The power of three over the rest of 2023

Our three amigos all have much to relish for different reasons as they get stuck into the autumnal Formula 1 season run-in. Post-summer break, two of our power trio face tricky team-mate rivalries that will help shape shifting-sand perceptions as we head towards 2024, while the other has probably the easiest task of simply maintaining the trajectory of his positive career rehabilitation arc.

Lando Norris, has the most to gain and lose, thanks to the surprise mid-season upturn in McLaren form and the challenge presented by impressive rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri. Still only 23, Norris is already well established as a high-ranking F1 performer, yet seemed in danger of a potential career stall in the early months of the season as McLaren underwhelmed once more. Had it really been wise to chain himself until the end of 2025 to a team that still faces a long road to rise out of the clogged midfield ? The technical upgrade that suddenly lifted McLaren back into the realm of contender at the Austrian GP has gone some way to justifying Norris’s admirable faith and loyalty – but he will be acutely aware what is now on the line as he faces the decision that might well define his career.

How Norris immediately snatched and wrung every drop from McLaren’s new form, particularly at Silverstone, was a timely reminder that here is a latent world title contender – and it’s irrelevant that he has yet to win a grand prix. If McLaren maintains its upturn, Norris will demand a consistent run of top-line results as he considers his options: stick or twist on another team. He is surely on the radar of all four that lie ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ standings, and that includes Red Bull.

What Norris must be wary of is Oscar Piastri undermining his status. The Australian deserves great credit for how closely he has shadowed the established team leader and can prod a dent or two in Norris’s gleaming armour in the races to come. That would be inconvenient right now.

In contrast, George Russell, appears all-in at Mercedes, which has taken up its option to extend the 25-year-old’s deal until the end of 2025. It’s a show of faith that he remains the anointed successor to Lewis Hamilton. But having outscored his illustrious team-mate in their first season together, Russell has experienced an uneven campaign this term. Hamilton, back to his best, was 7-5 ahead in qualifying pre-Dutch GP, with Russell 49 points adrift in the standings.

But it’s a stretch to suggest alarm bells should be chiming. How Russell handled the Hungarian GP showed his class. The team sent him out in traffic in Q1, leaving him P18 on the grid. But on the Sunday he bided his time on an alternate strategy, starting on the hard Pirelli, and finished strongly to pick up sixth. How he plotted a path past Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, taking a wider line out of the final turn to pick up a DRS-assisted tow, was a sign of the level Russell usually operates at. But he could do with out qualifying Hamilton and beating him more often – pressure is like death and taxes when it comes to F1 life.

Alex Albon, knows all about pressure after his Red Bull spiral. But the 27-year-old now only has it all to gain as he grows into his team leader role at a Williams showing green shoots under new boss James Vowles. Seventh and eighth in Montréal and Silverstone have been the highlights, and Albon must grab every chance when it presents itself. It’s heartening to see him fly.