Bold F1 predictions for 2023: Vettel returns to team up with Schumacher

After a record-breaking Formula 1 season, what's in store for 2023?

We gazed into the crystal ball to bring you some off-the-wall — but still totally possible — predictions for the year ahead.

Just remember, this is all an exercise in good fun, so don't flip out if you disagree and I welcome you to share your own bold predictions in the comments section below.

Vettel returns to team up with Schumacher

Sebastian Vettel retired at the end of the season but there's something that feels like it isn't going to stick. (Some would call this being in denial, but I digress.)

At age 35, Vettel has enough left in the tank to give it another go, but what could possibly entice the four-time world champion to return to F1?

How about the prospect of racing alongside Mick Schumacher? The son of seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher lost his full-time ride with Haas and will serve as a reserve driver for Mercedes next season. The younger Schumacher looked raw at times — scoring points just twice in 43 races — but should get another shot.

The Vettel-Schumacher bro-mance provided heart-warming moments even when they weren't teammates, think how cool it would be to see them race together. Also, having Vettel as a mentor would greatly benefit Schumacher's development.

For this to happen, we have to consider a team that would clean house. Sauber, currently under the Alfa Romeo Racing banner, just hired former McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl as their new CEO following Frederic Vasseur's departure to Ferrari. Sauber's partnership with Alfa Romeo is set to end this year, and they're joining forces with German manufacturer Audi beginning in 2026.

If Seidl is looking to stamp his mark on the team — and if he believes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu aren't cutting it — coaxing Vettel out of retirement would do the trick with the bonus of ensuring his friend Schumacher has a ride as well.

Andretti joins F1 as 11th team

This one has been bubbling and should come to a full boil in 2023. Former driver and current IndyCar/Formula E team owner Michael Andretti has been looking to get his foot in the door in F1 for a while. Now with the owners (and deep pockets) of the Los Angeles Dodgers reportedly interested in partnering on the bid, we should start seeing the wheels turn to get the deal done.

It'll still be a couple of years until the 11th team joins the grid but the plans to make it happen should get rubberstamped in 2023. Once that gets approved, it'll be intriguing to see if that attracts other sports conglomerates. (Fenway Sports Group perhaps?)

Verstappen three-peats but not so easily

Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing had one of the most dominant seasons of all time with the Dutch driver winning a record 15 races and scoring 464 points en route to a second consecutive world championship. Teammate Sergio Perez also chipped in a pair of victories as Red Bull easily claimed the constructors' championship for the first time since 2013.

Next season won't be a cakewalk.

Mercedes finally found their footing when it was too little too late to make a run. George Russell scored his maiden victory in Brazil during the penultimate race on the calendar with teammate Lewis Hamilton making it a 1-2 finish.

Ferrari proved they have a fast car securing pole position 12 times and earning four wins between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. With Mattia Binnoto taking the fall and Vasseur coming on board, the Scuderia should buckle down and work out the strategic flubs that proved costly. If they can also figure out why they struggled with tire grip so much on race day, we should see the return of the Ferrari team that came flying out of the gate to start 2022.

Plus, don't expect Perez to play as nice anymore and yield to Verstappen after their drama this year in Brazil.

Piastri will lead all rookies, de Vries will outscore teammate 

Zhou Guanyu was 2022's rookie of the year by default as he was the only rookie on the grid. Next season is guaranteed to be different with three promising drivers set to make their debuts.

Oscar Piastri should score the most points among the trio as the 21-year-old Australian will drive for the superior team of the bunch at McLaren. Piastri's meteoric rise through the ranks saw him capture the F3 title in 2020 followed by the F2 championship in 2021. Although he spent this year as the reserve driver for Alpine and McLaren, his natural talent is undeniable. Piastri will be hard-pressed to outperform teammate Lando Norris though.

The same cannot be said for Nyck de Vries, who should be able to top Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri. De Vries is also a former F2 champion and captured the Formula E title during the 2020-21 season. He has already driven in a Grand Prix filling in for Alex Albon this year at Monza and finishing ninth while Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi ended up a lap down in P15. De Vries, 27, is also five years older than Tsunoda, who experienced a sophomore slump this year finishing 17th in the standings. Tsunoda scored points just four times in 2022 — three of which came within the first six races of the season — and the Japanese driver could be on the hot seat in 2023.

Logan Sargeant rounds out the promising rookie crop with Williams and will be the first American driver in F1 since Alexander Rossi in 2015. It's possible Sargeant could outperform his teammate Albon, but outscoring will be a different matter when they're both netting zero points outside of the top 10 more often than not.

Alonso realizes he made a huge mistake

I refuse to go 0-for-5, so I have to include one prediction that feels pretty safe.

When Fernando Alonso announced he would be leaving Alpine to take over Vettel's seat at Aston Martin next season, there was just one question: Why?

Alonso pretty much had a ride for life at Alpine-Renault, where he won back-to-back world championships in 2005-06, and the team was the "best of the rest" finishing fourth in the constructors' championship in 2022. By comparison, Aston Martin finished a distant seventh.

Sure, it seemed like Alonso's car was possessed with mechanical problems just about every week, but the Spaniard still outperformed both Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Vettel by a significant margin and was only 11 points back of Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon for eighth in the standings.

While Alonso will have fewer DNFs on his record, he'll find himself more likely battling Stroll for the final points-paying position in P10 every race. That's sure to cause some tension on the track and Alonso will quickly find out why Vettel was frustrated enough to call it quits. Will this also be the final stint for Alonso? Well, unless Renault comes calling for a fourth time.

That's not bold enough for you? Fine. Here's a bonus one: Ferrari re-signs Leclerc and Sainz to multi-year contracts. Both drivers have proven worthy of their seats and despite their frustrations, neither driver will find a better ride anywhere else.

How did we fare with last year's bold predictions?

First, let's brag about the ones we got right from last year's list. Aston Martin will struggle again and Sebastian Vettel will leave? Check, although we expected Vettel to stick around in the sport — and seem keen to double down on that this year and say he'll be back.

Mick Schumacher will score his first point(s)? Check. We also tagged on Schumacher drawing interest from Mercedes, however, that was for a hypothetical open seat and not in a reserve capacity.

Ferrari will continue to climb but create a rift between Leclerc and Sainz? Eh, we'll take a half point. Ferrari did improve and Sainz scored his first F1 win, but it didn't drive a wedge between him and Leclerc nor do either driver appear to be on the outs. 

Now for the ones we totally whiffed on. Hamilton didn't win his record eighth world championship. We did predict teammate George Russell would thrive in his new seat. Although he ended up fourth overall, not second, the 24-year-old did finish ahead of Hamilton in the standings.

The Red Bull decline looked like a possibility during the opener in Bahrain as both Verstappen and Perez experienced mechanical issues, but the team recovered and responded with a whopping 17 Grand Prix victories combined. Big miss on our part.