11 July 2023 , 05:00
1096
0
New race, same result – Max Verstappen was on the top step of the podium again at Silverstone.
That's eight wins from 10 races so far in 2023. His Red Bull team has won all of them – Sergio Perez took victory in the other two, back when he wasn't making a hash of qualifying every Grand Prix weekend.
Those facts, taken in isolation, point at an extraordinarily dull Formula 1 season so far. Admittedly, a couple of the races have been devoid of much really exciting action.
But those were earlier in the season. Right now, even though nothing has changed at the very front, the pecking order across the rest of the grid has become remarkably interchangeable.
Aston Martin were the surprise package in the early rounds of the year. They emerged from the midfield to upset the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari who were suddenly in a scrap to avoid being relegated to F1's fourth-best team.
Sebastian Vettel warns of looming F1 ban and is "very worried about the future"
That aforementioned midfield doesn't exist any more. Over the last few years in F1, we've had three distinctive groups – the 'big three', the midfield and the backmarkers. That hierarchy has gone the way of the dodo bird.
Right now, it's impossible to say who's second quickest or who's slowest on the grid. It changes at every single race weekend. The margins in terms of qualifying and race pace are so often miniscule these days, all the way down the leaderboard.
Things have been incredibly tight behind the runaway Red Bulls (Getty Images)Last year's bottom-feeders Williams scored one point in the first seven races this team and now have 10 more from the last three – greater than their entire 2022 total. AlphaTauri have just two points and sit rock bottom, yet Yuki Tsunoda has been in top 10 contention at most races so far.
Red Bull have scored 90 points in the last two race weekends, in Austria and at Silverstone – more than double any other team. Behind them, Mercedes added 36 in that same timeframe; Aston Martin 27; Ferrari 35; McLaren 42. The margins are so tight.
The latter has emerged from nowhere to dine with the big boys. They began the season with one of the slowest cars and, within 10 races, have clawed themselves into a position where they almost got a double podium at Silverstone – and would have, had the safety car not been poorly timed from Oscar Piastri's perspective.
Does a sport need a title race to be entertaining? Have your say in the comments section!
Out of nowhere, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are suddenly a threat to those fighting for podiums (HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)Most notably of all, McLaren's rise has come about through one package of upgrades, albeit a significant one. It demonstrates that, in this current situation, a couple of tenths per lap can be the difference between the podium and no points at all.
Of course, a title fight and regular battles for race victories would make things more entertaining. The more the merrier in that regard. Even Verstappen would probably welcome some genuine competition, just to keep things interesting for him.
We may not get that this season. But what we have got is fierce competition behind the Dutchman and nine other teams among which the balance of power seems to change on a weekly basis.
It's hard to understand how any F1 fan couldn't get excited about that.
Mick Schumacher free to race for McLaren in 2023 after Mercedes deal reached