F1 2023 season cars unveiled - in pictures

Preparations for the 2023 Formula One season are well under way with teams unveiling their new designs ahead of testing and the opening race in Bahrain next month.

Formula One champions Red Bull and Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo took their 2023 cars out on track last week.

Red Bull posted a video on Twitter of their RB19 at Silverstone while Alfa Romeo said their C43 completed a successful debut at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.

Red Bull held a livery launch in New York last week with double world champion Max Verstappen and Mexican Sergio Perez, while Alfa unveiled their new look in Switzerland.

Valtteri Bottas said he is relishing his position as Alfa Romeo leader, after taking a back-seat role at Mercedes.

The Finnish driver is in his second season with the team after being replaced by George Russell at Mercedes.

“In this team I feel like my role has been very different to what I’ve ever had in Formula One,” Bottas said. “A bit more involvement, a bit more information going through me in a way.”

Meanwhile, Red Bull's Max Verstappen denied a suggestion he was favourite for a third successive F1 championship and said the sport needed a closer battle.

Verstappen won 15 of 22 races last season in what was his team's best campaign yet, with Mexican teammate Sergio Perez adding two to the tally.

Rivals and runners-up Ferrari won four races and once-dominant Mercedes, third overall, just one.

"As a driver you always try to look at yourself, what can you do better and you try to come back stronger every single year even though sometimes that's a hard task," he said in New York.

"I think in the interests of the sport you always want the teams to be super-close. But I do think it was already quite close last year.

"I think as a team we also really executed a lot of things better than the other teams and that's why I guess the points gap was also so big. I never really felt, apart from two or three races, we absolutely dominated the whole weekend."

Later, Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Williams also unveiled their cars for the new season.

When does the 2023 F1 season start?

The opening race of the new season will be the Bahrain Grand Prix in Sakhir from March 3-5.

What's new?

F1 confirmed a 23-race season – instead of a planned 24 – for 2023 after the decision was taken not to replace the Chinese Grand Prix.

F1 cancelled the April 16 race in China due to "the ongoing difficulties presented by the Covid-19 situation".