Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #25 Matt Campbell
Matt Campbell took the big step up from GT racing to prototypes like a duck to water, dropping into the factory Penske-run Porsche 963 programme in the IMSA SportsCar Championship alongside Felipe Nasr.They finished fourth in points, scoring victory at Road America, and his switch to the team’s World EnduranceContinue Reading
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #24 Ott Tanak
Ott Tanak was rarely 100% comfortable driving the M-Sport Ford Puma following his shock switch from Hyundai, but the 2019 world champion still scored two WRC wins.The Puma wasn’t as heavily developed as its full factory Toyota and Hyundai rivals, but in Tanak’s hands it showed flashes of pace toContinue Reading
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #23 Ryan Blaney
The 29-year-old third-generation driver for Team Penske didn’t look like a Cup championship contender early in the season. But when it counted the most – in the playoffs – Ryan Blaney and his #12 Ford team were at their best.Critical playoff wins at Talladega and Martinsville advanced him to theContinue Reading
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #22 Kamui Kobayashi
Kamui Kobayashi again missed out on the big prizes in the WEC; neither the title nor a Le Mans win came his way in 2023. But he and team-mates Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez were the ‘winningest’ of the two Toyota line-ups, outscoring the champions 4-2. It should alsoContinue Reading
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #21 George Russell
On qualifying performance, George Russell was 11-11 in the head-to-head against Lewis Hamilton, but the younger Briton was often outgunned by his more experienced Mercedes team-mate in the races. Overall, Russell termed 2023 as “one of the worst seasons of my career” as Mercedes failed to make the strides itContinue Reading
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #20 Shane van Gisbergen
From the start of the year, Shane van Gisbergen made it crystal clear that he was no fan of the new Gen3 Supercar and, after disqualification from a season-opening win in Newcastle on a technicality, he was playing off the back foot all season.His third Bathurst 1000 win, while managingContinue Reading
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #19 Laurens Vanthoor
GT specialist Laurens Vanthoor got his prototype chance with Porsche and Penske in the World Endurance Championship and grabbed it with both hands.He was consistently the quickest of the six drivers in the factory 963 LMDhs over the season. That’s all the more impressive given he’d only made three raceContinue Reading
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #18 Scott Dixon
The ageless enigma was once again a force to be reckoned with to finish runner-up in the IndyCar standings and prove the closest – yet still distant – threat to Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Alex Palou. The Kiwi waited until the 14th of 17 rounds to find Victory Lane, whichContinue Reading
Autosport Top 50 of 2023: #17 Mitch Evans
A case of so near yet so far once again for Mitch Evans in Formula E. He racked up the joint-most wins with four and, like the previous two campaigns, entered the final round with a shot at the title. The Jaguar driver took until the sixth race of theContinue Reading
Magazine: 140-page Christmas double issue
We’re not going to pretend it was difficult to decide on our number one slot in this year’s Top 50. But behind the obvious there was the usual mix of debate, frustration and moving people around until the final deadline meant the conversations had to stop.As ever, this year’s TopContinue Reading