What was the Allure of the 2023 Formula 1 Season?
By Jamie Lee
The 2023 Formula 1 season was one that went down in the record books. From the beginning, it was clear that the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team and their driver, Max Verstappen, would build off their success from the previous two seasons, but no one could have foreseen just how much.
Throughout the 22 races, only three different drivers managed to win. Max Verstappen claimed 19 of those victories while his teammate, Sergio Perez won two. Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari took one win and remained the only non-Red Bull driver to claim a victory.
Remarkable as it was, I found myself wondering why I made an effort to watch a sport where the winner was almost guaranteed. This wonder led me to conduct a survey where I asked Motorsport fans on Tumblr and Discord what they thought of the 2023 season.
The questions I ask intend to shed light on why people did or did not enjoy the season.
To start, I began with a simple question, “As a fan of Motorsport, which is more exciting for you to watch?”
Out of 71 participants, 93% of them thought that multiple winners in a season were more exciting to watch. It is important to note that the 2023 season had three winners.
Next, I set out to see if this affected whether or not fans made an effort to watch the 2023 season.
Although 93% of respondents thought multiple winners in a season were more exciting, 83.1% continued to watch the races.
One respondent who did make an effort to watch the races emphasized, “I enjoy watching racing, and even if the racing at the front isn't great, you hope there is a battle somewhere.”
In contrast to this response, a commenter stated, “The outcome felt very predetermined.”
To gauge if the allure of the 2023 season carried more depth, I questioned whether fans kept up to date with such outside of watching the races.
With nearly 86% of the survey takers answering “yes”, it is clear that fans remained engaged with the 2023 season despite the majority finding the lack of variety in winners unexciting.
When asked why, a submitter who chose yes explained, “Because it was fun to try to see if there was another team who could best Red Bull this season.”
A fan who had a contrasting point of view wrote, “[I] chose to give my attention to more interesting motorsport categories.”
Max Verstappen’s dominance during 2023 was something for the record books. However, most participants did not find this exciting.
With the knowledge that 93% of respondents found multiple winners more exciting, it is slightly surprising that nearly 30% of people still viewed Verstappen’s dominance with excitement.
To understand the reasoning behind this, I urged the survey takers to elaborate.
One submitter who was in favor of Verstappen's dominating performance remarked, “It’s something that will be a historic season. To watch someone set so many records will be something people talk about for generations. It’s something important to the sport that I can like, tell my kids about in the future.”
Nearly 72% did not find this dominance exciting.
Conversely, a participant stated, “It’s predictable, especially given most of the races [Max Verstappen] took an early lead and didn’t really have to compete with anyone else. The midfield and even backmarkers were much more exciting.”
With these results, it is clear that fans would have preferred a season with more variety in winners. Despite this, the majority of those who took this survey remained engaged with F1 throughout 2023.
So, what kept fans tuning in to the races every Sunday? Burning curiosity. A belief that anything could happen, even if the results felt fated.
The allure of the 2023 F1 season was what has kept fans coming back to F1 every year for generations – a love for Motorsport.