VOTE: Who was the luckiest driver in 2023?

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F1 AWARDS - VOTE: Who was the luckiest driver in 2023?

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Chris Deeley

Saturday 30 December 2023 09:57 Updated: 11:46

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As F1 seasons get longer and longer, the impact of luck becomes more and more apparent. Have your team put a month of work into an upgrade that doesn't do anything? Did you get taken out once or twice in accidents you had nothing to do with?

That's bad luck! However, we're not here to talk about the woes and misfortunes today. Today, we're looking at those who - as the Spanish might say - tener una flor en el culo. Those who have lived a charmed life. Those who, some might say, were more lucky than good at times in 2023.

We're currently in the process of our annual awards season as voted for by you, the GPFans, and here is our next award category we're getting you to vote on.

Assessing the candidates...

It's hard to claim that Lance Stroll was especially lucky on the track this season, but let's be honest - getting a chance to learn from the best version of Fernando Alonso we've seen in half a dozen years, in an unexpectedly good Aston Martin, is a massive strike of luck. Oh, and the luck of his father owning his team. That almost certainly helped him stay employed.

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There's a good/lucky intersection in the world, and it's hard to say that Max Verstappen didn't make and maximise his own luck. However, you can't break records for consecutive wins without some good fortune, both in terms of reliability and your team cooking up an historically brilliant car.

Across the Aston Martin garage, Fernando Alonso had been due some good luck for years - and 2023 finally delivered. After switching teams constantly for more than a decade in search of his third championship, the Spaniard finally made a good choice and was handed the kind of car which, frankly, nobody saw coming.

Alex Albon's luck didn't show up so much in the points tally or, indeed, in the race by race results. However, what could have looked like a mediocre season was undoubtedly saved by having the kind of team-mate he could beat in qualifying at every single race. That sort of thing just doesn't happen.

Last but not least, Daniel Ricciardo. Everyone's favourite Aussie wasn't meant to start a race in 2023, but circumstances (see: Nyck de Vries getting on the wrong side of the famously short-tempered Helmut Marko) conspired to put him back in the car. His performances after that return got him a racing contract for 2024 - something which looked unlikely after half a dozen race.

But who do you think was the luckiest driver in 2023?