F1 23’s first reveal trailer teases Braking Point 2 starring Devon Butler

F1 23 will feature a narrative mode with live-action scenes like 2022’s Grid LegendsIf a teaser released by publisher Electronic Arts gives us any clue, then we can expect a release date in the near future. We’ll learn more about Codemasters plans for the latest edition of its Formula 1 video game series on Monday.

Fans were treated to a long (8-minutes) trailer that introduced the fictional racing team. F1 23’s grid on Friday — Konnersport Racing Team, whose top driver is yep, you guessed it, Devon Butler.

Butler has been the breakout star of Codemasters’ prior attempts at a narrative: F1 2019’s “taster” of three Formula 2 races heading into a standard career, and F1 2021’s “Braking Point,” a much larger, chapter-based mode which brought Butler back against two new playable protagonists. In a preview for that game, creative director Lee Mather was delighted that fans “gelled with Devon,” despite Codemasters deliberately casting “somebody who’s got a face you wanted to punch.”

How does Butler appear in real life? Unfortunately, all we got to see was a picture with a voice-over. In this fictitious F1 studio show spoke to (very real) hosts Naomi Schiff (formerly of Formula W’s Hitech GP and a Sky Sports personality) and Dickens Junior “durkchocolate” Ngoma, a motorsports Twitch streamer and influencer who just signed with Red Bull Racing’s esports department as a content creator.

The hairstyle is a bit different but it’s still an easily punchable photo. Adding to Butler’s douchey appeal, it looks like Butler has his own management agency, Butler Global, and it looks like it shares twin-billing with Konnersport on first reference. I’m sure that won’t cause any friction down the line.

Konnersport’s team chief will (again, a fictional character) be Tim Fellows. He did appear to talk to Schiff and Ngoma. They introduce the Konnersport livery and chassis with the same flashing lights that you would see on Mercedes and Aston Martin’s rides.

I don’t know if that’s a real chassis Codemasters had painted up — they shot in mixed reality for Grid Legends — but it indeed looks swell. Also, if you’re wondering about some of those sponsors, they’re bogus staples of Codemasters games going back about five years now. Back in 2020, the F1 game subreddit tried to take a stab at what kinds of businesses they’re involved in, but this is admittedly non-canonical.

F1 23 has not been dated yet but when it launches — typically in June or early July — it will be on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Beginning Monday, we should know all of this and more.