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The 2023 Formula 1 season is heading into its final stretch of races and Red Bull have dominated throughout much like they did in the back end of 2022. This year sees 23 races held in a record-breaking calendar, as Max Verstappen is on the verge of three in a row following back-to-back World Championship triumphs. Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team have found further improvements so far this year following a disappointing 2022 season. Meanwhile Ferrari are struggling to match their strong start to 2022. There are new faces on the grid too - such as Oscar Piastri and Logan Sargeant - and all 20 drivers will be itching to get back on track after a three-month break with the official pre-season test in Bahrain before the first race of the season a week later. This year’s biggest shake-up so far came mid-season when AlphaTauri driver Nyck de Vries was dropped almost immediately after Silverstone as he failed to impress the higher-ups at Red Bull. He has been replaced by returning favourite Daniel Ricciardo. Here is everything you need to know. What is the 2023 F1 calendar? ROUND 1 —BAHRAIN Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir - 3-5 March ROUND 2 - SAUDI ARABIA Jeddah Corniche Circuit - 17-19 March ROUND 3 - AUSTRALIA Albert Park, Melbourne - 31 March-2 April ROUND 4 - AZERBAIJAN (sprint weekend) Baku City Circuit - 28-30 April ROUND 5 - MIAMI Miami International Autodrome, Hard Rock Stadium - 5-7 May ROUND 6 - EMILIA ROMAGNA CANCELLED Imola Circuit - 19-21 May ROUND 7 - MONACO Circuit de Monaco - 26-28 May ROUND 8 - SPAIN Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya - 2-4 June ROUND 9 - CANADA Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal - 16-18 June ROUND 10 - AUSTRIA (sprint weekend) Red Bull Ring, Spielberg - 30 June-2 July ROUND 11 - GREAT BRITAIN Silverstone Circuit - 7-9 July ROUND 12 - HUNGARY Hungaroring, Budapest - 21-23 July ROUND 13 - BELGIUM (sprint weekend) Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps - 28-30 July ROUND 14 - NETHERLANDS Circuit Zandvoort - 25-27 August ROUND 15 - ITALY Monza Circuit - 1-3 September ROUND 16 - SINGAPORE Marina Bay Street Circuit - 15-17 September ROUND 17 - JAPAN Suzuka International Racing Course - 22-24 September ROUND 18 - QATAR (sprint weekend) Lusail International Circuit, Lusail - 6-8 October ROUND 19 - UNITED STATES (sprint weekend) Circuit of the Americas, Austin - 20-22 October ROUND 20 - MEXICO Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City - 27-29 October ROUND 21 - BRAZIL (sprint weekend) Interlagos Circuit, Sao Paulo - 3-5 November ROUND 22 - LAS VEGAS Las Vegas Street Circuit - 16-18 November ROUND 23 - ABU DHABI Yas Marina Circuit - 24-26 November When and where does the 2023 F1 season start? The first race of the season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, takes place from Friday 3 March - Sunday 5 March at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. Qualifying on Saturday 4 March starts at 3pm (GMT) with the race on Sunday also at 3pm (GMT). When is pre-season testing? Pre-season testing takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit the week before the first race, from Thursday 23 February - Saturday 25 February. Running will take place between 7am and 4:30pm (GMT) on each of the three days. There will be an hour’s break midway through each session for lunch. Each driver will have one-and-a-half days worth of time in the car. How can I watch it online and on TV? The Bahrain Grand Prix, as well as pre-season testing, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom. Sky Sports subscribers can watch pre-season testing on the Sky Go app. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription. We may earn commission from some of the links in this article, but we never allow this to influence our content. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. What has been said? Max Verstappen has challenged Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to raise their game and provide him with the championship battle that Formula One needs. Verstappen ran away with last season’s title, winning 15 of the 22 races, to secure his second championship with four rounds to spare. In contrast, Hamilton, in his under-performing Mercedes, endured the worst year of his career as he failed to win a race and finished 214 points adrift. But when addressing the prospect of renewing his rivalry with Hamilton at Red Bull’s season launch in New York, Verstappen, 25, said: “In the interest of the sport you always want the teams to be super-close. “I do think it was close last year, but as a team we executed a lot of things better than the others and that was why the points gap was so big. I never felt, apart from two or three races, that we absolutely dominated. But for the general interest of Formula One, everyone wants a title battle with multiple teams involved.” What are the driver line-ups for 2023? RED BULL Max Verstappen Sergio Perez FERRARI Charles Leclerc Carlos Sainz MERCEDES Lewis Hamilton George Russell ALPINE Esteban Ocon Pierre Gasly McLAREN Lando Norris Oscar Piastri ALFA ROMEO Valtteri Bottas Zhou Guanyu ASTON MARTIN Fernando Alonso Lance Stroll HAAS Kevin Magnussen Nico Hulkenberg ALPHATAURI Yuki Tsunoda Daniel Ricciardo/Liam Lawson WILLIAMS Alex Albon Logan Sargeant *italics represents new addition to the grid/change of team Read More F1 given new deadline by Felipe Massa’s lawyers – who label Lewis Hamilton title a ‘sham’ Red Bull chief apologises to Sergio Perez over ‘offensive remark’ The rise of Oscar Piastri: A genuine rival for Lando Norris at last Poignant Netflix film captures the many facets of legendary Schumacher What happened to Michael Schumacher and what’s latest health update? Schumacher’s F1 career highlights as Netflix documentary is released

