2JW99R4 ZANDVOORT, NETHERLANDS - SEPTEMBER 4: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing after the Race ahead of the Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix at Cicuit Zandvoort on September 4, 2022 in Zandvoort, Netherlands (Photo by Marcel ter Bals/Orange Pictures)
Source: PlanetF1.com
The 2023 Formula 1 season will go down as a season of records as Max Verstappen and the Red Bull Racing team had an almost perfect campaign from start to finish! The team were unstoppable throughout the season as teams around them made upgrades to try and catch up but it was an impossible challenge for this season.
Verstappen’s 19 wins moved him up in the all-time wins to be the third most successful driver in F1 history, surpassing Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Sebastian Vettel by the end of the season to bring him to 54 victories overall. Although this wasn’t a record breaker itself, Verstappen’s dominance has moved him significantly up the list. But if that wasn’t a record breaker, what was?
Most Wins in a Season: Verstappen broke his own record that was set in 2022 with 15 wins in a season to go 4 better this time around and take 19.
Highest Win Percentage: An impressive 86%-win rate in 2023 broke Alberto Ascari’s 1952 benchmark of 75%. In 1952 Ascari won 6/8 races whereas in 2023 it was 19/22 making Verstappen even more impressive.
Most Consecutive Wins: Vettel won the final 9 races in 2013 and left people believing it could never be done again but Verstappen went on to win 10 in a row!
Most Points Scored in a Season: 575 championship points.
Biggest Difference Between 1st and 2nd: There was a 290 point gap to teammate Sergio Perez in p2.
First Driver to Lead Over 1000 Laps: Finishing the season on 1003 laps led, surpassing Vettel’s record of 739 laps led in 2011.
Most Consecutive Wins from Pole: 16 (starting from the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix)
Most Wins from Pole in a Season: 12
Most Consecutive Races as Championship Leader: 39 (starting at the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix)
Most Consecutive Points Scored
Most Pit Stops by the Winning Driver in one Race: Dutch Grand Prix
Most Sprint Wins in a Season: 4 (lets remind ourselves of that Piastri win while we are here!)
Lastly, by winning in Miami, Austin, and Las Vegas this year, Verstappen became the first driver to win in the same country 3 times in the same year, how about that!
Will the record-breaking streak continue in 2024 or will anyone be able to keep up with Max Verstappen and the Red Bull Racing team?
Since its return to the F1 calendar in 2020, Zandvoort has given fans some jaw-dropping moments and some amazing races and this year’s race was no different. The race was full of rain, yellow and red flags, tyres and an orange army party.
Source: Autocar India
Max Verstappen matched Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine wins in a row when he won the wet and windy Dutch race. Fernando Alonso came 2nd showing that Aston Martin might be back on track after a struggle before the summer break and Pierre Gasly came 3rd after Sergio Perez had a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
Earlier in the weekend, Oscar Piastri crashed into the wall while driving on the unique Zandvoort banking which caused Daniel Ricciardo to crash into the wall as well trying to avoid hitting the McLaren. The Australian suffered a broken wrist which meant he had to have surgery during the race and Liam Lawson took over the AlphaTauri car.
Throughout the weekend spurts of rain fell onto the track and the race was no different, heavy rain began to fall at the start of the race causing every driver to dive into the pitlane within the first few laps for intermediate tyres, the drivers that tried to stay out during the deluge of water soon found themselves struggling and at the back of the pack. Perez was the first to pit and found himself in 1st place with Zhou Guanyu 11 seconds behind in 2nd.
Source: Unknown
Verstappen and Lando Norris started on the front row but while Red Bull got their strategy perfect, McLaren tried to let Norris and Piastri stay out longer than they could, and their chance of a podium was gone.
The rain had lasted longer than all the teams expected but once it had stopped the track began to try quickly. Lawson received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for impeding in the pitlane during the kerfuffle of everyone getting intermediate tyres.
Verstappen showed the speed and power of this year’s Red Bull and began to hunt down his teammate to the excitement of the dancing crowd. The team made the decision to have the Dutch driver perform an undertake on Perez which put him out in front.
Source: The Drive
Logan Sargeant crashed in turn 8 when the rain returned which caused the safety car to come out and Gasly received a 5 second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pitlane which was served at his pitstop. When the safety car ended, Verstappen kept his lead with Perez and Alonso fighting behind him.
The middle part of the race went on and at the ending stages the rain began again, this time heavier. Zhou went into the barriers and that combined with the heavy weather, the FIA decided to red flag the race. The radars showed that there would be a break in the rain for just enough time to continue the last few laps of the race.
