With the regulations undergoing a major change at the start of last season, many teams took different approaches to their car designs to try and achieve the best performance possible.
Some teams opted for detailed sidepods while some opted to not have any at all, leading to a lot of variation up and down the grid.
Heading into 2023, teams have now had a full year to gather data and see exactly what works best in F1’s new era, so it would be expected that all of the cars would look a lot more similar this season.
This is not the case however, as there is still a variety of different design approaches on the grid, with the sidepods still being a point of debate.
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Red Bull have kept their detailed approach, Ferrari have opted to introduce a large gully on the top while Mercedes have kept it minimalistic with the zero sidepod approach.
Having had the opportunity now to look at and analyse every car on the grid for 2023, former F1 champion Jenson Button has revealed which design he likes best.
“The Red Bull is the only one we haven’t seen realistically, it was obviously last year’s car, but Red Bull always come out with a good car. I think they’ll be competitive,” he told Sky Sports.
“The Ferrari looks nice. It looks like they’ve worked on areas where they were weak and they’ve taken some risks in other areas. The car looks good.
“It’s strange about Mercedes because the car. I would say it’s beautiful. It’s the most beautiful car, I would say the Mercedes. They might possibly be changing the sidepods.
“Surprised they didn’t do that over the winter rather than into the season, but they obviously believe in the style they have for the first few races.
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“I look forward to that fight at the front – we all hope for that three manufacturers at the front fighting for the championship don’t we? Three teams, and I think we will get that at some point this season.”
Mercedes have returned to a black livery this season, having used their traditional silver last year.
Lewis Hamilton has recently admitted that he dreams of being able to retire as a world champion and with the Brit set to sign a contract extension with the team, he must have faith in the Silver Arrows’ ability to return to winning ways.