There aren’t many drivers set to become free agents at the end of the 2023 Formula 1 season, but there are still a few big names not under contract through 2024.
The 2023 Formula 1 silly season was a chaotic one to say the least, with six of 10 teams making a change to their lineup.
Two drivers switched teams, four drivers left the sport, and four new drivers, including three rookies and one who hasn’t driven full-time since 2019, have joined.
There aren’t that many drivers with contracts set to expire at the end of the 2023 season, but this year’s still has the potential to be just as interesting as last year’s was.
Here are the top five.
Top 5 Formula 1 free agents: No. 5 – Guanyu Zhou
Overall, Guanyu Zhou had a solid rookie season with Alfa Romeo in 2022, a season that would have produced quite a bit more points if not for mechanical issues and incidents that were totally out of his control. He scored a point in his debut and recorded a top finish of eighth place later in the year.
But he will probably need to have an even bigger year this year to ensure that his seat is safe, especially since he is up against one of the most experienced drivers on the grid in Valtteri Bottas.
Bottas, who also joined the Swiss team last year, had six top eight finishes and scored 49 points in 2022 — and he had his own share of issues out of his control later in the year. Zhou had just one and scored six, and even without some of the issues, he still would have been well behind his teammate in the standings. Can he take a step forward in 2023?
Top 5 Formula 1 free agents: No. 4 – Yuki Tsunoda
Many were surprised that Yuki Tsunoda was brought back by AlphaTauri for a third season in 2023 after he scored points in just four races last year, just over half his total from 2021, but some of that came down to the fact that the Faenza-based team took a step back, dropping a whopping three places in the constructor standings.
The pressure will be higher than it has ever been for Tsunoda in 2023, as he is now technically the veteran of the team. Set to replace the Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly, who handily beat the 22-year-old Japanese driver in the standings in both of their seasons together, is rookie Nyck de Vries.
Despite the fact that you don’t generally see 28-year-old rookies in Formula 1, the Dutchman is about as highly touted as rookies come. The former Formula 2 and Formula E world champion made his Formula 1 debut last season with a Williams team that struggled to score points, and he tied the team’s best finish of the season with a ninth place effort at Monza.
It’s not a question that we often ask when a new driver joins the sport, but it’s one that can’t be ignored: can Tsunoda keep up with his rookie teammate, and if not, what’s next?
Top 5 Formula 1 free agents: No. 3 – Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Magnussen finds himself in a familiar position: competing for Haas in a contract year. Last time that happened, he lost his ride to Nikita Mazepin, albeit primarily due to financial reasons.
Skip ahead 12 months, and just before Mazepin was set to begin his second season with the team, he ended up getting sacked over his father Dmitry Mazepin’s ties to Vladimir Putin, amid the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. The elder Mazepin had been funding his son’s seat.
So who got the call to replace the driver who replaced Magnussen? Magnussen.
The 30-year-old Dane was impressive in his Formula 1 return, despite the fact that there were doubts over his ability to adapt to the new machinery in the brand new era of rules and regulations, given how late the driver change was made.
He finished in fifth place in the season opener in Bahrain and went on to secure a surprise pole in Brazil en route to a 13th place finish in the standings, his best since 2018. He scored more than twice as many points as teammate Mick Schumacher, who was replaced by Nico Hulkenberg for 2023.
With Hulkenberg, like Magnussen, now back in the sport after having missed a significant amount of time due to losing his previous ride, he will be more motivated than ever to perform at a high level. Magnussen won’t be able to afford to let his guard down.
Top 5 Formula 1 free agents: No. 2 – Alex Albon
Alex Albon’s Formula 1 career might well have been over after the 2020 season, when he lost his ride with Red Bull to Sergio Perez. He had been with the team since replacing Pierre Gasly during the 2019 season, but two podium finishes (four and possibly a win without contact from Lewis Hamilton) in 26 starts weren’t enough to get the team to bring him back.
After spending the 2021 season out of the sport, Albon landed back at Williams in 2022, and he had a solid year, scoring four points in what turned out to be yet another year at the back of the grid for the Grove-based team.
There have been some questions about Albon’s performance, even since returning to the sport and becoming the top driver at Williams almost right away. Nyck de Vries finished in ninth place, matching Albon’s best result, when he filled in for the 26-year-old Thai-British driver at Monza, and that finish alone netted him half of Albon’s season-long point total.
Now Albon will have a new challenge, with rookie teammate Logan Sargeant replacing Nicholas Latifi. Can the sport’s first full-time American driver since 2006 push Albon to reach new heights in a year that many expect to be Williams’ best in a while?
Top 5 Formula 1 free agents: No. 1 – Lewis Hamilton
By far the biggest name on this list happens to be the sport’s all-time most successful driver in Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion and 103-time Grand Prix winner most recently signed a contract extension in the summer of 2021, but he remains without a deal to compete past 2023.
There have been all sort of rumors about Hamilton’s future and what he wants and doesn’t want in a potential new deal with Mercedes, and there have also been rumors about him retiring. Hamilton hasn’t taken too kindly to rumors about his future as he focuses on the year ahead.
But at some point, questions will need to be answered. Is this Hamilton’s final season? If not, will he be back with Mercedes? If so, for how long? Is a team switch even a possibility at this stage in his career?
Hamilton is looking to bounce back after a career-worst year in 2022 which saw his 15-year win streak come to an end. He also finished outside of the top five in the standings for the first time, and the all-time list of drivers to finish ahead of him in the standings increased by 50% (from eight to 12, which is still an insanely low number through 16 seasons).
Can Mercedes, which averaged nearly 14 wins per season from 2014 to 2021 before winning just a single race in 2022, get back to their winning ways and give Hamilton a winning car again in 2023? What will their success (or lack thereof) throughout the year mean for the future of the 38-year-old Briton?
Hamilton’s teammate, George Russell, also isn’t confirmed by the Silver Arrows past 2023, but he signed a “multi-year” agreement with the team beginning in 2022, which generally means a two-year deal that contains an additional one-year team option.
Based on that, it’s not as if Russell will be free to sign wherever he pleases — otherwise he too would be on this list after becoming the first teammate of Hamilton to beat him in the standings since Nico Rosberg won the 2016 world championship.