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The Turkish Republic, founded from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire by the national independence hero Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, turns 100 on Sunday, October 29. Ataturk established a Western-facing secular republic modeled on the great powers of the time, ushering in radical reforms that abolished the caliphate, replaced the Arabic script with the Roman alphabet, gave women the vote and adopted European laws and codes. Turkey has, however, taken on a more conservative character under the two-decade-old rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose party has roots in the country's Islamic movement and who has become Turkey's most influential leader since Ataturk. The centennial offers Erdogan, re-elected for a third term in May, a chance to redefine the country and propel it into a new era he has dubbed “Turkey’s Century.” Here is a look at some of the republic’s greatest accomplishments, and controversial realignments as it embarks on its second century. Religious identity The secular vs. conservative debate remains one of the most contentious cultural divides in Turkey. Ataturk, the nation’s founding father, envisioned a secular country as a prerequisite to modernity. Over the decades, the separation of religion and state became a deeply ingrained ideology. The country went on to impose bans on headscarves in schools and public institutions, brought restrictions on religious education, adopted liberal policies on alcohol, and even converted the main Ottoman imperial mosque, the Hagia Sofia, into a museum. All these policies have been reversed under Erdogan, who has shifted the country toward conservatism. Now official functions open with prayers, the Directorate of Religious Affairs has been given a budget which dwarfs most ministries, the number of religious schools have increased and even Erdogan’s unorthodox economic policy of reducing interest rates - abandoned recently - was justified on religious grounds. “Ataturk was a ... top-down politician who believed in social engineering and he wanted to refashion Turkey as a secular, West-facing, European society," said Soner Cagaptay, an expert on Turkey at the Washington Institute and author of several books on Erdogan. "Erdogan, too, believes in top-down social engineering. While his method is similar to that of Ataturk, his values are almost the exact opposite.” Diplomacy The Western-oriented country joined NATO in 1952 and is officially a candidate to join the European Union - although the membership negotiations have now come to a standstill. Turkey’s interests generally aligned with those of Western countries for much of the 20th century. In recent years, however, Turkey has adopted a much more assertive foreign policy which aims to extend Ankara’s reach both regionally and worldwide. This new independent diplomacy is just as likely to pit Turkey against Western interests as it is to align with them. One recent point of tension between Turkey and the West has been in Syria, with Turkey frequently launching attacks against local Kurdish forces which Europe and the United States consider allies and Turkey considers as off-shoots of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. Turkey now controls large swaths of territory in Syria and speaks of creating a buffer zone along its borders with Syria and Iraq against Kurdish fighters. Following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, both Sweden and Finland decided to abandon their long-standing neutrality and join NATO. Yet Turkey became the main holdout against Swedish membership, accusing Sweden of being too soft toward the PKK and other groups outlawed by Turkey. Turkey’s new, pragmatic foreign policy also extends to its relations with Russia, a major trading partner. While most NATO countries took a strong stance against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, Ankara has maintained close ties even as it opposes the war. While impeding NATO’s cohesion, Turkey’s non-alignment does put it in a unique position where it can act as mediator in global conflicts, including the war in Ukraine. Cagaptay sees similarities in Ataturk's and Erdogan's goals of wanting to turn Turkey into a great power. But whereas Ataturk decided to embrace and copy policies of European powers of the time, Erdogan “has no interest in folding Turkey under Europe and believes he can achieve this on his own,” Cagaptay said. Defence industry Turkey faced arms embargos after its 1974 invasion of Cyprus following a coup by supporters of union with Greece, and over its military offensive against Kurdish groups. More recently the country was kicked out of a U.S.