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As The Race reflects on the 2023 motorsport season - one that featured a record-equalling Formula 1 schedule, no fewer than 39 MotoGP races, and no shortage of on- and off-track drama in IndyCar and Formula E - we’ve asked our writers to recount their standout motorsport memory or feeling from the past 12 months.
Much like a couple of drivers in the 2023 F1 field, Ben Anderson had spent some time away from the paddock - so it's not hard to see why getting stuck back in was our Group F1 Editor’s pick (even if there was a hiccup along the way).
Representing The Race at the Qatar Grand Prix was easily my standout moment of 2023.
Our standout 2023 moments
I hadn't attended a grand prix since Japan 2019, when a typhoon threatened to wipe us off the face of the Earth, and hadn't visited the F1 paddock since pre-season testing in 2020 - just before Covid changed everything for a good long while.
Things didn't get off to a brilliant start. When I arrived at the FIA's accreditation centre to collect my pass, it turned out they'd printed one for Gary Anderson rather than me!
But once we finally straightened things out and I gained access to the F1 paddock for the first time in four years, I thoroughly enjoyed being back in the thick of covering F1 on the ground: catching up with familiar faces, meeting some new ones - and also dealing with what turned out to be an unexpectedly dramatic weekend amid Max Verstappen putting the world championship beyond any shadow of a doubt.
It felt like a homecoming of sorts, and great to be back after far too long away.
