The Formula 1 season has kicked off, with Red Bull Racing comfortably leading the constructors' championship with 287 points, while their closest competitor is Mercedes, with 152 points. Meanwhile, in the drivers' championship, Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) is leading, with 170 points, with his closest competitor being his teammate, Sergio Perez, with 117 points. Let's break down the races so far. 

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The season kicked off with Bahrain, with Red Bull getting a one-two (Max Verstappen in first, Sergio Perez in second). Fernando Alonso came third, which really proved that Aston Martin's new design this year is really paying off. Unfortunately, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc DNFed due to an engine issue, and McLaren's Oscar Piastri was out because of an electrical problem. Also, Haas's Nico Hulkenberg received a 15-second time penalty for track limits. However, Esteban Ocon's race was the worst of them all. He first got a five-second penalty for starting out of his grid box, with his right-front tyre out of position. Then, when he came in to serve the penalty, the mechanics timed it wrong and ended up starting work on the car about a half-second early, earning Ocon another penalty. Later, when he came in to serve that penalty, he was given another penalty by the stewards for speeding in the pit lane. 

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Then, F1 went to Saudi Arabia, where the 'king of street circuits,' Sergio Perez, took the win, with his teammate Max Verstappen in second (with the fastest lap point). Unfortunately, due to an issue in qualifying, Verstappen had to start in P15, but he made an epic comeback to second. Alonso made the podium again in third, while the Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively. The two DNFs were Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Alexander Albon (Williams), with Stroll retiring with an engine problem and Albon retiring with brake issues. 

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The next venue was Melbourne, Australia, where over 440,000 people packed into the stands over the weekend, but it was quite a chaotic race, with eight DNFs. Max Verstappen took the win, with Lewis Hamilton grabbing second and Alonso rounding out the top three once again. Perez had an issue in qualifying and started last, but managed to make an amazing comeback up to fifth. Firstly, Charles Leclerc got beached in the gravel on Lap 1, and Albon crashed into the barriers at Turn 7 after a tyre temperature spike, bringing out the red flags as he sprayed gravel all over the track. Then, on Lap 52, Kevin Magnussen bumped the wall at Turn 2, breaking his rear suspension, and his rear-right wheel flew off. Debris was all over the track, so the FIA brought out the red flags once again, but after a four lap Safety Car, as they were being very cautionary. Then, there was a two-lap shootout, but it all ended in chaos and carnage. Williams' Logan Sargeant ran into the back of AlphaTauri's Nyck De Vries at Turn 1, beaching them both in the gravel. At the same corner, one of the Alpines pushed Perez off the track, sending his through the gravel. Then, Ferrari's Sainz hit Alonso, spinning him out of third place (which Sainz later received a penalty for, dropping him out of the points). When Perez tried to rejoin the track, Alpine's Pierre Gasly moved over to the right, but didn't see his teammate, Ocon, there. Both of their cars then detonated like a bomb, knocking them both out. Then, the remaining grid was set back to their original positions before the restart and finished under the Safety Car. 

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For the fourth round of the 2023 season, F1 went to Baku, Azerbaijan, where an action-packed weekend led to a Red Bull one-two once again. In the first F1 Sprint of the season, Perez took victory, with Charles Leclerc close behind and Max Verstappen in third. During the race on Sunday, Max Verstappen got ahead of Leclerc on Lap 1 to lead the first quarter of the race, but an unlucky pit stop saw Verstappen pit for hard tyres right before a Safety Car. (The Safety Car was caused by a mistake from Nyck De Vries, where he bumped the wall and broke his front left suspension.) Because of this, his competitors lost a lot less time in the pits, and Perez kept the lead, with Leclerc behind. Verstappen then overtook Leclerc to take second, and set his sights on fellow teammate Sergio Perez. However, he was unable to catch Checo's amazing pace, and it ended with Perez in first, Verstappen in second, and Leclerc in third, with Alonso close behind in fourth. The only DNFs were De Vries with the crash and Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu with some car issues. 

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In the first United States Grand Prix of the 2023 calendar, F1 came to Miami, Florida. After Leclerc crashed in qualifying, Verstappen was unable to set a lap time, so he ended up starting the race in 9th, while his teammate and championship competitor, Perez, started on pole (1st position). However, Verstappen charged through the field on race day, and ended up with a win because he had a different strategy than Perez. He started the race on hard tyres while Perez started on mediums, so Perez pitted earlier. As a result, when Verstappen pitted from second, he came out right behind Perez on fresher tyres, and he was easily able to overtake the Mexican. So the podium in Miami ended up being Verstappen, Perez, and Alonso taking third place for the fourth time out of five races this year. 

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Sadly, due to the heavy rain and serious flooding in the Emilia-Romagna region, the Grand Prix in Imola was canceled. 

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Verstappen's winning margin was at 27.9 seconds at the end of the 78-lap race in the famed streets of Monaco. Rain threatened to create chaos on lap 52 though, and Alonso was running second, but by originally choosing for slick tires, they missed their chance, because Alonso had to pit again the next lap to fix the mistake and put on intermediates. Verstappen pitted to intermediates before Alonso on lap 55 and led home to win the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. His fourth victory of the season increased his championship lead to 39 points after teammate Sergio Perez started last due to an accident in Q1 on Saturday and many incidents during the race led to him pitting 5 times during the race and finishing 16th.

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Max Verstappen won the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, beating Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, with teammate Sergio Perez finishing fourth. Verstappen dominated the race from the start to the finish line, extending his championship lead. Mercedes improved significantly to get a double podium, with Hamilton escaping a first-lap collision with McLaren's Lando Norris and overcoming an early struggle with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz. Perez finished fourth following a strong recovery effort, only losing out on the last podium slot to Russell after a storming final stint. Fernando Alonso finished eighth, unable to add another podium to his and Aston Martin's record.

By Armaan Dhawan and Adit Kakkad

Last updated on June 4, 2023

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