2023 Formula One season

The  was the 12th Formula One championship contested over 16 circuits in as many countries. The Grand Prix cycle was altered to have a more memorable structure by grouping Grands Prix together. Tarou Wakahisa, driving for McLaren–Honda won the driver's title in a season that saw a lot of oscillation in team performances. Lotus–Ford won the constructor's title, and BMW the engine's, making it the first season for none of the three championship winners to be related in any way.

Team

 * Hyundai: Honda → Renault engines. Related to their French driver lineup and recent poor performance with the Honda engine. A 3-year deal was signed, which will end in time for the season.
 * Caterham: Caterham F1 Team → Caterham Ford F1 Team
 * Honda resigns with McLaren and Minardi. The duo both have 8-year deals with the Japanese engine manufacturer (expires for the season).
 * Ford resigns with Lotus and Caterham, both for four years (expires for the season).
 * BAE signs a deal to further their title sponsorship of McLaren until the season.

Driver

 * Kimi Raikkonen: Lotus full driver → test driver. Raikkonen first announced his retirement during the 2021 season, though he later decided to become a test driver for his team, who have given him two championships.
 * Ma Quinghua: Ferrari → Lotus.
 * Tiger Abraham: Ferrari test driver → full driver.
 * Guatier Faure: EADS test driver → full driver.
 * Jean-Eric Vergne: EADS → Ferrari.
 * Timo Glock: Ferrari → Toyota.
 * Gorou Kurosawa: Toyota → Sauber.
 * Bernard Babineaux: Sauber → EADS.
 * Abner Ashley: EADS → Sauber.
 * Paul di Resta: Sauber full driver → Ferrari test driver.
 * Raja Harta: Renault test driver → full driver.
 * Marcus Ericsson: Renault → Toyota. Despite having signed a one-year contract with Renault during the season, when the last Toyota seat became available, Ericsson jumped at the chance to leave Renault, who were struggling for points. It meant the re-uniting of the – seasons' Marussia team with Timo Glock, though with different personnel and a different team owner.
 * Zeke Porter: Toyota full driver → retirement. Toyota always planned to get rid of Marussia's driver line up eventually, but contractual obligations prevented them from doing so until now.

Calendar reshuffle
The 2023 season also saw a major reorganization of the three-cycle calendar put in place for the season. It kept the traditional system of categorizing rounds in to "jewel" Grands Prix, which featured the same or similar Grands Prix each year, and "feature" Grands Prix, which were less prominent Grands Prix only occurring once every three years. The jewel-to-feature ratio changed from 7:9 to 10:6; the United States Grands Prix were grouped together, and, due to their relative geographical locality, the Spanish with the Portugese and the German with the Austrian.

Additionally, the opening and closing rounds alternate year-to-year, with the mid-season being relatively similar each year.

The 2013 season remained a cycle three calendar, with the following season following suite and being a cycle one.

Some Grands Prix would change circuit each year: During cycle one, the United States would be held at Austin, the Spanish at Catalunya, and the German at Hockenheim; cycle two would see the United States host at Indianapolis; and in cycle three, the United States Grand Prix would be at New Jersey, the Spanish at Valencia, and the German at the Nurburgring.

Report
The pre-season saw a moderate change in the regulations, with the intention of decreasing reliability and bunching the frontrunning teams together, after record lows during the and  seasons. The amount of retirements between the first and eighth rounds of the 2013 championship was larger than the whole of 2022. Additionally, the calendar was reshuffled.

The season started dreadfully for Williams, with only 27 points scored by the half way point. Ferrari and Lotus dominated the first three rounds, scoring 8 of the possible 9 podium positions. Tarou Wakahisa went on to dominate the following four rounds, minus a lull for the South African round, with American team mate Tiger Abraham only scoring two podiums. Toyota-engined cars then dominated the field after discovering a loophole in the engine regulations as a result of the pre-season changes. Sauber scored an astonishing 4 podiums, including a single victory, in the following two rounds, and scored almost triple their nearest competitor in those rounds: 73 compared to Hyundai's 25. Toyota struggled to capitalize on their superiority, only scoring two fourth places despite a 1-3 qualifying result for Valencia. Hyundai scored their first points of the season with a win at the Monaco Grand Prix, the nature of the track helping their cause greatly. All the time, Lotus and Ferrari were dropping off the pace.

Belgium saw one of the biggest mid-season comebacks in Formula One history. Williams over doubled their points tally with a 1-2 finish from pole position (although Lewis Hamilton stole it from team mate and defending champion Nico Rosberg). BMW scored a 1-2-3, and Toyota dropped off the pace significantly. Most engine manufacturers had now begun exploiting the loophole, with BMW clearly being the quickest and most efficient to do so. It was now a monumental climb for BMW and Williams back to the top of the standings. A strong follow-up performance at Italy saw BMW go from last to two points off second in the engine's championship and Hamilton rise from 11th to 5th in the driver's.

Toyota-powered teams and McLaren found some form for the Russian and Malaysian rounds, while Williams lost some. The former pair scored 4 of the 6 available podium spots, and despite a double retirement for the Toyota works team in Russia, Timo Glock went on to score his first victory for the Banbury-based team from fifth in the Malaysian round. The pre-season target of more retirements was starting to work now, with minor mid-season regulation changes and the increased engine development, thanks to the loophole, playing a large role. All the while, Lotus and Ford were being closed up by Ferrari/McLaren and BMW, respectively.

Results and standings

 * See also: Results sheet