After contact with Norris, George Russel dropped down the order with a possible puncture which caused him to become the fourth car to DNF behind Sargeant, Charles Leclerc and Zhou.
The race finished with the Dutch fans dancing, cheering and roaring like they were for the entire race. With the Dutch GP weekend finished the teams are looking ahead to Monza, which like Zantvoort, is always a party.
Every year 22 drivers take the stage as members of the F2 championship with a similar set of ambitions: to win and get the attention of the powers that be in F1.
The growing issue with these ambitions is that they are becoming less likely to pan out. With driver careers lasting longer than ever, the amount of open seats remains lower than the amount of talent available to fill them. Of the last 4 F2 champions, only 2 are currently active drivers in F1 and neither one made it immediately after winning their respective championship, and while 50% isn’t staggering, that is only a fraction of the drivers that graduated F2 without reaching the next level.
Source: The Straits Times
This inability to find a seat in F1 has caused the young talents of junior formulas to branch out to other series around the world, some find themselves behind the wheel of prototypes in WEC or in FE, but today we focus on one pipeline that is growing in popularity, the IndyCar pipeline.
IndyCar is quickly growing into a premier open-wheel series, the close quarters racing and diverse track layouts make it appealing to drivers from all around the world wanting to try something new, and recently more junior Formula and F1 alumni have migrated to the IndyCar scene.
Source: Autosport.com
Drivers like Grosjean and Ericsson were both full timers in F1 that have seen success in IndyCar with Ericsson winning the Indy 500 in 2022 and Grosjean achieving multiple road course podiums. Young F1 prospects like Callum Ilott and Christian Lundgaard have also made the move to IndyCar and have found solid results despite being in less accomplished teams.
With most F1 drivers transitioning to IndyCar seeing success, more prospects or even veterans on the way out may look to the series as a way to revitalize their careers, making IndyCar a series to watch even more now than ever.
The Austrian Grand Prix brought a lot of entertainment to F1 fans. The everchanging weather made the spectacle even more unpredictable (maybe except for the race winner). It was the second sprint race of the year, with the new sprint shootout format brought in Baku, we were hoping for some surprise results.
After the only free practice session early Friday afternoon, the drivers lined up to put in the all important laps that would set their places for Sunday’s race. Some shock eliminations saw George Russell and Sergio Perez eliminated in Q2 with the Red Bull driver missing out on Q3 for the fourth race running.
Source: Planet F1
Verstappen beat Leclerc to pole by only 0.048s, a very tight qualifying session indeed. It looked good for Ferrari as Sainz lined up on the second row alongside Norris who looked super fast with their upgrades. Shoutouts went to Hulkenberg and Albon who qualified 8th and 10th respectively, putting their teams in good positions for Sunday’s race.
Saturday’s sprint shootout had trickier conditions with a damp/dry session. We had some more surprising eliminations again, with neither Mercedes driver making it to Q3. Hamilton was eliminated in Q1, while Russel was hampered with a hydraulic issue which cut his session short. Verstappen and Perez sealed a front row lockout for the team, but the stars of the show were Norris and Hulkenberg who qualified 3rd and 4th.
Source: Sportskeeda
In the sprint, Verstappen showed his dominance by finishing 21 seconds ahead of second placed Perez. Sainz impressed as he clinched 3rd place and some important points for Ferrari. Leclerc was not as fortunate and finished 12th, behind a 10th placed Hamilton and 11th placed Piastri. A clever play of strategy, switching to slicks in good time, saw Hulkenberg take some points in P6.
Sunday’s race was a thrilling one as we were treated to lots of on track battles. Verstappen clinched his 5th victory in a row ahead of Leclerc who claimed Ferrari’s 800th podium. Perez had a stellar race, jumping from P15 all the way to a podium position. Sainz defended him for sometime, helping his Ferrari teammate but in the end the Red Bull was superior.
Source: The Mirror
Track limits were a nightmare for many drivers, several 5 second penalties were given during the race and post race there were even more, changing the order of the results.
Aston Martin protested race results and the stewards post race review saw multiple penalties given: Sainz (10s) , Hamilton (10s), Ocon (30s), Gasly (10s), Tsunoda (5s), de Vries (5s), Albon (10s), Sargeant (5s)
Meaning that Sainz was demoted from 4th to 6th, Hamilton from 7th to 8th and Gasly from 9th to 10th. Top 10: Verstappen, Leclerc, Perez, Norris, Alonso, Sainz, Russell, Hamilton, Stroll, Gasly
The British GP this weekend is the second part of the double header, stay tuned!
