3 reasons why the 2023 F1 season was a failure

The 2023 F1 season ended in the same manner as it started, with Max Verstappen securing pole position and picking up a comfortable win. Against the backdrop of what has been a very impressive showing by Red Bull, the 2023 F1 season could be considered a success if we just go by the PnL numbers of Liberty Media.

To an extent, if we go by the sporting aspect as well, we saw one team excel to such an extent that it almost completed a clean sweep in one of the longest seasons in the history of the sport. However, F1 is not a sport alone. No sporting event can survive by not focusing on the 'event' aspect. Formula 1 is an entertainment product as well, and while the hardcore fans do sometimes forget that, the people managing the sport cannot.

This is precisely why when the season is evaluated on those parameters, it does not look as impressive as it ideally should. Let's take a look at why the 2023 F1 season could be viewed as a failure by many.

#1 No F1 title battle

One of the major things that make an F1 season great is competition. While there was certainly competition up and down the grid for various positions, there was none at the top of the standings.

While the battle for P2 and P4 in the Constructors championship was decided in the very last F1 race, from the first event it was apparent that Max Verstappen was going to win the drivers title while Red Bull was going to win the Constructors title.

Many fans have been starved of a good title battle and the last time we had one was in 2021. The new regulations were supposed to keep the field compressed. The restrictive nature of the regulations was supposed to aid in providing a title battle as well. Unfortunately, neither happened. Red Bull was just too good for the competition and we ended up with a season that witnessed the Red Bull team win 21 of the 22 races.

#2 Ruthless single-team dominance

F1 has had periods of dominance in the past as well. Even before the epic title battle in 2021, Mercedes had spent 7 years dominating the sport with the only title battle taking place between the two teammates.

Other than the 2014 and 2016 seasons where Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton took the battle to the final race of the season, there hadn't been any season where the title battle could even be termed credible.

Having said that, there were still seasons during this period where we had more than one team winning races. Post 2016, Ferrari had its day in the sun at times and so did Red Bull.

In 2020, AlphaTauri and Racing Point also joined Red Bull as race winners. This season there was none of it. Except for the race in Singapore which was lauded by quite a few fans as the race of the season, there was no other race throughout the year where Red Bull was off the pace. The ruthlessness of Max Verstappen's dominance did bring in a level of predictability that went against the objectives of the new regulations.

#3 Even the racing aspect seems to have regressed

One of the major revelations for F1 this season was how the drivers suffered when trying to follow other cars. From the very first race, quite a few drivers revealed that following another car had become a massive issue once again because of developments that have increased the wake for the following cars.

What was even more damning was the number shared by Nikolas Tombazis, FIA technical head, who said that the loss of downforce while following a car was 20% last season and had become 35% this season.

Pre-ground effect era, that number used to be 50% but that's one area where the FIA would be worried. With one of the major objectives of introducing a new regulation not getting fulfilled, questions are bound to be raised by the F1 management, especially since it hinders wheel-to-wheel action.