'The actual title fight will be between Ferrari and Newey in 2023'

Next season, hopes are high for a renewed title fight between Red Bull Racing and Ferrari. Mercedes are also confident they can return to the fight at the top in 2023. Jean Alesi, however, thinks the actual battle will be between Ferrari and Adrian Newey.

Although there are no major rule changes next season like there were at the start of 2022, there is still plenty to look forward to. Frederic Vasseur takes up the job as team boss at Ferrari, Red Bull Racing need to battle with the wind tunnel penalty after exceeding the budget cap, and at Mercedes' factory they are working hard to fix the W13's problems.

Ferrari must match with Newey

Speaking to Italian Autosprint, Alesi makes a prediction for the new season. The former Formula 1 driver thinks the title fight will not be between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, but between Newey and the Ferrari team. Red Bull, for example, was one of the few teams in 2022 that did not suffer from porpoising thanks to Newey's expertise. Alesi expects another masterpiece from the Red Bull engineer next season too.

"The real factor to reckon with is Adrian Newey. Ever since F1 announced the introduction of new rules and freedom for engineers, Newey has made the difference. Therefore, I don't think the actual battle will be between Verstappen and Leclerc, but actually between Newey and Ferrari. If he presents another masterpiece, everything will be very difficult again this year. But if this year's Red Bull has something fragile, that could change."

In addition, Alesi expects Mercedes to come back stronger in 2023 after a disappointing season with just one win. "I don't think Mercedes will get it wrong twice with designing the car", ends the Frenchman.