Craig Breen, the twilight of a life
In the Swedish light of February, Craig Breen returned to the highest levels in the WRC, fighting in the top positions to the point of struggling to hold back tears at the end of the special stages. Tears that he inflicted on us two months later, he lost in a test accident that brutally reminded us of the permanent danger of motor sports and rallying. However, the Irishman’s smile and passion are not ready to die because they left such an impression on us.
Miraculous bathroom
It’s the small miracle of this MotoGP season and it’s worth giving it the space it deserves when revisiting memories. When in Barcelona he fell at the head of the group, was then joined by the group and finally hit violently by a completely defenseless Brad Binder, Pecco Bagnaia’s fate depended on a few milligrams of luck. A few hours later, he would send this smile to a still-shivering paddock, only to end up leaving the hospital, scarred but standing.
Glickenhaus, farewell to arms
Final stigma for Glickenhaus 007 LMH in the Sarthe. In 2024 we will no longer see the cute American prototypes, nor the iconic Jim Glickenhaus hat. In three years, the imaginative businessman has left his mark in the world of Endurance, so fond of atypical characters. A true “Spirit of Le Mans”, which many people will miss. The memory of the beautiful redheads, now beautiful blue ones, who stood out with their look, showing off a level that more than one private team would have envied, will remain.
Sainz, the other winner in F1
Twenty-two drivers who took part in at least one Grand Prix in 2023, as many races held on Sunday… and only three winners! With Sergio Pérez, Carlos Sainz completes the list slimmed down by an invincible Max Verstappen: in Singapore, the Spaniard simply became the only driver to have won at the wheel of a single-seater other than Red Bull in 2023. On this occasion, Sainz closed a record series of ten consecutive victories for Verstappen, the only leader of the championship from the first to the last round of the year.
It should therefore be easy to remember this rare and long-awaited success for fans. But is it perhaps the multiplication and succession of Grands Prix that trivializes them, the signs of our time of overstimulation into which we jump so easily, the growing interest of French speakers in his teammate Charles Leclerc, or simply the lack of vitamin B9 that affects my memory? I find myself more easily citing Eddie Irvine’s victory in Melbourne in 1999, Rubens Barrichello in Germany in 2000 or one of Kimi Räikkönen’s six victories in red in 2007, or even a Turkish victory by Felipe Massa, just one of the two victories by Sainz. I had to visually find this photo to simply remember that the Spaniard actually succeeded in the feat of helping Ferrari win in 2023.
The French succession?
Victor Martins and Théo Pourchaire: two young French drivers who have shone this season in Formula 2, the former winning the Anthoine Hubert Trophy as best rookie, the latter becoming champion at just 20 years old. Will we see them among the elite soon? Not next year, in any case: while Martins will return to F2, Pourchaire will have to go into exile in Super Formula pending a possible move to F1 in the future.
The unexpected return of Pol Espargaró
Pol Espargaró may have lost his place on the grid for 2024, but he is one of the heroes of the MotoGP season. Of the many drivers who have suffered broken bones in the category this year, he was the one who was hit the hardest. Thrown to the ground during testing at the Portuguese GP, the Tech3 driver suffered eight fractures, mainly to his vertebrae and jaws. For several weeks Espargaró was more than limited in his movements and his jaw had to remain closed, forcing him to eat with a straw. Some doubted his ability to return to MotoGP, but he eventually returned to competition four months after the accident. The Catalan had already visited the Assen paddock, for a touching reunion with the Tech3 team.
FIA and FOM bring out the hatchet
There is something symbolic in this photo of a lone Mohammed Ben Sulayem, turning his back on an F1 car. Since his arrival at the helm of the FIA, the former rally driver has sought to place the FIA in a more active position on the discipline side and less as a simple recording chamber of the general will of the FOM and the teams. most subjects. Whether or not one agrees with the methods used or the issues addressed, inevitably, even if the championship is very powerful today, the tensions that were almost non-existent under the presidency of Jean Todt have not taken long to resurface. The year 2023 was in this respect the stormiest in a long time.
A lighthouse at night
Simply beautiful.
I came, I saw, I conquered!
Ferrari returned to the prototype, it was an event. Ferrari’s return to Le Mans for the general classification was an event. Ferrari on pole at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it was an event… Ferrari winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans was unheard of even for those under 50! So, Fans or not, it is difficult not to be moved by what brought the return of the Prancing Horse to the Sarthe with great fanfare. And here is the centenary trophy headed to Maranello!
Di Giannantonio’s furious fist
Fabio Di Giannantonio remained for a long time in the shadows of a MotoGP category where top profiles have multiplied in recent years. Arriving after a seventh place in the Moto2 championship, we undoubtedly underestimated him and it took him a few long months to find his place. An in-depth analysis of his situation carried out at the end of his first season had warned those who knew little about the courage of this young driver, who still needed a good dose of this to resist this year in the face of a contract that did not came true, the rumors about Marquez growing day by day, then a transfer to Honda which he believed in and which ended up eluding him.
