F1 2023 first half review: Verstappen pulls ahead, again Premium

The Red Bull driver has dominated the first half of the season with ten wins, despite Alonso’s early aggression and Hamilton’s late surge.

Racing ahead: With 10 wins out of the 12 races, Verstappen ended the first half of the season with a 125-point lead over second-placed Perez. | Photo Credit: AFP

With the Formula One bandwagon taking a well-deserved summer break after 12 races, here is a look at some of the big talking points from the first half of the season and what to look out for when the season resumes at Zandvoort, Netherlands, on August 27.

1. Unstoppable force

The final race before the summer break was a Sprint weekend at the Belgian GP, where the juggernaut of Max Verstappen and Red Bull continued to roll unabated.

The Dutchman won his 10th race of the season at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit despite starting sixth on the grid.

Though Sergio Perez led the early part of the race, Verstappen had little trouble overtaking his teammate and smashed the rest of the field, finishing 22 seconds ahead of the Mexican driver.

With this, the reigning two-time champion further padded his already almost unassailable lead in the drivers’ standings.

With 10 wins out of the 12 races, Verstappen ended the first half of the season with a 125-point lead over second-placed Perez. If Red Bull senses a chance of recruiting a better second driver who is not this far off Verstappen, the Mexican’s place could come under scrutiny despite his 2024 contract.

2. Old is gold

In the early part of the season, Fernando Alonso, the oldest driver on the grid, showed he still has fire in his belly as he racked up six podiums from the first eight races in what was a dream start to his maiden season with Aston Martin Racing.

Fernando Alonso | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The team was firmly the second-best car behind Red Bull but has slipped up in the last few rounds, with Mercedes now occupying second place on the constructors’ standings.

The 42-year-old Alonso has 149 points, is third in the drivers’ standings, and has blown his teammate Lance Stroll out of the water.

The Canadian driver, whose father (Lawrence Stroll) owns the team, has only 47 points, and his underperformance is why the iconic brand is third and not second in the standings.

3. Fight for the best of the rest

Even as Red Bull has sailed off into the distance, the battle behind them is fascinating. In the early part of the year, Aston Martin led the charge before Mercedes joined the party, with Lewis Hamilton stringing impressive performances, like his pole-position lap in Hungary.

Thanks to a better driver pairing in Hamilton and George Russell, the Silver Arrows have been able to bank valuable points to move to second place in the constructors’ standings, with Hamilton now just one point behind Alonso in the fight for third in the driver’s standings.

In the last few races, Ferrari and McLaren, too, have upped their game a bit and unlocked some performance in their cars. Mercedes is ahead of Aston by 51 points, with Ferrari a further five points behind, but it will be a battle to watch out for when the season resumes.

4. Chaos at Alpine

During the Belgian Grand Prix, there was massive churning at the top management of Alpine, with Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and Sporting Director Alan Permane, who had been with the team for more than three decades, leaving the group. Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi was also nudged aside to Special Projects, while Pat Fry, the Chief Technical Officer, too, has quit and will join Williams later this year.

The team had big hopes of moving up the grid after finishing fourth last year, but has had a horrid start to 2023. After being fifth at the beginning of the year, the team slipped further behind to sixth after McLaren banked some excellent results in the last few races. So much chaos at the top level is a recipe for disaster, and how it fares in the rest of the year remains to be seen.

MotoGp

Meanwhile, action on two wheels returned after its summer hiatus with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. In a thrilling race on Sunday (August 6), Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro snatched victory from championship leader Francesco Bagnaia on the last lap of the race to take his first win of the season. It was an excellent race for the Spanish rider, who started 12th but quickly moved up the grid. Despite losing out on the win on the last lap, reigning champion Bagnaia increased his championship lead to 41 points after his closest pursuer, Jorge Martin, finished sixth and another contender, Marco Bezzecchi, retired from the race.