. Norris displayed his A-list credentials throughout, while Piastri scored a sprint race win in Qatar as McLaren bounded past Aston Martin to re-establish itself as Fl's fourth-best team.

World Rally Championship

World champion: Kalle Rovanpera, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT - The WRC is at his mercy–for as long as he remains motivated to rack up more titles 

Kalle Rovanpera took some time to find his groove in 2023. The previous season, the Finn won six times at just 22 years old to become by far the WRC's youngest champion.

But this time he was finding himself overshadowed by Toyota team-mate and eight-time champion Sébastien Ogier, despite the 38-year-old insisting on rallying only part-time.

Still, with Ogier resisting a bid to equal Sébastien Loeb's record of nine titles, it always felt only a matter of time before Rovanperä found his rhythm - as he did with his first win of the season, in Portugal, the fifth round of the series. He never relinquished top spot, even it he added only two more victories.

What marked Rovanperä's second consecutive title was his maturity in recognising a need for consistency rather than searing pace over every stage (although he retained plenty of that, too).

It led Toyota team boss Jari-Matti Latvala to make comparisons to the great Juha Kankkunen as Rovanperä clinched his title with a round to spare, having quelled his natural instincts by backing off on the Central European Rally to finish second when a victory was in his hands.

Elfyn Evans deserves credit for emerging as the only driver to keep Rovanperä in sight, Thierry Neuville remained a class act for Hyundai and Ott Tänak grabbed a win in Sweden for M-Sport Ford, only to be frustrated by a lack of reliability.

But a dark shadow loomed large over the WRC this year: the death of Irishman Craig Breen in a freak accident on a pre-event test in Croatia devastated the close-knit rally world. His loss was a reminder that, while motorsport is safer than it has ever been, the worst can still and will happen from time to time.