A new format for sprint race weekends was agreed, which would take effect from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Friday would see drivers participate in free practice 1 and qualifying for Sunday’s race. Saturday would be all about the sprint: the sprint shoutout was the qualifying session for the sprint race and mandated hard tyres for SQ1, medium tyres for SQ2 and soft tyres for SQ3 meant that some teams may have to prioritise qualifying for the main race.
Limited time in the only free practice session saw our usual trio of Verstappen, Leclerc and Perez. It was the beginning of a bad weekend for Pierre Gasly as his Alpine caught fire while Magnussen suffered a suspected fuel pressure problem.
Source: FormulaNerds.com
Friday’s qualifying session saw Charles Leclerc outpace the Red Bulls and claim pole position for Sunday’s race. In this qualifying session we witnessed Leclerc and Verstappen set identical times, as well as Stroll and Piastri. There were two red flags in the session when Gasly and De Vries were both caught out at separate occasions at Turn 3.
In the first part of the sprint shootout Sargeant had a run in with the barriers which ended his session early and disrupted it for others. The damage done to his car could not be repaired before the sprint race, so he did not participate.
Eliminated in SQ1: Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda, Gasly, De Vries
Both Aston Martins were struggling during the sprint shootout with DRS issues but survived and made it to SQ3. Piastri was unlucky and justed missed out in 11th.
Eliminated in SQ2: Piastri, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Magnussen, Sargeant
The inaugural sprint shoutout saw Leclerc take his second pole position of the weekend, really showing his pace against the Red Bulls. The Monegasque driver hit the barriers as he went to improve his time on his final flying lap but managed to keep his pole as neither Red Bull could outdo the Ferrari driver.
Some key points from the sprint race were the coming together of Verstappen and Russell and Perez’s first win of the weekend, showing just why he’s been dubbed “King of the Streets”.
Norris and Bottas were the only two drivers to choose soft tyres for the sprint, this seemed like it could have been a genius move at the start of the sprint but later turned out to be the exact opposite.
Verstappen could be heard over the radio, furious with Russell. Meanwhile, Tsunoda and De Vries also came together, with the Japanese driver losing a wheel when he hit the wall at Turn 13. AlphaTauri sent Tsunoda back out after he trundled back to the pits but a full safety car was then deployed as his damage was severe.
Source: PlanetF1.com
On the restart, Perez didn’t wait too long to get past Leclerc but the Monegasque driver did a good job in keeping Verstappen at bay to hold onto P2. Fernando Alonso finished between Sainz and Hamilton as he was opportunistic after the restart and overtook the seven time world champion. Stroll made a move on Albon towards the end of the sprint, claiming the final point available.
Top 8: Perez, Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell, Sainz, Alonso, Hamilton, Stroll
Race Review
Sergio Perez made it 2/2 wins over the weekend when he saw the chequered flags at the end of Lap 57 of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He held his cool when teammate Max Verstappen tried his best to hunt him down and kept a safe distance between them. Though Perez benefitted from the timing of the safety car and Verstappen didn’t, the Mexican made the most of the opportunity to cement his desire for a title charge.
Charles Leclerc claimed Ferrari’s first podium of the season with a P3 finish. Unable to keep up with the pace of the Red Bulls, Leclerc settled for third, finishing over 20 seconds behind them. Sainz was off the pace too, playing catch up to his teammate all weekend as he finished 5th.
Source: CP24.com
Aston Martin will be happy with their weekend. After suffering with DRS issues over the weekend, a 4th and 7th place finish would be a nice chunk of points to reward the team’s hard work. Alonso did try to chase down Leclerc in the latter stages of the race but was unsuccessful in this attempt.
It was a relatively quiet weekend for Mercedes. Hamilton drove a solid race on Sunday, the aim to close in on Sainz but he was unable to perform an overtake. Russell, starting lower than he would’ve liked because of a poor qualifying session on Friday, brought home some points in P8.
McLaren had a positive Azerbaijan GP. Although there is still room for improvement, the team from Woking can be proud of their step forward. The car upgrades saw Norris take P9 and Piastri, who was ill for the majority of the weekend finished P11. Both played the long waiting game behind Ocon and Hulkenberg who pitted late in the race.
Tsunoda completed a very strong race with a points finish in P10. De Vries retired from the race after he crashed into the wall at Turn 5. For Williams, Albon was among the pack that finished close together missing out on points and Sargeant was one of the last of the finishers. In the Haas team, it was similar to Williams; in what was quite an uneventful race, Magnussen was sandwiched between Albon and Gasly while Hulkenberg finished just above Bottas who had a race to forget.
Tune in again next week as we head to Miami for round 5 of the 2023 Formula 1 Season.
The Fastest Sector 