The 2023 Formula 1 season is here and the new campaign has seen Red Bull pick up where they left off in 2022. This year sees 23 races held in a record-breaking calendar, as Max Verstappen looks sure to make it three in a row following back-to-back World Championship triumphs. Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team have found further improvements so far this year following a disappointing 2022 season. Meanwhile Ferrari are struggling to match their strong start to 2022. There are new faces on the grid too - such as Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant - and all 20 drivers will be itching to get back on track after a three-month break with the official pre-season test in Bahrain before the first race of the season a week later. This year’s biggest shake-up so far came mid-season when AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries was dropped almost immediately after Silverstone as he failed to impress the higher-ups at Red Bull. He has been replaced by returning favourite Daniel Ricciardo. Here is everything you need to know. What is the 2023 F1 calendar? ROUND 1 —BAHRAIN Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir - 3-5 March ROUND 2 - SAUDI ARABIA Jeddah Corniche Circuit - 17-19 March ROUND 3 - AUSTRALIA Albert Park, Melbourne - 31 March-2 April ROUND 4 - AZERBAIJAN (sprint weekend) Baku City Circuit - 28-30 April ROUND 5 - MIAMI Miami International Autodrome, Hard Rock Stadium - 5-7 May ROUND 6 - EMILIA ROMAGNA CANCELLED Imola Circuit - 19-21 May ROUND 7 - MONACO Circuit de Monaco - 26-28 May ROUND 8 - SPAIN Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya - 2-4 June ROUND 9 - CANADA Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal - 16-18 June ROUND 10 - AUSTRIA (sprint weekend) Red Bull Ring, Spielberg - 30 June-2 July ROUND 11 - GREAT BRITAIN Silverstone Circuit - 7-9 July ROUND 12 - HUNGARY Hungaroring, Budapest - 21-23 July ROUND 13 - BELGIUM (sprint weekend) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps - 28-30 July ROUND 14 - NETHERLANDS Circuit Zandvoort - 25-27 August ROUND 15 - ITALY Monza Circuit - 1-3 September ROUND 16 - SINGAPORE Marina Bay Street Circuit - 15-17 September ROUND 17 - JAPAN Suzuka International Racing Course - 22-24 September ROUND 18 - QATAR (sprint weekend) Lusail International Circuit, Lusail - 6-8 October ROUND 19 - UNITED STATES (sprint weekend) Circuit of the Americas, Austin - 20-22 October ROUND 20 - MEXICO Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City - 27-29 October ROUND 21 - BRAZIL (sprint weekend) Interlagos Circuit, Sao Paulo - 3-5 November ROUND 22 - LAS VEGAS Las Vegas Street Circuit - 16-18 November ROUND 23 - ABU DHABI Yas Marina Circuit - 24-26 November When and where does the 2023 F1 season start? The first race of the season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, takes place from Friday 3 March - Sunday 5 March at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. Qualifying on Saturday 4 March starts at 3pm (GMT) with the race on Sunday also at 3pm (GMT). When is pre-season testing? Pre-season testing takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit the week before the first race, from Thursday 23 February - Saturday 25 February. Running will take place between 7am and 4:30pm (GMT) on each of the three days. There will be an hour’s break midway through each session for lunch. Each driver will have one-and-a-half days worth of time in the car. How can I watch it online and on TV? The Bahrain Grand Prix, as well as pre-season testing, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom. Sky Sports subscribers can watch pre-season testing on the Sky Go app. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription. We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. What has been said? Max Verstappen has challenged Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to raise their game and provide him with the championship battle that Formula One needs. Verstappen ran away with last season’s title, winning 15 of the 22 races, to secure his second championship with four rounds to spare. In contrast, Hamilton, in his under-performing Mercedes, endured the worst year of his career as he failed to win a race and finished 214 points adrift. But when addressing the prospect of renewing his rivalry with Hamilton at Red Bull’s season launch in New York, Verstappen, 25, said: “In the interest of the sport you always want the teams to be super-close. “I do think it was close last year, but as a team we executed a lot of things better than the others and that was why the points gap was so big. I never felt, apart from two or three races, that we absolutely dominated. But for the general interest of Formula One, everyone wants a title battle with multiple teams involved.” What are the driver line-ups for 2023? RED BULL Max Verstappen Sergio Perez FERRARI Charles Leclerc Carlos Sainz MERCEDES Lewis Hamilton George Russell ALPINE Esteban Ocon Pierre Gasly McLAREN Lando Norris Oscar Piastri ALFA ROMEO Valtteri Bottas Zhou Guanyu ASTON MARTIN Fernando Alonso Lance Stroll HAAS Kevin Magnussen Nico Hulkenberg ALPHATAURI Yuki Tsunoda Nyck de Vries WILLIAMS Alex Albon Logan Sargeant *italics represents new addition to the grid/change of team Read More F1 makes South African Grand Prix call for 2024 calendar George Russell sends stark warning to F1 bosses: ‘There will be crashes’ Eddie Jordan makes bold Max Verstappen prediction: ‘He will be the greatest’ Poignant Netflix film captures the many facets of legendary Schumacher What happened to Michael Schumacher and what’s latest health update? Schumacher’s F1 career highlights as Netflix documentary is released

The United States maintained a two-point lead over Europe after sharing the Saturday foursomes 2-2 in the Solheim Cup at...

