Looking ahead as F1 heads into second half of 2023 season: Part 2

As F1 heads into the second half of its 2023 campaign, we’ll continue to take a look at each team’s performance in the first half of the season as we prepare for the Netherland GP.

Aston Martin losing pace

Aston Martins surprised everyone with a finish on the podium at the season opener in Bahrain. Fernando Alonso taking the final podium position behind the Bulls on his debut for the team, Alonso having not stepped on the podium since Qatar 2021 with his former team Alpine. Alonso and Stroll seeming to be in tune with the car, with Lance completing the race in P6 after missing testing due to a biking injury, the Canadian making a remarkable recovery to get himself back in the cockpit for the season opener. Alonso pleased with the car reported “this is a lovely car to drive” to the team over the team radio.

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Aston Martins luck seemed to continue throughout the first quatre of the season with Aston Martin landing on 6 out of the 8 opening races. The Silverstone based teams luck began to whittle out with their drivers finishing below the top 5 and outside the points on occasions. Going into the summer break, Aston Martin have suffered a mid season slump, however, performance director Tom McCullough revealed that Aston Martin still have the ”budget to keep developing the car”.

What’s gone wrong for Alpine?

Alpine have faced their fair share of bad luck in the opening races of the season "I must say it's been quite intense, the emotions as well. I can't recall the last time I was that, let's say, unlucky with a sequence of events that just triggers a loss of points since the start of the year," Gasly commented.

Ocon faced a series of penalties in Bahrain, for an incorrect start position, incorrectly serving his penalty and speeding in the pit lane. In Australia in the final restart of the race both drivers wiped each other out. Alpines bad fortune didn’t stop at the start of the season but followed them into the final few races of the first half, with both drivers crashing out in the British and Hungarian GP.

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Ahead of the summer break team principal Otmar Szafnauer left the team, with Bruno Famin justifying the departure of Otmar by saying “we are not 100 percent aligned”. It has not been announced who will replace Otmar but Alpine are in “no hurry” to replace their previous team principal.

Williams make undeniable progress

James Vowel stepped up at the start of the season as Williams new team principal, marking the start of a new chapter for the British team. Williams have made undeniable progress in the early half of the season, with Alex Albon scoring points for the tam on numerous occasions.

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The FW45 showing its strengths on long straights. Alex Albon has scored 11 out of 11 points for the team, putting Williams seventh in the constructor’s championship. Logan Sargeant is yet to score points this season and is the only rookie yet to do so. As we head into the final half of the season all eyes will be on Sargeant with many questioning Logans development with the team, with many speculating Mick Schumacher will make a return to the grid in place of Sargeant.

Alfa Romeos underwhelming start

Alfa Romeo appear to be going backwards this season, with the car lacking pace. The car showing good pace in the slow corners but struggling to face the faster corners despite a series of upgrades created to improve its pace in the faster corners. Alfa Romeos 2023 challenger has had a lot of drag making it slower on the straights.

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Alfa Romeo currently sit ninth in the constructor’s championship with their highest finish being in P8. Valtteri currently sits in P15 in the constructor’s championship with 5 points, followed by Zhou in P16 with 4 points.

Alphatauri’s game of musical chairs

Alphatauri have had the most disappointed start amongst the grid, as they find themselves at the bottom of the constructors championship with only three points scored by Yuki Tsunoda.

Alphatauri began the season with Yuki Tsunoda and Nyk De Vries behind the wheel. Nyk becoming a sort after driver after his impressive F1 debut race in the 2022 Italian GP in place of Alex Albon, De Vries finishing the race in P9. With De Vries having not scored any points and becoming an expensive part of the team after numerous crashes, Alphatauri played a game of musical chairs by giving De Vries seat to Red Bull reserved driver Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciardo making a full circle in his career with a return to the team in the final two races at the Hungarian GP.

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With a new driver pairing and a return of a fan favourite we look forward to seeing how this new pairing plays out in the fight for points in the battle for position in the constructor’s championship.

Haas unable to maintain race pace

It's safe to say Haas have continued their progress from last season, with 11 points amongst their drivers putting them eighth in the constructor’s championship.

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Haas have showed their strengths in Qualifying, Hulkenberg showing more pace than Magnussen on numerous occasions. Both drivers have been able to get themselves into Q3 on a few occasions but the issue for the team is the struggle to translate the qualifying pace into race pace. Haas have struggled to keep that pace during the race, with the car taking it out on the tyres contributing to the loss of pace.