When he achieved his first victory, a week before the end of the championship and when he still had no indications for the future, Fabio Di Giannantonio suddenly appeared irresistible, floating above the difficulties. His smile that radiated upon arrival was perhaps just the announcement of what the next one has in store for us.
No sea of oil for the Stroll case
The seasons follow one another and, in the end, for Lance Stroll they always seem the same. Regardless of the level of his car, he struggles to show himself in the best light, which is all the more evident when he has an F1 racing for the podium with which Fernando Alonso signs eight and he… none. Of course, we need to highlight his pre-season fractures, but the excuse cannot hold up permanently. Also, surprisingly for someone who is the son of the stable owner, rumors and questions about his future have surfaced; denied, of course, but still. The incident in Singapore, due to over-commitment when he found himself in a delicate situation, clearly crystallizes what Stroll still (and still) lacks.
Newgarden in his new garden
No, he is not a fan in costume celebrating the end of the 2023 Indianapolis 500 in the midst of this large audience but a real driver, and not just any one. Moments earlier, Josef Newgarden had overtaken Marcus Ericsson on the final lap of a race interrupted several times by red flags, winning at the finish line. The two-time IndyCar champion and author of 29 victories had been aiming for this victory in Indiana since 2012.
Add to that the frustration of watching his (former and current) teammates at Penske win the 500 well before him and you get this burst of dopamine as you cross the finish line. The result was also a sprint towards the fences that separate the track from the fans and this moment of communion with the public, which doesn’t happen every day.
Mir falls
Did Joan Mir imagine experiencing a similar hardship in 2023 by joining Repsol Honda after Suzuki’s sudden departure? Twenty-second in the rider standings, the 2020 world champion has crashed 24 times this year. As much as he has in his last three full seasons, and despite him missing numerous starts this season… a consequence of said lapses.
Did he imagine having to give so much of himself to the point of suffering a head injury in Argentina, forcing him to miss Sunday? Do you injure your left hand later in the season and miss several events in a row? Or even end the last event of the season with a definitive fall? It’s quite simple, the Majorcan had come to rejoice for a weekend without crashes, like in Thailand.
Did you imagine, after the crash at COTA, that Honda could get on the top step of the podium? It was his former teammate Álex Rins who achieved it, in the same US GP, with the satellite car of the LCR team.
Regardless, the only way Mir was orbited this year was in the air… #36 simply stood up and challenged his many doubts. He deserves respect for his determination to stay in the Honda project and find positive aspects in the post-season tests in Valencia wanting to be the new leader of a project under reconstruction.
Formula E faces the “worst” Roman accident
Many spectacular crashes have marked the 2023 motorsports season, but few have been as chilling as the terrifying high-speed crash at the first Rome E-Prix, which ultimately proved harmless for the drivers involved, despite an area of devastation and serious damage. This incident marked the end of the spectacular but clearly unsuitable EUR Urban Circuit, replaced by Misano in the 2024 FE calendar.
Leo seized the opportunities!
The Peugeot 9X8 may not have been the fastest at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but this concept without a rear wing looked good… and the Lion gave the competition a run for their money early in the race!
What’s happening in Las Vegas…
An F1 Grand Prix on the streets of Las Vegas! Of course, the media outcry was enormous, and the setbacks at the beginning of the weekend were bad… but the Saturday evening of the Grand Prix also offered a race full of suspense and particularly exciting, in a setting that leaves no one insensitive . In three days, F1 was finally in its image: decadent, contradictory and spectacular!
The highly anticipated premiere of Márquez with Gresini
The championship is all going well, but two days before the curtain fell the page had already turned. As soon as Marc Márquez announced that he would leave Honda to join the Gresini team in 2024, the whole paddock knew that this Tuesday, November 28, would be marked with a cross. And then, at 11.14, he got on the Ducati and, making his way through a horde of curious journalists, took off.
WRC autumn table
The Japanese GP took place during the kōyō season, a term that designates the country’s autumn colours, which provided spectacular images, here with Takamoto Katsuta, pedaling in his homeland.
A breeze called Norris
In 2023 nothing could break Max Verstappen’s dominance… but Lando Norris did some damage on the Hungarian GP podium. Even if it is later replaced, the Budapest winner’s trophy – one of the few to retain a non-modernized design – will remain a dismantled work of art. The anecdote raised a smile, and will have taught the McLaren driver to be cautious when popping champagne his way. Max Verstappen was the first to laugh about it!
Zarco, the Marseillaise a cappella
But which dark miscreant wanted to deprive Johann Zarco of his Marseillaise? When the bike stalled while he was on the top step of the podium of a MotoGP Grand Prix for the first time, the Provençal rider didn’t let silence prevail and took it upon himself, to the point of proudly singing his anthem , celebrating seven years of waiting and effort to be able to climb so high. Since you have to do everything yourself!
