Looking ahead as F1 heads into second half of 2023 season: Part 1

The second half of the 2023 campaign kicks off in the Netherlands at the Zandvoort circuit at the end of August. The first half has been a mix of shock and disappointment for many teams across the grid. As the season has evolved, we could expect a different outcome as we head into the final stint.

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Red Bull’s winning streak continues…?

Red Bull had a record-breaking start to the season, with 13 consecutive race wins. The record previously being held by McLaren with 11 consecutive wins in 1988 with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. It looks that Russell’s prediction that Red Bull will “win every race” this season could be spot on.

The RB19 has been on average around half a second quicker per lap on race day, as the season the RB19 looks to be losing pace with other cars catching up to the Red Bull, teams such as McLaren and Mercedes have slowly begun to sneak up on the Bulls.

The lack of wind tunnel time as a result of their penalty for exceeding the cost cap in 2021 could be starting to show its effect as the grid start to catch up. While McLarens newfound speed has caused concerns by fans, Red Bull look to still be in full swing as F1 went into the penultimate race ahead of the summer break with Verstappen winning in Hungary 33 seconds clear of Norris.

Horner commented that the lack of wind tunnel time means that the team can’t bring any more upgrades to the car, the focus now shifting to their 2024 competitor. With Red Bull gradually turning their attention away from the RB19 and to 2024’s car, could this be a change for other teams and drivers to take a place on the top step of the podium?

Hopes still high for Mercedes

Belgium resurfaced some old concerns for the team. In Belgium the lasts updates to Mercedes W14 have not had the outcomes expected the car suffering from porposing again, an issue that affected the Silver Arrows performance in 2022. The season was describes a “season of two halves” by George Russell.

Mercedes have had a similar start to the ‘23 season as the ’22 season, a slow start with some promising signs towards the end of the first half. In a interview following the Belgium GP, Russell shared that he is still confident that he is still confident that his first victory this season is coming. Russell’s maiden win coming last season in the later half at Brazil in Interlargos, Hamilton joining the young Brit on the podium with teams only 1-2 finish of the season.

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"First six races I was super happy with my own personal performance, I was really strong. After that, definitely some missed opportunities. Then it swung around recently, struggling with the car. We’ve got some ideas why that is. We pursued a set-up direction, and this weekend validated it was the wrong way,"

"That leaves me with a bit of confidence that we can turn it around in the second half of the year. But, like I said, eyes on Red Bull, we want to win a race this year, and we are still pushing like hell to achieve that,"

McLaren's suprise comeback

An out of character start to the season for McLaren as they finished in the bottom 5 in the opening 2 races of the season. Piastri with a DNF on his debut in Bahrain and Norris in P17 after 3 retirements from the race. Going into the final few races of the first half McLaren look to have bounced back, with Piastri finishing in P2 in the Belgium sprint and Norris taking his first set of consecutive podiums in 2 of the 3 closing races at Silverstone and at Hungary.

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McLaren brought 11 new upgrades to Norris’s car at Silverstone, before bringing the same upgrades to Piastri’s car in Hungary. The most talked about feature of the new upgrades being the changes to the front wing. McLaren inheriting the semi-detached flap layout. Previously the front wing being fully merged to the endplate, now the front wing is curved up more sharply creating a bigger gap for the airflow and outwash to power the vortices down the side of the car. The new upgrade resulting in less drag on the straights.

McLaren climbing up the ranks in the constructors’ championship after starting the season last and now have been promotes to fifth as they begin to chase down the Ferrari’s in fourth.

Ferrari’s another year away from a title

Ferrari have taken a massive step back with their ’23 challenger, Ferrari have gone from competing in the title fight in 2022 to only having finished in the top 3 in 3 out of 13 races. Ferrari currently find themselves fourth in the constructors’ championship as they trail behind Aston Martin by 5 points.

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Ferrari ended the first half with a third-place finish in Belgium, Leclerc defending off a feisty Hamilton as they crossed the chequered line. The podium finish is sure to have brought a smile to the men and women working for the team after a struggling start.

Leclerc commented that he is struggling to understand the cars competitiveness in Belgium compared to Hungary, where he finished in P7.

"I think something interesting we should look into is our competitiveness from Budapest to Belgium, - looking to understand the 2023 challenger as they head into the second half of the season”