-led fighter jet program over its purchase of a Russian missile defense system that angered NATO allies. Restrictions on arms sales, however, are becoming less and less of a burden, because of Turkey’s burgeoning domestic arms industry. Turkish officials maintain that Turkey’s defense industry has grown from 20 percent domestic production to 80 percent. This “local and indigenous” production ranges from rifles and tanks to assault ships and a new fighter jet, Kaan, which is planned to fly in 2028. Turkey has also become a major exporter of arms, most notably its domestically manufactured combat drones. Turkish-manufactured drones have made it into the arsenals of many countries, including Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Poland and Azerbaijan. Bayraktar drones, owned and designed by the family of Erdogan’s son-in-law Selcuk Bayraktar, have proven particularly effective in the Ukraine war. Modernisation Ataturk’s reforms and drive to modernize helped pull Turkey out of the deep poverty it suffered when the Ottoman Empire collapsed. Today, the country is a member of the Group of 20 most developed nations. The Erdogan era has become synonymous with a far-reaching construction boom. Highways, bridges, tunnels, pipelines, airports, hospitals and countless residences have all sprung up around the country. This new infrastructure is such a source of pride and legitimacy for Erdogan's government that it is frequently brought up on the campaign trail. With Turkey actively encourages the construction boom, critics say the government has adopted a careless attitude toward its regulation. After a devastating earthquake in February, lax enforcement of building codes was blamed for the widespread destruction. Some of Erdogan’s more ambitious projects have also been points of political contention, from the giant palace built for the president in Ankara to smaller luxury palaces built around the country. His most ambitious proposal yet, a grand canal through Istanbul, has raised fears of harm to the environment and local ecosystem. Challenges Turkey's previous hundred years witnessed military coups, economic crises and a succession of often unstable governments. Today, it faces a host of unresolved issues, including the fight against Kurdish rebels, which has been going on for four decades and doesn’t look any closer to resolution despite daily military operations in Turkey, Syria and Iraq. Turkey's assertive foreign policy means its relations with neighbors swing violently between friend and foe. The recent shift from a parliamentary system to a presidential one further eroded checks and balances, consolidating authority in the president’s hands. Its democratic backsliding, especially since a failed coup in 2016, frequently grabs international attention and seriously endangers its bid to join the EU. Transparency International ranks Turkey 101 out of 180 countries in corruption. Reporters Without Borders ranks Turkey 165 out of 180 countries in press freedoms, down from 149 the previous year. Last year, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Turkey 103 out of 167 in its democracy index, classifying it a hybrid regime between an authoritarian state and a flawed democracy. In addition to all this, its economy has been facing a serious downturn in recent years, with inflation in the high double digits. Most experts forecast that inflation will be further exacerbated by the high costs of reconstruction following the earthquake that killed 50,000 people. Read More Pope Francis prays for a world in 'a dark hour' and danger from 'folly' of war Turkey’s president submits protocol for Sweden’s admission into NATO Separatist lined up to be Putin’s puppet leader in Ukraine ‘is shot in Crimea home’ Separatist lined up to be Putin’s puppet leader in Ukraine ‘is shot in Crimea home’ EU summit turns its eyes away from Ukraine despite a commitment to stay the course with Zelenskyy Russia-Ukraine war: Putin’s troops ‘executed for retreating’

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F1 commentator Jack Nicholls has lost his job at BBC Radio 5 Live after complaints of “inappropriate touching” which led to his dismissal from his lead commentator role with Formula E. An investigation was launched by Formula E after a formal complaint of inappropriate behaviour in March and allegations of “inappropriate touching” were made by three individuals, one of whom had been in a relationship with the commentator. Now Nicholls, who combined his role with Formula E alongside commentating on F1 races for 5 Live, has also lost his job with IMG, who provide radio F1 coverage for the BBC. An IMG spokesperson confirmed to The Independent on Friday: “IMG has decided to part ways with Jack Nicholls in light of the incidents that led to his departure from Formula E.” After losing his job at Formula E at the end of May, Nicholls said: “Although disappointed with the decision, I respect it and accept why it was taken. “I want to take full responsibility for what I did and apologise unreservedly for a couple of isolated incidents that has made those concerned feel uncomfortable. “I never meant any harm and I am committed to making amends and to be more mindful of my behaviour in future.” Nicholls’ voice is synonymous with Formula E with his “and we go green…” intro to races well-known to fans since the championship began in 2014. But since the investigation, Nicholls had commentated on FE races remotely from a base in London, with Ben Edwards replacing him for the double-header in Jakarta two weeks ago and for the remaining five races of this season. Nicholls combined this role with F1 commentary for the BBC, a job he has performed since 2016, but he stepped aside from scheduled appearances at the Monaco Grand Prix three weeks ago after the Formula E investigation had concluded. The commentator has also appeared on Netflix’s popular behind-the-scenes F1 show Drive to Survive. Rosanna Tennant, Harry Benjamin and Oliver Askew will be the team on hand providing BBC’s radio coverage of the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend. Read More Sky suspend F1 pundits after sexist comments live on air Ferrari’s F1 flaws all the more baffling after shock success at Le Mans Sergio Perez ‘under threat’ at Red Bull with young star tipped to replace him Ferrari’s F1 flaws all the more baffling after shock success at Le Mans Mercedes chief predicts performance level at Canadian Grand Prix

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