McLaren with the wind at its back
More than Aston Martin’s performance, capable of making a leap forward in the championship and offering one of the biggest stories of the 2023 F1 season, it is McLaren’s journey that has thrilled me this year. Because the Woking team made the even more arduous effort of starting from a poorly designed and poorly exploited car to arrive at a package that would allow its drivers to finish together on the podium at the end of the season (here in Japan), as well as to establish themselves as a credible second force behind Red Bull and ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes in numerous Grands Prix in the second half of the season.
If Fernando Alonso was one of the great advertisers of his 2023 campaign, that of Lando Norris was no less deserving, and more discreet. McLaren’s development management, not only at a technical level, but also at a structural, commercial and recruitment level appears to be very effective. The near future is ensured by a partnership for the supply of Mercedes engines and by two young and brilliant drivers who the top teams follow carefully. It will be crucial for McLaren to convince them that their goals can be achieved together in the near future, maintaining the current impressive progress curve.
Bathurst at golden hour
At the iconic Mount Panorama circuit in Australia, drivers compete in a one-lap race. This is the Bathurst 12 Hour, a monument to motorsport under the equator and which has been part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge since 2016.
Particularly hilly, the Bathurst circuit is one of the most challenging in the world due to its fast and tight corners. So, riding it for 12 hours non-stop is no easy feat! If the drivers have something to grimace during the event, the fans have something to dream about with superb photos. Here, it is the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo #75 driven by Kenny Habul, Jules Gounon and Lucas Stolz, winners of the 2023 edition, that is at the center of this beautiful painting.
Marc Márquez upside down!
The 2023 season was marked by numerous injuries in MotoGP, where no race took place with all starters! On a Honda more reluctant than ever, Marc Márquez has suffered 29 crashes and had two periods of convalescence this year. The culmination came at the German GP, where he had dominated in previous seasons, but where this year he suffered five crashes. After mowing down Johann Zarco on Friday, he crashed twice in qualifying, giving rise to this spectacular image, which almost looks like a surreal photomontage! The last crash of the weekend, during the warm-up, finally forced him to retire. Subsequently Márquez took fewer risks and this painful episode may have played a fundamental role in his decision to leave Honda.
Verstappen and the others
Everyone lined up behind Max Verstappen! The Red Bull driver has dominated head and shoulders this 2023 season, including a Monaco Grand Prix won by 28 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso. But it is also an excuse to share this beautiful photo of the departure for the Principality.
Cadillac, symbol of the new era of WEC
History very often remembers only the winners, but for there to be a glorious conqueror, strong competition is also necessary. We will obviously remember this fantastic edition of the Centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans won by Ferrari. But Cadillac played its role well with its beautiful colored prototypes and took third place on the podium (just one lap away), as well as fourth place at the finish line.
Over the course of the entire championship, the American company experienced two seasons in one, with great successes at the beginning and a more difficult second half of the year, ahead of a Peugeot team that was finding its form. More generally, this new era of the WEC, which in 2023 boasted seven manufacturers in the Hypercar, continues to densify with the arrival of new big players such as Lamborghini, BMW or Alpine. Every success or podium will be even more rewarding.
Two rooms, two atmospheres in Ducati
Sometimes it is cruel to see how two sides of the same position can experience a diametrically opposite reality. In 2022 Enea Bastianini brilliantly opposed Pecco Bagnaia, standing up to him with his less advanced Ducati. He had deserved his promotion to the official team and it seemed to herald a splendid fight between them, now on equal terms. But the number 23’s hopes were dashed already in the first race, involuntarily knocked out by Luca Marini and injured for many weeks.
His season then was a succession of difficulties and bad luck, while his teammate showed his strength by defeating one by one those who tried to deprive him of a second title. Only one victory, almost unexpected, brightened the end of Bastianini’s championship.
Welcome to the jungle
It’s a personal tradition: I always include a photo of the WRC in my end-of-year selection, for a purely aesthetic criterion. Portuguese vegetation is certainly not tropical, but this shot of Teemu Suninen and Mikko Markkula battling with their Hyundai i20 N near Porto has a little taste of the jungle!
Verstappen deprives Alonso of pole in Monaco
In a season not full of great moments, one of the strongest episodes in my opinion is the pole signed by Max Verstappen in Monaco, at the cost of a perfectible but truly spectacular lap not only flirting with the walls and rails, as Fernando seems to explain here Alonso. The Dutchman snatched pole position from the Spaniard, by 0.084 seconds, opening a (not so simple) path to victory the following day.
Jorge Martín at the end of himself
Jorge Martín took the heat of the overseas races particularly badly and ended the Indian GP exhausted. The Madrilenian began to lose lucidity at the end of the race and once the race was over he didn’t stop in the parc fermé but in front of his garage, to rehydrate as quickly as possible. Then he had to lean on his head, Gino Borsoi, and sit on the ground to be examined by the MotoGP doctor, Ángel Chartere. Once standing he was able to go up to the podium and taste some prosecco… maybe not the best idea after risking feeling ill!
One last smile
Craig Breen’s smile, unforgettable.
2023-12-31 16:33:40
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