We have already taken a look at the nominees for ‘Driver of the Season’, ‘Rider of the Season’ and ‘Team of the Season’, but what about those moments that happened in 2023 that we just can’t stop talking about?
Daniel Ricciardo’s return
Whenever there is a driver change mid-way through the season, there is usually alot of pressure on the new driver to perform, but when Daniel Ricciardo returned to the grid, there was a sense of relief.
As much as it was disappointing for Nyck de Vries to lose his race seat, F1 fans were overjoyed when Ricciardo first got into that AlphaTauri in Hungary.
Despite an injury at the Dutch Grand Prix, forcing him to miss that race along with a further four, his return to the grid was welcomed with many believing he shouldn’t have been off it in the first place.
The MotoGP Season Finale
Motorsport fans love it when a title fight goes down to the final race and we got that in MotoGP this season as only 21 points separated Jorge Martin to eventual Champion Francesco Bagnaia heading into the race in Valencia.
Bagnaia would start on pole following Maverick Vinales’ grid penalty, with Martin qualifying in sixth.
With Martin running wide at turn one, he rushed a move on Marc Marquez as he was trying to make up time, crashing and handing Bagnaia his second MotoGP Championship in a row.
Graham Rahal takes pole at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis
82 days were all the separated Graham Rahal’s best and worst moment of the season after he took pole position for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Despite already taking four pole positions, this one was probably his best yet as it came on his return to the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he was the only driver to be bumped from the Indy 500, meaning that he did not qualify for the race.
He was fortunate however to still take part in the race following an injury to Stefan Wilson, with Rahal taking over his car and starting from last on the grid.
Formula E’s huge Rome crash
Lap 10 of the Rome ePrix proved to be one of the scariest moments of the season after a high-speed crash saw several drivers retire from the race.
Thankfully all were not injured after the Jaguar’s Sam Bird lost control of the rear of his car at Turn 6, with Sebastian Buemi making contact with the rear of his car.
This sent Buemi up and into the wall at an angle before crashing back to the ground, with several cars then making contact with either Bird or Bumei.
The scariest of which was Edoardo Mortara who hit the side of Bird, bringing out the red flag and leaving only 13 drivers able to take the restart.
Ferrari’s Le Mans victory
The World Endurance Championship and in particular the 24 Hours of Le Mans has been dominated by Toyota Gazoo Racing in recent seasons, but in 2023 it was the turn of Ferrari to claim victory at one of the most famous races in motorsport.
With the race celebrating its 100th anniversary, it was only fitting that a historic brand such as Ferrari would claim victory on their return after spending more than half a century away.
The No.51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado took the win after a tough battle with the No.8 Toyota, which went off the circuit late in the race in a moment that proved costly.
It wasn’t all easy work for the Italian team as on their final pit stop the car stood still in it;s box, unable to restart before Pier Guidi got the car going and drove the hypercar to victory.