A whistleblower who claims that the US government has been operating UFO retrieval research in secret has reportedly said that UFOs have been responsible for the deaths of humans. David Grusch worked for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and was involved with the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force. He claimed that some of the “non-human intelligences” discovered have malevolent intentions and have killed people. Speaking to NewsNation [via the Daily Mail], he also reportedly claimed that the US is in a race with Russia and China to study extraterrestrial life. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “I think the logical fallacy there is because they’re advanced, they’re kind. We’ll never really understand their full intent and that’s because we’re not them. But I think what appears to be malevolent activity has happened.” He added: “That’s based on nuclear site probing activities and witness testimony. Grusch was then asked if UFOs had ever killed humans and he replied: “While I can’t get into the specifics because that would reveal certain US classified operations, I was briefed by a few individuals on the program that there were malevolent events like that.” The 36-year-old also suggested that the US government would go to extreme lengths to keep secrets covered up, saying: “At the very least, I saw substantive evidence that white-collar crime was committed… unfortunately. “I’ve heard some really un-American things I don’t want to repeat right now.” Grusch previously claimed that the US government has a "non-human origin" in-tact craft that they're keeping from the public. Speaking to NewsNation, Grusch said: "These are retrieving non-human origin technical vehicles, call it a spacecraft if you will, non-human exotic origin vehicles that have either landed or crashed." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey has warned England he will repeat his controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow if another chance arises in the rest of the Ashes series

Footage of the arrest of Mario Fernandez, the man accused of orchestrating the murder of Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan, has been released by the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Mr Fernandez, a landlord, is accused of hiring one of his tenants, Henry Tenon, to ambush and kill Mr Bridegan near Jacksonville, Florida in February 2022. Mr Tenon reportedly admitted to police that he pulled the trigger the night Mr Bridegan was killed. The release of the arrest footage comes in the wake of a third arrest in the murder case. Mr Bridegan's ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez — who is married to Mr Fernandez — was also arrested and charged with first degree murder. Mr Bridegan and Ms Gardner-Fernandez were embroiled in a contentious divorce proceeding prior to his death. In the recently released bodycamera footage obtained by News4Jax, Mr Fernandez can be seen sitting in handcuffs in the back of a pickup truck speaking with police investigators. He is then placed in the back of a patrol car. Mr Fernandez was arrested in March. In the footage, he can be heard reminiscing about using beepers and remembering phone numbers, laughing about being short, and asking about how deputies deal with tall people who are placed in the back of cramped patrol cars. He is facing first degree murder, conspiracy, and child abuse charges. He faces a potential death penalty if convicted. On the night of the shooting, Mr Bridegan was returning from his ex-wife's house near Jacksonville after dropping off two of his children. On his way home, he found a tire in the road blocking his path. When Mr Bridegan stepped out of his vehicle, he was shot — allegedly by Mr Tenon — and killed. Bullets hit the interior of Mr Bridegan's car, narrowly missing his toddler from another marriage. After the shooting Mr Bridegan's ex-wife said she was "devastated" by the murder and insisted she had nothing to do with his violent death. A grand jury indicted her on Thursday, after which he was taken into custody in Washington state. She moved out of Florida after Mr Bridegan was murdered. Ms Gardner-Fernandez's family issued a statement in the wake of her arrest. “Words cannot accurately express the depth of our sadness. Family is our top priority. We love our daughter and are focused on supporting her and our entire family as we help our grandchildren navigate this difficult and very confusing time," her parents, Shelli and Sterling Gardner, said. "For their sake and all involved, we caution against further speculation and request privacy as the legal process runs its course. In the meantime, we are thankful for the continued support, thoughtfulness and prayers being so generously shared by friends and loved ones.” Read More Jared Bridegan’s widow ‘not surprised’ by ex-wife’s arrest over Microsoft executive’s murder plot Microsoft exec Jared Bridegan was shot dead in a chilling ambush. Did his ex wife arrange it? Husband of Microsoft executive’s ex-wife could face death penalty for roadside murder

NFL great Tom Brady has become a minority owner of English second-tier soccer team Birmingham and wants to bring a winning mentality to an underperforming club

Raymond Ackerman, who built Pick n Pay Stores Ltd. up from scratch into one of South Africa’s biggest

Vietnam’s northern province of Bac Giang, home to suppliers for Apple Inc. and other global electronics companies, promises

Inhabitants of Belgium's cobblestone-and-canal city of Bruges are clear: summertime tourism...

Ukraine is working with major British defense company BAE Systems to set up a Ukrainian base to both

Australia unemployment unexpectedly increased in April as employers cut jobs — led by full-time roles — reinforcing the

Traditional mud-brick houses that the people of northern Syria have built for thousands of years risk disappearing, as 12 years of war have emptied villages...