The Bahrain Grand Prix kicked off the Formula 1 season in March and it was not one to disappoint. The Red Bulls asserted their dominance early on and finished the race with an impressive 1-2. It was also a welcome return to the podium for Fernando Alonso on his first race with the Aston Martin team. It was a disaster first round for Charles Leclerc as he was forced to retire on lap 41 due to the engine of his Ferrari cutting out. Leclerc’s teammate salvaged a 4th place finish, but it was not the start the Italian team would have hoped for. It was a salvage job for the Mercedes after a tough weekend with Russell and Hamilton finishing in 5th and 7th respectively whilst Lance Stroll put himself in between the two despite suffering with broken wrists due to a bike accident days before the race. It was also a poor start to the season for McLaren with their rookie Oscar Piastri retiring with gearbox issues and Lando Norris finishing at the very back of the pack.  

Max Verstappen was forced to fight his way through the pack from 15th on the Grid at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix after a transmission issue ruined his qualifying. He finished the race in 2nd behind his teammate Sergio Perez to make it another Red Bull 1-2. Alonso once again finished in 3rd place behind the two Red Bulls. Mercedes had a happier weekend with their drivers finishing in 4th and 5th ahead of the two Ferraris with Sainz in 6th and Leclerc in 7th after a 10-place grid penalty was handed to him for replacing his power unit. The Alpines had a more successful race with both their drivers finishing in the points and Kevin Magnussen in the Haas was able to clinch the last point. It was once again another disappointing race for McLaren who finished 15th and 17th after an early collision involving the pair of them. 

Verstappen took pole position whilst his teammate Sergio Perez started at the very back of the field after failing to qualify. It was an early DNF for Charles Leclerc on the first lap and more drama was to follow as Alex Albon crashed into the wall and caused the first red flag. There was another red flag later on after Kevin Magnussen crashed his Haas into the wall. During the restart after this red flag there was more chaos with Logan Sargeant rear-ending Nyck De Vries and the Alpine pair colliding with each other. This brought out yet another red flag, but the race ended under a safety car. Verstappen won the race with Mercedes picking up their first podium of the season with Lewis Hamilton finishing in 2nd ahead of seasoned 3rd place man Fernando Alonso. It was a happier weekend for the McLarens who both finishes inside the top ten for the first time this season. It was a double disaster for Ferrari after Leclerc’s DNF on lap 1 was followed by a late penalty for Carlos Sainz that put him outside the points in 12th.

After a month off, F1 was back for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It was the first sprint weekend of the season and there was a whole new format. The weekend consisted of only one practice session and introduced separate qualifying sessions for the sprint race and the feature race. Charles Leclerc topped these sessions and claimed pole for both races. He had a much more successful weekend with a P2 finish in the sprint and a P3 finish in the feature race. Verstappen finished P3 in the sprint and P2 in the feature race with his teammate Perez claiming an impressive victory. Alonso finished outside of the podium for the first time this season in P4 by eight tenths of a second. Sainz brought his Ferrari home in 5th to hold off Lewis Hamilton who finished ahead of Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin and George Russell in the Mercedes. Lando Norris managed to put his McLaren in the points for a second consecutive race with Nico Hulkenberg rounding off the points finishers. 

F1 was back in Miami for just the second time and delivered another Red Bull 1-2 this season. Verstappen started the race in p9, due to a late Q3 crash for Charles Leclerc, but fought his way through to p2 in just 15 laps and managed to catch up to his teammate to take the victory. It was another podium for Alonso making it his fourth podium in five races. The Mercedes finished 4th and 6th with Carlos Sainz finishing in between the pair. It was a tough weekend for the Ferraris as Leclerc finished the race in P7. The Alpines and Kevin Magnussen rounded off the top 10. 

The biggest thing to take away from the start of the 2023 season is the sheer dominance from Red Bull. They’ve managed to make an already fast car even faster and they’re rivals are struggling to keep up with them. Ferrari are much closer to the Red Bulls during qualifying but can’t match them during the full race distance. Mercedes have had a tough start to the season and have been looking forward to some upgrades when we get to the European rounds. Alonso has shown that he’s still got it even at 41 with the great results he’s bringing to the Aston Martin team. 

Looking at the midfield, despite McLaren having a tough start to the season, their rookie Oscar Piastri looks to be the most impressive of the rookies as he’s able to stay close to his more experienced teammate. Nyck De Vries has not performed the way he was expected given his experience in other series, there’s also talk that he’s been given a ‘yellow card’ to urge him to improve his performance. A lot of the midfield teams are looking forward to the start of the European rounds as they’re expecting some significant upgrades, hopefully these upgrades mean that we’ll see different drivers and manufacturers on the podium more regularly.